Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History

The Department offers doctoral degrees in ancient history, Byzantine Greek, classical archaeology, classical philology, classical philosophy, medieval Latin, and modern Greek. Our faculty and graduate students take innovative approaches to the study of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, drawing from fields and methodologies that include archaeology and art history, ancient history, ancient science, comparative literature, digital humanities, historical linguistics, history of rhetoric, literary theory, pedagogy of classical languages, philosophy, textual transmission, classical reception, and performance studies. We consider Byzantium, the Latin Middle Ages, and Modern Greek integral parts of the study of Greek and Roman antiquity. In addition, our affiliate faculty have interests in early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism, Greek law and comparative legal theory, early modern reception of the Classics, and Byzantine history. The department also offers specialized training in such disciplines as papyrology, epigraphy, paleography, and numismatics. The resources of other Harvard departments are open to those interested in other ancient languages and scripts, comparative theories and methodologies, the history of science, the relations of the Greeks and the Romans with other ancient cultures, and the reception of classical culture in subsequent periods.

A bachelor’s degree in classics (or one in history combined with substantial study of Greek and Latin) represents the best preparation for the study of ancient history, which is here understood to mean Greek history from the Mycenaean period to Roman times, and Roman history from the beginnings to late antiquity. Students applying to study ancient history in the Department of the Classics must have competence in both Greek and Latin sufficient to take upper-level departmental courses in one of these languages (the “major language”), and above the beginning level in the other (the “minor language”).

Applicants must receive a minimum score of 80 for the TOEFL, and it is not common for applicants to be admitted with TOEFL scores below 90. The minimum IELTS Academic score is 6.5. Some programs may require higher scores. Application Deadline: January 5.