BA Ancient History and History
About this course
BA Ancient History and History is a three-year undergraduate degree exploring both the classical ancient world and broader medieval and modern historical periods. Core topics include Historical Research and Research Methods. Students can choose from a wide array of optional modules across different eras and geographical regions, with a dissertation available in the final year. The first year covers foundational topics through compulsory modules such as Constructing Archaic Greek History, From Republic to Empire: Introduction to Roman History, Society & Culture 218-31BC, and History in Practice. In the second year, students study core subjects through modules including The Roman Empire 31BC - AD313 Rome's Golden Age and Politics and Society in Classical Greece. Optional modules across the degree span diverse historical themes such as Islamic history, modern Britain, environmental history, and the ancient Near East. The final year allows students to focus on specific interests through optional topics and independent research.
Written by AI from the university's course page and module list. It can get details wrong, so check the official course page before you rely on it.
Entry requirements
A level: AAB including A in History or Ancient History
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What students say
Based on about 202 final-year students who answered, across similar courses at this university
- Teaching on my course: 90%
- Learning opportunities: 79%
- Assessment and feedback: 77%
- Academic support: 92%
- Organisation and management: 82%
- Learning resources: 87%
- Student voice: 74%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 295 students who started, across similar courses at this university
- Continued on course: 95%
- Left higher education: 5%
- Moved to a lower qualification: 1%
What graduates do next
Based on about 70 graduates who answered, across similar courses at this university
- Working: 66%
- Working and studying: 11%
- Further study: 7%
- Unemployed: 10%
Most common jobs
- Business and public service associate professionals: 19%
- Administrative occupations: 13%
- Elementary occupations: 11%
- Managers, directors and senior officials: 8%
- Sales occupations: 5%
- Find their work meaningful: 65%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 52%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 35%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 290 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North East: 1%
- North West: 27%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 4%
- East Midlands: 2%
- West Midlands: 6%
- East of England: 2%
- London: 42%
- South East: 8%
- South West: 4%
- Wales: 2%
Who gets in
Based on about 335 students who started, across similar courses at this university
- A levels: 95%
- Baccalaureate: 3%
- Access course: 1%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Silver for student experience, Gold for student outcomes.
Modules
- Constructing Archaic Greek History
- From Republic to Empire: Introduction to Roman History, Society & Culture 218-31BC
- History in Practice
- The Odyssey
- Cities and Citizens
- Discoveries and Discoverers: Sights and Sites
- Virgil's Aeneid
- Introduction to the History and Culture of Pharaonic Egypt
- Intensive Greek 1
- Introduction to Egyptian Hieroglyphs
- Intensive Latin 1
- Advanced Latin Language 1
- Advanced Greek Language 1
- Intensive Greek 2
- Intensive Latin 2
- Modern China: from the Opium Wars to the Olympic Games
- Histories of the Islamic World
- Capitalism in Historical Perspective: 1700-1913
- Imperial Nation: Empire and the Making of Modern Britain, 1783-1902
- An Introduction to the Medieval World
- Forging a New World: Europe c.1450-1750
- States, Nations and Empires. Europe, c.1750-1914
- ‘There is Black in the Union Jack’: Black and South Asian British Histories
- Climate change and societal response: Lessons from the past
- The Roman Empire 31BC - AD313 Rome's Golden Age
- Politics and Society in Classical Greece
- From Jamestown to James Brown: African-American History and Culture
- The American Civil War
- Through Cicero's Eyes
- The Conquering Hero: The Life, Times and Legacy of Alexander The Great
- Introduction to Egyptian Hieroglyphs
- Greco-Roman Society and Technology
- Roman Love Elegy
- Roman Women in 22 Objects
- Tomb and Temple: Religion and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
- The First Cities: The Archaeology of Urbanism in the Near East
- The Archaeology of Ritual
- Greek Epic Poetry
- Gods, Kings and Heroes: The Poetry of Archaic Greece
- Finding Happiness in the Ancient World
- Art and Technology in Ancient Egypt
- Exile
- Weimar Culture? Art, Film and Politics in Germany, 1918-33
- Making of the Modern Mind: European Intellectual History in a Global Context
- Winds of Change: Politics, Society and Culture in Britain, 1899 -1990
- Late Imperial China: the Great Wall and Beyond
- The Cultural History of Modern War
- Colonial Encounters: Race, Violence, and the Making of the Modern World
- Back to the Future: The Uses and Abuses of History
- Histories of the Islamic World
- Capitalism in Historical Perspective: 1700-1913
- A Transnational History of Europe in the Short Twentieth Century, c.1917-1991
- Revolutionary Cities: The Urban World of the Middle Ages
- From Cholera to COVID-19: A Global History of Epidemics
- The Crisis of Nature: Issues in Environmental History
- In Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science Fiction in Literature and Film.
