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Honour School of Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

A

  • 1. The Honour School of Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies shall be under the joint supervision of the Boards of the Faculties of Classics and of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, which shall appoint a joint standing committee to make, and to submit to the two boards, proposals for regulations concerning the examination.

  • 2. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination in this School unless he or she has either passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination.

B

1. Candidates must take

either

Option a: Classics and a Subsidiary Language in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from a list published in the course handbook. These candidates must take five subjects in Classics, of which at least two (or, in the case of those taking Beginners’ Ancient Greek or Beginners’ Latin, at least one) must be text-based and at least two must involve the study of the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds

or

Option b: Classics and a Main Subject in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from a list published in the course handbook. These candidates must take three subjects in Classics, of which at least one (unless they are taking Beginners’ Ancient Greek or Beginners’ Latin) must be text-based and at least two must involve the study of the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds

2. All candidates may, but are not required to, take an Optional Additional Thesis in Classics, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies or a subject linking both.

3. Candidates who took Honour Moderations in Classics must take option a. above unless they have been granted individual dispensation by the Joint Standing Committee for Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies to take option b

4. A full list of the subjects available in Classics, including details of subjects that qualify as text-based and any restrictions on permitted combinations, will be published in the course handbook.

5. All subjects in Classics will be in person written examinations, with the exception of:

i. 503 Historiography and 507 Comedy – assessed by an extended essay and an in person written examination.

ii. 553 General Linguistics and Comparative Philology – assessed by an extended essay.

ii. Theses, including the Optional Additional Thesis.

6. Beginners’ Ancient Greek or Beginners’ Latin counts as two subjects. Candidates will take either:

i.  561 Beginners’ Ancient Greek Paper I: Translation and 562 Beginners’ Ancient Greek Paper II: Commentary

or

ii. 563 Beginners’ Latin Paper I: Translation and 564 Beginners’ Latin Paper II: Commentary.

Candidates cannot take these subjects in a language that they took in Honour Moderations in Classics. 

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

8. Extended essays for subjects 503 and 507 must not exceed 6,000 words. Extended essays for subject 553 must not exceed 4,000 words. Candidates may offer only one of these subjects. Essay topics set by the examiners will be released on Monday of Week 6 of the Hilary Term of the final year of the Honour School and essays should be uploaded to the University approved online assessment platform by Tuesday of Week 10 of the same term (12 noon).

Requirements for Dissertations and Theses

9. The requirements for dissertations and theses are:

(a) The regulations on dissertations in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies main subjects will be as specified for Honour Schools in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

(b) Any candidate may take one thesis in Classics as one of their Classical subjects. Such theses will be examined in accordance with clause 10 below.

(c) Any candidate may take an Optional Additional Thesis in addition to the requirements for their Main and Subsidiary Subjects. The subject of an Optional Additional Thesis may be Classics, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies or a subject linking both. An Optional Additional Thesis may be taken in combination with a Thesis or Dissertation under the regulations for the candidate’s Main Subject. Optional Additional Theses will be examined in accordance with clause 10 below.

10. The requirements for Theses in Classics and Optional Additional Theses in all subjects are:

(a) The subject of every thesis shall, to the satisfaction of the Joint Standing Committee, fall within the scope of the Honour School of Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. The subject may, but need not, overlap any subject or period on which the candidate takes papers. Candidates should avoid repetition in examination essays of material used in their theses and may be penalised for substantial repetition. Candidates who take an Optional Additional Thesis and another thesis must avoid all overlap between them

(b) No thesis shall exceed 10,000 words. The word limit excludes the bibliography and certain categories of material as specified in the course handbook, but includes quotations and footnotes.

(c) Candidates must upload a copy of their thesis by no later than noon Friday of Week 0 of Trinity term of the final year of the Honour School to the University approved online assessment platform.