Master’s degrees & applications
Double portrait of Theodorus Comnenus
Ducas Syndenus, son of the foundress,
and his wife Eudocia Ducaena Comnena
Synadena Palaiologina. From the Typikon
of the Monastery of Our Lady of Good
Hope (Lincoln College Typikon; Lincoln
College, Ms. Gr. 35, fol. 8r) (By permission
of the Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford)
There are two taught programmes in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at Oxford: a one-year Master of Studies and a two-year Master of Philosophy. Both provide a platform for the research degrees of Master of Literature (M.Litt.) and Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.).
The Master’s degrees are administered through the History Graduate office, although teaching is administered by a collaborative effort of specialists from the faculties of Classics, History, Medieval and Modern Languages, Oriental Studies, Philosophy, and Theology, and the School of Archaeology.
The Master’s programmes provide a comprehensive introduction to the Roman world in Late Antiquity, to Byzantium, the medieval successor of the East Roman Empire, and to neighbouring peoples and their cultures. All students take a Special Subject in their preferred subject area of History, Art and Archaeology, Literature, or Religion and are required to take a course in History or Art and Archeology in either Late Antique or Byzantine Studies.
Students undergo intensive training in any one of the following ancient and medieval languages – Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic; they are also trained in one or more specialist auxiliary disciplines – papyrology, epigraphy, palaeography, numismatics, sigillography, or artefact studies (one of the following – ceramics, metalware, ivories, codices, carved marbles).
Both Master’s Degrees conclude at the end of Trinity Term with a the submission of extended essays, a dissertation of 10,000 words (M.St.) or 30,000 words (M.Phil.), and series of timed examinations, which are followed by a viva voce examination.