Classics
Fellows
- Dr Helen Van Noorden (Director of Studies)
- Dr Neil Wright
Details and statistics
- Number of students admitted per year (average over 2008-2010): 4
- Entry requirements: Latin to A-Level or equivalent for the 3 year course; less or no Latin for the 4 year course. Some experience of Greek is desirable, but the Intensive Greek programme caters for those beginning from scratch. Highly desirable, particularly for those without experience of ancient
languages, are A Level/IB Higher Level modern languages and essay-based
subjects. - Typical offer: A*AA (or equivalent – more information can be found in the offers table)
- Interview arrangements: Candidates have two subject interviews at Girton (plus, as for all Classics candidates, one interview at another college, centrally allocated). Candidates for the four-year course will also be asked to complete linguistic exercises at the Faculty. All candidates will be asked to submit by the end of November two
copies of two pieces of recent, marked schoolwork (on any subject). There will be a 30 minute written test on the day of the interview, normally a translation from Latin with some vocabulary help provided, but we take account of different language levels reached to date. The test and/or submitted work will be taken up in at least one of the interviews, and you may also be asked to look at a passage in translation. - Entrance Bursaries: the Anne and Caroline Wilson Fund provides bursaries for students of Classics who have financial need. This fund also enables us to offer every Classics student a £50 book grant
to reimburse the cost of set texts and grammars purchased in the summer
preceding their first year.
Brief outline of the course
Classics at Cambridge is offered as a three-year course for candidates with an A-Level or equivalent in Latin and as a four-year course, introduced in 2003, for candidates without as much (if any) experience in either language.
The three-year course is, in the first and second years (Part IA and Part IB), subdivided into Intensive Greek (for students without Greek A-Level or equivalent) and Non-Intensive Greek. Given extensive Faculty and college support in language and reading, Intensive Greek students successfully tackle the same range of options as Non-Intensive Greek students in the final year (Part II). See the Faculty admissions page for details and FAQs.
In the four-year course, candidates spend their first ('Prelim') year learning Latin and studying Roman culture; with help, they begin to read original Latin texts almost from the start. In the second year (Part IA), four-year course candidates join the Intensive Greek students beginning the three-year course and thereafter have the same options in philosophy, history, art and archaeology, and linguistics, as well as in literature.
The study of classical texts in the original is central to this degree and is compulsory until the final year. Throughout the two years of Part I, however, teaching and examining go well beyond the texts, offering students the chance to study the classical past through its thinking and ideas, its major events and the everyday lives of its people, its monuments and fragmented remains, and its idioms and dialects, as well as its literature. After sampling all approaches, students choose two of four disciplines (history, linguistics, archaeology, philosophy) to follow up in addition to literature, the combination depending on their interests. Part II offers the possibility to specialise further in one area or to construct a course of study ranging across a broader field, in the ancient world and beyond. Many students opt to write a dissertation, and several to take a paper from another Faculty (the 'Judaism and Hellenism' paper in Divinity, for example, or the 'Tragedy' paper in English).
Decisions about areas of specialisation etc. are taken with advice from your Director of Studies and your Supervisors; further course details can be obtained from the Faculty of Classics website.
Classics at Girton
Classics flourishes at Girton, and has been an important subject at the College since its foundation. A tradition of excellence among Girton Classics students was begun by Agnata Frances Ramsay, who in 1887 was the only candidate to be placed in the first division of the First Class of the Classics Tripos examination, an achievement honored with a cartoon in Punch. Students today continue that tradition, and go on to follow a fascinatingly diverse range of career paths. The College can also boast a distinguished line of Fellows in Classics, among them Alison Duke and Dr Dorothy Thompson (FBA), who now holds Life Fellowship.
Girton currently has two teaching Fellows in Classics, with a wide range of interests:
- Dr Helen Van Noorden (Wrigley Lecturer and Director of Studies in Classics) works on Greek and Latin literature, with particular interests in the interaction between poetry and philosophy. Her past and current research focuses on how different intellectual traditions within Classical Antiquity make use of narratives about the origin and destruction of humankind.
- Dr Neil Wright (Senior Language Teaching Officer in the Faculty of Classics) works on Latin literature of all periods, but particularly medieval Latin and the reception of the classics in the medieval period, Latin epic and historiography, and Latin prose and verse composition and style.
In the first two years, students are set linguistic work and an essay each week. Language teaching is done not only through (e.g.) unseen translation, but also through prose composition, which many students take on from scratch; it does wonders for an appreciation of literary style. In an eight-week term, four essays will be set on topics in Greek and Latin literature, and four on students' chosen options. Essays form the starting-point for discussion in pairs or a small group. Much of the supervision in literature and language is covered in College (though the supervisions themselves often take place in the Faculty building on the Sidgwick site, where your lectures and Faculty classes are held). Other subjects are supervised by specialists from other colleges, and this naturally increases at Part II.
There is an unusually good classical section in our library to support the study of Classics at Girton, and students also have the opportunity to make regular visits to our small antiquities museum, the Lawrence Room, which houses an admirable teaching collection of sherds, pots, glass, ‘Tanagra’ figurines, and many small finds from all over the classical world and (in the case of some of the Roman material) from beneath the College itself. The star of the museum is Hermione Grammatike, a Roman portrait mummy, excavated by Wm Flinders Petrie at the Fayum cemetery in Hawara early in 1911.
Girton is, in short, a wonderful place to further your study of Classics. Girton Classicists reap the benefits of membership of a College which has a strong tradition in Classics and which is fully integrated with the Classics Faculty – you will find, too, that Girtonians play an active role in Classics Faculty activities as well as in College – prize competitions, for instance, the Greek Play, the Student-Staff Joint Committee, and much else. Some Classicists do go on to research and teaching in schools and universities, or to work in archives, libraries and museums. However most go into other careers -in Law, commerce, accountancy, the Civil Service. the media, industry and business. In short, they readily find employment in many varied careers. Recent interviews with major employers have confirmed that they have a high opinion of Classicists as potential employees.
Do come and visit us, and see for yourself. We will be happy to meet you and answer any questions you may have.
Dr Helen Van Noorden – Director of Studies (email: hav21@cam.ac.uk)
We also have a Classical student representative, Tom Walker, who would be glad to answer informal questions about what it is like to live and work in the College.
to reimburse the cost of set texts and grammars purchased in the summer
preceding their first year.