Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (MA)

Entry criteria:

UK Higher Second Class Honours degree (2:1) or equivalent.

Research experience will also be considered.

English language requirements:

IELTS 6.5 overall with 7.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in all other subscores. For equivalencies please see here. 

• The Hellenic Institute, established in 1993, brings together two areas of teaching and research in which Royal Holloway has long excelled: the study of the language, literature and history of Ancient Greece, based largely in the Department of Classics and Philosophy, but also in the Department of Drama and Theatre; and Byzantine Studies, which have always found a home in the Department of History. It aims to consolidate existing strengths and to extend them by promoting the study of the Hellenic tradition across the centuries from archaic and classical Greece, through the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine period, to the modern world.
• We collaborate closely with other Colleges and research centres in the University of London, including the Institute of Classical Studies, the Institute of Historical Research and the Warburg Institute, as well as the British Library, Lambeth Palace Library and The Hellenic Centre, a cultural meeting place for the Greek community in London.
• We maintain links with universities overseas, especially in Greece and Cyprus. Scholars from the Universities of Athens, Ioannina and Cyprus regularly visit the Institute as part of collaborative research, offering their expertise to our students and members of staff.
• The Institute organises a range of lectures, seminars, conferences, workshops and other events for students, scholars and the wider public, giving the opportunity to engage with experts in the field.
• We receive funding in support of our activities from the Ministries of Culture and Education of the Hellenic Republic, the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Hellenic Foundation, the Orthodox Cultural Association (Athens), The Friends of the Hellenic Institute and private donors.
• The Institute offers a number of annual fees-only studentships, bursaries and other awards in support of its students.

Collaborative research includes:

• Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus
• Seminar on Editing Byzantine Texts
• Byzantine Autographs
• A Catalogue of the Greek Manuscript Collection of Lambeth Palace Library
• The Porphyrogenitus Project: Lexicon of Abbreviations and Ligatures in Greek
• Minuscule Hands, c.800-c.1600
• Lexicon of Terms used in Palaeography, Codicology and Diplomatics
• Triadic Monarchy: The Concept of Monarchy in the Triadology of the Greek Fathers -
• Ecclesiological Repercussions and the Monastic Model
• The Greek Population of Rhodes under Hospitaller Rule
• The Greek Community in London, 1500-1945.

The course consists of three core course units, one elective unit and a dissertation.

Core course units:

Greek Language
You will take one of the compulsory Greek language course units depending on your level of Greek at entry: 

• Beginners’ ancient Greek for research
• Intermediate ancient Greek for research
• Byzantine Greek II

Introduction to Byzantium Seminar
This is a two-hour topics seminar in the first seven weeks of the first semester, where a variety of experts provide an introduction to their own subject. In early June, the Seminar is reconvened, and students are expected to make their own presentations of their MA dissertation topics. There is no assessed work.

You will also take one of the following two core units:

Elementary Greek Palaeography
This is an introductory course in Greek Palaeography addressed to students with either little or no knowledge of Greek.

Greek Palaeography
This is suitable for students with good knowledge of classical Greek and aims to introduce the study of the Greek book and script from the Hellenistic period to the fifteenth century AD.

Dissertation
This is a major piece of writing of 10,500-12,000 words on an approved subject, under the supervision of a member of the staff.

Elective course units:

You will take one of the following units:

• Identity and Power in the Middle Ages, AD 500-1300
• Greeks & Jews
• Living in Byzantium: Material culture and built environment (ca. AD 300-1500)
• The Reign of Constantine I
• Byzantium and the West, AD 800-1054
• Byzantium and the First Crusade (0.5 unit)
• Byzantium and the Fourth Crusade (0.5 unit)
• The Medieval Papacy
• Greek Papyrology
• Medieval Manuscripts and Documents
• Places of Learning in the Medieval West 

On completion of the course graduates will have:

• a detailed knowledge and understanding of the methodologies of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, and their limitations
• an understanding of advanced, current research issues relevant to the discipline
• an awareness of the multiplicity of material available and the strengths and weaknesses of the various forms of historical information
• a general appreciation of the varied and interlinked methodologies for understanding antiquity and the medieval age
• the reading and understanding of ancient and medieval texts, both in print and in manuscript
• a grasp of literary criticism necessary for understanding and appreciating the style of ancient and medieval authors
• an awareness of the main forms of material available to those studying classical antiquity and the Byzantine world.

Assessment is carried out by a variety of methods including coursework, written examinations and a dissertation.

Our graduates are highly employable and, in recent years, have entered many different areas, including careers as researchers and university lecturers, teachers in secondary education, librarians, archivists, book conservators, and editors of history journals. A number of our graduates hold teaching posts and research fellowships at the Universities of London, Cyprus, Patras and the Peloponnese, the Institute for Byzantine Research of the Hellenic National Research Foundation, and are employed by the Library of the Greek Parliament and the Department of Book Conservation of the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece.

The majority of our graduates pursue MPhil/PhD studies in the field of Byzantine Literature and History, and Greek Palaeography at the Hellenic Institute of Royal Holloway and at other universities in Britain and abroad.