- Aesthetics and Politics of Italian Fascism
- The Italian Renaissance
- Themes in the Histories of Arab and Jewish Nationalisms
- Religion, Culture and Gender
- End of the World and Apocalypticism
- 100 Years of Revolution: from Lenin's Soviet Union to Putin's Russia
- The Revolutions of 1989 and their Aftermaths: Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
- Slavery and the Old South
- Introduction to Egyptian Hieroglyphs
- Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology Dissertation
- Through Cicero's Eyes
- The Hellenistic World, c. 323-31 BCE
- Greco-Roman Society and Technology
- Roman Love Elegy
- Dispute and Desire: the Erotics of Ancient Greek Literature
- Ekphrasis in Latin texts
- Tomb and Temple: Religion and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
- The First Cities: The Archaeology of Urbanism in the Near East
- The Archaeology of Ritual
- Greek Epic Poetry
- Gods, Kings, and Heroes: The Poetry of Archaic Greece
- Finding Happiness in the Ancient World
- From Sites to Statues: Understanding Heritage in a time of Culture Wars
- Art and Technology in Ancient Egypt
- Exile
- 'A Nation In The Making': India, 1800-1947
- Empire, Gender and British Heroes, c.1885 - 1985
- History Dissertation
- Wealth and Welfare: Reconceptualising British Economy and Society between 1832 and 1942
- China and the West: the Age of Empire and Beyond
- Heroes and Holy Men: The Irish Sea World in the Viking Age, c. 780-1100
- The Holocaust: History, Historiography, Memory
- The Comparative and Transnational History of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany
- John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1960s
- Defining the Deviant: Crime and British Society, 1888-2000
- The Aftermath of War in France, Britain and Germany: Violence and Reconstruction after WW1 and WW2
- Ceaseless Revolution: France, 1781-1871
- The Black Freedom Movement, 1955-1975
- Material Encounters in the Early Modern World, 1400-1800
- 'Brains and Numbers': Intellectual Life in Victorian Britain
- Pirates: The Sea, The Empire and The Other
- Becoming Christian in The Early Middle Ages
- The Normans and the Kingdom of Sicily in the Mediterranean World (1000-1200)
- Spatial History: Mapping the Past
- From New Left to New Times: Socialist Ideas in Post-War Britain
- Black Britain: Power, Neighbourhoods and the Everyday, 1948-1990
- Africa and Development: A Political History of the Social Sciences
- Cultural Entanglements: Life and Death in Colonial America
- The Anglo-American Connection & National Identity in the long C19: Race, Reform & National Identity
- Contesting Hitler's Empire:Resistance,Collaboration,and Mass Violence in Occupied Europe (1939–1945)
- Vanished: Histories of Extinction from the Mammoth to Extinction Rebellion
- Global China in the Second World War
- Democracy and Authoritarianism in Latin America’s Twentieth Century
- Islam in China
- People and Power in the Digital Age
- Madness and Society
- Fossils: Global Histories of Natural Heritage, Science and Empire
- The Nuclear Age: Global Nuclear Threats from Hiroshima to Today
- From Sherlock Holmes to CSI: a History of Forensic Science and Medicine
- Climate Change & Society
- Tools and Techniques for Enterprise
- Tools & Techniques for Enterprise
- Enterprise Feasibility
- Culture, Media and Politics in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia
- History of the Spanish Atlantic World: Empire, Trade, War
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA Ancient History and History at University of Manchester earn?
The median salary is £27,000 after 15 months, £26,000 after 3 years, £33,000 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £25,500 and £42,500. The £33,000 median after five years is £2,500 more than the UK median for History.
What do graduates of BA Ancient History and History at University of Manchester do next?
84% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA Ancient History and History at University of Manchester?
90% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA Ancient History and History at University of Manchester?
The typical offer is AAB at A level. The average entrant had 156 UCAS points.
How many students continue on BA Ancient History and History at University of Manchester?
95% of students continued into their second year, and 5% left higher education.