Preliminary Examination in Ancient and Modern History

Differences from 2014/15 to 2015/16

A

The Preliminary Examination in Ancient and Modern History shall be under the joint supervision of the Boards of the Faculties of Classics and History and shall consist of such subjects as they shall jointly by regulation prescribe.

B

Every candidate shall offer four papers, as follows:

  • 1. General History: any one of the following period papers I: 370-900 (The Transformation of the Ancient World), II: 1000-1300 (Medieval Christendom and its neighbours); III: 1400-1650 (Renaissance, Recovery, and Reform), and IV: 1815-1914 (Society, Nation, and Empire).

  • 2. Either Greek History 650-479 bc: The Archaic Greek World or Roman History 241-146 bc: Rome and the Mediterranean.

  • 3. Either The World of Homer and Hesiod (Homer, Iliad, Odyssey (tr. Lattimore); Hesiod, Works and Days (tr. M. L. West, Oxford 1988); or Augustan Rome (as specified in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History); or any other Optional Subject specified for the Preliminary Examination in History.

  • 4. Either Approaches to History, as specified for the Preliminary Examination in History; or Historiography: Tacitus to Weber, as specified for the Preliminary Examination in History; or Herodotus, V. 26-VI. 131, to be read in Greek, ed. C. Hude (Oxford Classical Texts, 3rd edn., 1927); or Sallust, Jugurtha, to be read in Latin, ed. L. Reynolds (oct, 1991) (for Herodotus and Sallust, candidates will be required to illustrate their answers by reference to the specified texts); or Beginning Ancient Greek or Beginning Latin or Intermediate Ancient Greek or Intermediate Latin or Advanced Ancient Greek or Advanced Latin.

Any candidate whose native language is not English may bring a bilingual (native language to English) dictionary for use in any examination paper where candidates are required to translate Ancient Greek and/or Latin texts into English.

The individual specifications and prescribed texts for Optional Subjects, Approaches to History, and Historiography: Tacitus to Weber as specified for the Preliminary Examination in History will be published for candidates in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History by Monday of Week Nought of Michaelmas Term each year for the academic year ahead. The individual specifications and prescribed texts for the Optional Subject Augustan Rome will be published for candidates in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History by Monday of Week Nought of Michaelmas Term each year for the academic year ahead. Depending on the availability of teaching resources, with the exception of Optional Subject 1, not all the Optional Subjects listed in the Handbook will be available to candidates in any given year. Candidates may obtain details of the choice for that year by consulting the Definitive List of Optional Subjects posted at the beginning of the first week of Michaelmas Full Term in the History Faculty and circulated to Ancient and Modern History Tutors. The individual specifications and prescribed texts for Beginning Ancient Greek, Beginning Latin, Intermediate Ancient Greek, Intermediate Latin, Advanced Ancient Greek and Advanced Latin will be published for candidates in the Ancient and Modern History Handbook by Monday of Week Nought of Michaelmas Term each year for the academic year ahead.

Candidates who fail one or more of papers 1, 2, 3, or 4 above may resit that subject or subjects at a subsequent examination.