This joint honours BA in Religious Studies and Ancient History will ensure a developed understanding of the relationship between religion and the historical world, whilst additionally providing a range of important transferable skills useful for entry into the graduate job market.

The degree aims to develop your knowledge and critical understanding of the religious, political, social, and cultural structures of past societies and give you the opportunity to explore some of the fundamental questions of existence, in a flourishing centre of research.

Ancient History courses at Cardiff University cover the period from the Aegean Bronze Age to the fall of the Roman Empire in the west and its survival in the east as the Byzantine Empire. There is a balance between modules covering specific historical periods and those that examine broad social and cultural topics, such as warfare, gender, religion, art, medicine and science.

Religion has been part of human experience from the earliest traces of human existence up to the present day. It has been the way most cultures have sought to express their understanding of the purpose of life and the foundation of personal and social behaviour.  Your lecturers are active researchers in their fields, bringing the latest research into teaching. 

The course aims to cultivate intellectual skills such as the ability to assess evidence critically, to evaluate different interpretations of the evidence, to construct arguments on the basis of evidence and to express opinions cogently.

Distinctive features

The joint honours degree in Religious Studies and Ancient History allows you to specialise equally in two degree subjects.  It provides the training necessary for students who wish to study either discipline at postgraduate level, and a valuable range of intellectual and transferable skills for students who wish to enter other professions. 

As a joint honours student, you will find that often there are complementary issues and perspectives as well as skills that link subjects, be they critical analysis, historical contexts or recent research.