MA Classical Art & Archaeology

Our course offers you the opportunity to study Greek and Roman art and archaeology at one of the largest Classics departments in the UK. The course is intercollegiate with options taught at King’s, UCL and Royal Holloway and you can take advantage of our close links to the Institute of Classical Studies, one of the UK’s best Classical libraries. It gives you the unique opportunity to acquire technical skills provided by optional modules in ancient languages, papyrology and epigraphy. It leads to further research or careers in education, journalism, finance, politics and the heritage and cultural sector.
Through this Classical Art & Archaeology MA you will explores the relationship between humans and their visual and material environment in the ancient world. You will examine monuments, art, objects and the craft skills that produced archeologically significant works. Traditionally, classical archaeology has focused on the art history of Classical Greece and Italy but has more recently branched out geographically, chronologically and theoretically. All trends are well represented here at King’s where our expert staff cover an extraordinarily wide range of specialisms. These include Bronze Age Aegean, Late Antique and Byzantine archaeology and architecture, Roman frontiers, Persian monuments, Greek pottery and sculpture, Roman mosaics and inscriptions. Many other staff members employ art historical and archaeological methods in their work.

The course consists of a required core module, three to six optional modules and a dissertation. The first and last of these will provide you with concentrated training in research techniques and methodology in Classical art and archaeology. Besides purely archaeological topics, you may take modules from our master’s courses in Classics and the Ancient World, and Ancient History. You may also be able to take appropriate modules from other master’s courses at King’s.

Students also have the opportunity to study Latin, and Ancient Greek and to acquire technical skills in the handling of documentary evidence. These will be particularly valuable to students who intend to pursue further research in classical archaeology or art history.

We offer our MA on an intercollegiate basis, combining the expertise of staff in all three of the participating colleges - King’s, UCL and Royal Holloway. It centres on the University’s Institute of Classical Studies, which not only contains a world-class research library, but also hosts the richest programme of seminars, conferences, and occasional lectures for this subject area in the UK, as well as offering module options.