History (Ancient and Modern)

'I have really enjoyed my degree in Ancient and Modern History. It has given me the flexibility to study a wide array of topics over a period spanning from Archaic Greece to the twenty-first century.  A joint-school degree challenges you to consider different approaches and methodologies to history, as well as encourages you to interact with a variety of sources and materials.

Your learning is supported by both History and Classics faculties allowing you access to double the experts, double the resources and double the opportunities which helps maximise your experience at Oxford. However, I think the real beauty of this is that you are exposed to lots of people and ideas, both furthering your research and helping you establish a brilliant network of professional and personal connections; I have met many of my closest friends because they read some form of ancient or modern history which I could relate to.

I would strongly recommend this degree to anyone, especially those looking to read History. Why study history if you cannot understand and interpret it from as far back as it goes? If that resonates with you, then this is the right degree to choose.'

Rachael

'AMH is the best of both worlds. I had loved studying both History and Classical Civilisation at A-Level and wanted to continue engaging with history old and new. Choosing AMH gave me much more flexibility regarding ancient languages; I could study them if I wanted to but was under no obligation to. That way, if I suddenly had an epiphany in my second term or even second year (one which never came, alas) and wanted to study Greek, I had the time to change my mind.

Doing AMH connects you with both the Classics and History Faculties. Since it’s a small cohort for both colleges and the university as a whole, you’ll do everything in college alongside other historians so there’s no fear of missing out on support or events.

As you might expect, it’s mandatory for you to do an ancient paper for your Prelims and Finals. If you like the ancient world enough to choose this degree, though, this shouldn’t sound too bad. You’re given a lot of scope to choose a period of interest from either the Roman and Greek worlds in your first year and the options only increase from there. If material culture is your thing, for instance, there are a number of options for that. Truly, this degree’s only requirement of you is that you study a bit of Roman or Greek history. If that sounds great, you seriously won’t regret choosing it.'

Rufus

I’ve really enjoyed my AMH course so far. When I was applying and realised there was an option to do a mix of classical and modern history, rather than confine myself to one of them, I instantly latched on to it. There’s such a wide array of options to pick from that I can hone in on things I’m already interested in, or explore something I have no prior knowledge of, and both routes are equally engaging. I’m nearly halfway through my course and beyond the Disciplines papers, I haven’t had to touch any history past 1500, and haven’t had to do any British papers. Instead, I can jump around specific time periods and locations, and do papers covering centuries and multiple continents, which makes things a lot more fun for me. It also helps with revision because I can zoom in on particular events and even specific individuals (especially in the Ancient side where you can study the attitudes and approaches of ancient historians, a particular favourite of mine) or arrange things by theme, meaning I can bring in multiple case studies from various places and points in time. For me, the challenge of a university workload and schedule is more than made up for by the sheer fun of learning and applying new and varied content.

Helen