Classics & Modern Languages

Number of places at Balliol

1-2

Subject information

See the Faculty of Classics, the Faculty of Modern Languages, and the course page on the undergraduate admissions website.

Course requirements

Please see the entrance requirements pages on the undergraduate admissions website for more information.

College requirements

None specific to Balliol.

Admissions/Selection criteria

For information on how applicants are assessed, see the selection criteria pages on the Faculty of Classics, and the Modern Languages website.

Classics & Modern Languages at Balliol

Classics and Modern Languages offers the opportunity to study the languages, literatures, and cultures of the modern and ancient worlds alongside and in comparison with each other. Reading for joint schools enables students to experience varied perspectives on the world and to think for themselves within an interdisciplinary context. Our students are also exposed to international cultures, and spend a year abroad to work on their chosen modern language.

There are different course options and patterns of study, shown on the course pages of the undergraduate admissions website. 

Balliol is in every way one of the biggest Classics colleges in Oxford. We are unusual in having tutors in all four of the main areas of the subject, a large, vibrant, and cohesive community of undergraduates (as well as postgraduates), a college library with one of the best Classics collections in Oxford, and plenty of opportunities to participate in the wider life of the subject, including Classics societies, and travel grants.

Tutors

Professor Rosalind Thomas, Fellow in Ancient History (works esp. on Herodotus, ancient literacy and orality, polis histories).
Dr Jessica Moss, Fellow in Ancient Philosophy (Plato and Aristotle, especially ethics and psychology).
Dr Adrian Kelly, Fellow in Greek Literature (Homer, Hesiod, and Greek tragedy).
Dr Emily Pillinger, Lecturer in Latin Literature (Latin and Greek Poetry and poetics; epistolography; the classical tradition).
Dr Sophie Marnette, Fellow in Modern Languages (French).

The College also has permanent Lecturers in French, Italian, Spanish, and German. For more information about the Tutors in Modern Languages please see the Faculty of Modern Languages.