Bachelor of Arts (BA)

BA Latin and Linguistics

Examine ancient sources in their original languages and develop expert research and analysis skills.
  • Duration: 3 years
  • Year of entry: 2025
  • UCAS course code: QQ61 / Institution code: M20
  • Key features:
  • Study with a language

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Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

Scholarships and bursaries are available to eligible Home/EU students, this is in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.

Course unit details:
The Roman Empire 31BC - AD313 Rome's Golden Age

Course unit fact file
Unit code CAHE20051
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 2
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This course-unit examines the political system established at Rome by Octavian at the end of the Roman "Republican" period which is normally known as the "Principate" or "High Empire" until the reforms of Emperor Diocletian and the Edict of Milan which granted the Christians freedom of religion.  We will look at the tensions and development in the structures of the state in this period, the role of the army and foreign policy, life in the provinces of the empire, and social issues including religious practices and the rise of Christianity.

Aims

This course is designed to give a thorough knowledge of the period of Roman history known as the principate and also give students the skills to access and interpret the various forms of evidence available for this period.

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of this course students will  have:

  • acquired a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the Roman empire in the period from 31 BC to AD 235.

Intellectual skills

By the end of this course students will have:

  • developed critical skills in dealing with primary sources and solving the problems presented by such material;
  • acquired considerable ability to carry out independent research, managing the information obtained, and communicating their findings in a coherent and scholarly way.

Practical skills

By the end of this course students will have:

  • participated in activities which involve group discussion as well as individual effort;
  • developed further their computer literacy.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

By the end of this course students will  have:

  • developed critical skills in dealing with primary sources and solving the problems presented by such material;
  • acquired considerable ability to carry out independent research, managing the information obtained, and communicating their findings in a coherent and scholarly way;
  • participated in activities which involve group discussion as well as individual effort;
  • developed further their computer literacy.

Employability skills

Other
The course involves a large number of important employment skills, most notably an ability to analyse and examine a large amount of often difficult information, an ability to see both sides of an argument, the ability to synthesise an argument in a cogent form, the ability to retrieve information from complex sources and present it in a compelling and cogent fashion.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Written exam 70%
Written assignment (inc essay) 30%

Feedback methods

  • When the course is half-way, the students will be offered the possibility of solving a ‘mock’ exam, which follows exactly the same pattern as the exam at the end of the term. Written feedback on this will be given. .
  • Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment).

 

Recommended reading

A handbook and a syllabus with texts in translation will be provided on Blackboard.

The recommended books for this unit are:

  • C Wells, The Roman Empire (Fontana)
  • Tacitus, Annals (Trans. J Yardley, Oxford University Press)
  • Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars (Trans. C Edwards, Oxford University Press)

Other, indicative reading:

  • Translations of the major works of other ancient writers such as Pliny the Younger, Cassius Dio and Herodian (among others)
  • O. Hekster, Caesar Rules. The Emperor in the Changing Roman World (C. 50 BC- AD 565) (Cambridge, 2023)
  • D S. Potter (ed.), A Companion to the Roman Empire (Malden, 2006). 
  • M. Beard, Emperor of Rome. Ruling the Ancient Roman World (London, 2023)

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 22
Seminars 11
Independent study hours
Independent study 167

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Christian Laes Unit coordinator

Additional notes


 

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