Faculty of PhilosophyClassical Archaeology – Bachelor 50%
Classical Archaeology is the study of the material remains of ancient Greek and Roman cultures, as well as of their predecessors, the influence of these cultures on future civilisation, and of the other cultures that surrounded them. The bandwidth of material remains ranges from articles used in everyday life to structures in the settlements to artefacts and drawings. It thereby encompasses all areas in which culture is visible.
Facts & Formalities
Degree | Bachelor of Arts |
Type of programme | Undergraduate |
Start of programme | Winter and summer semester |
Standard period of study | 6 semesters |
Language(s) of instruction | German and English |
Fees and contributions | 151.05 € / Semester |
Application procedure | Subjects with no admission restrictions |
Application deadlines | Information about deadlines can be obtained after you have put together a degree program. |
Course Content
The term “archaeology” means “the study of ancient things”, which points to the common fundamental objective of all forms of archaeology: a focus on the material remains of ancient cultures. This involves interpreting these artefacts in their historical context so as to gain better insight into the particular culture being examined.
Since the material remains of individual societies diverge greatly from one another, as do their histories, languages, and social structures, a number of different archaeological disciplines have evolved. Classical Archaeology focusses primarily on the so-called “classical antiquity”, which includes the entire spectrum of material remains from the Greek and Roman cultures. The Classical Archaeology programme includes studies of such areas as:
- Settlements and environment
- Buildings and graves, including their furnishings
- Objects from everyday life and from religious cults
- Sculpture
Since the eighteenth century, the study of ancient art history has been a core component of Classical Archaeology. More recently, there has been increasing focus on the study of daily life and the contextual aspects of social environment as well as on cultural-historical phenomena and questions.
Studying classical antiquity merely from an archaeological perspective would lead to a very incomplete picture. Therefore, close collaboration with related disciplines and familiarity with their approaches is essential. This makes collaborative course offerings as well as interdisciplinary research projects critical elements of this degree programme.
Course Structure
The degree programme is modular and is divided into a number of different topics.
- The Basic Module provides both an introduction and a thematic overview of the subject, giving students their first glimpse into basic methodology.
- The subsequent Introductory Module consists of one module devoted to Greek archaeology and one module devoted to Roman archaeology. These modules will consist of the discussion of representative groups of objects or of basic archaeological or methodological research findings.
- This will be followed by a specialisation module, which will give students the opportunity to select a specialisation from the areas of ancient topography and settlement archaeology, visual culture, or cultural studies (for students pursuing the degree with the 50% option, one of these modules is to be selected). In addition, through the examination of representative monuments, students will also be able to expand upon the methodological skills developed in previous modules, and will take their first steps towards independently carrying out scholarly work.
- Next, the students will enrol in the Practical Module II, which is devoted to practical work with ancient monuments as well as monument studies.
- Opportunities for acquiring requisite language skills are available through enrolment in language modules offered by other departments.
- Only students pursuing Classical Archaeology as a first major subject are required to write a Bachelor's thesis.
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