MA Classics - Focal Area Latin Studies
Students specialising in Latin Studies within the MA Classics programme engage with Latin texts handed down from antiquity, examining both their historical and cultural context and their linguistic and literary form.
The MA Classics preserves the strengths of specialized expertise in the classical studies of the ancient world – which are excellently represented in Heidelberg across the individual disciplines – and complements them with a multifaceted, interdisciplinary, and comparative approach to the cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and adjacent regions. Students receive a sound education in their chosen focal area, which qualifies them for a doctorate, whilst at the same time developing a broad interdisciplinary perspective. This enables them to address complex research questions from multiple perspectives and with methodological rigour.
Each focal area pursues specific qualification objectives tailored to the degree programme. The modules offer in-depth study within specific disciplines and ensure eligibility for doctoral studies. The fundamental interdisciplinary approach is reflected in joint courses that transcend disciplinary boundaries.
Subject-specific learning objectives
Latin Studies focuses on the study of Latin literature, its history and its reception within a European context. As an integral part of general and comparative literature, Latin Studies examines the conditions that male scholarly analysis of aesthetic and cultural phenomena possible in the first place.
The degree programme focuses on the following aspects:
- Language, as the medium of communication and a prerequisite for the texts
- The texts as literature and their formal structure
- Hellenistic-Roman culture as the historical context
From a methodological perspective, two complementary approaches are key: a historical one and a structural one. The historical approach aims to understand a text, its origins and its impact within the context of its time. This approach links Latin Studies with other classical disciplines, in particular Ancient History, Archaeology and Indo-European Studies. Together with these disciplines, it seeks to explore the culture of Greco-Roman antiquity. The structural approach focuses on the text itself, its form, its content and its stylistic and aesthetic qualities. It establishes links with other philological disciplines that investigate analogous phenomena within their respective fields, and enables a comparative description of the complex relationship between ancient texts and the European literary tradition.
Courses
All courses in Classical Philology (Greek and Latin Studies) and the other focal areas of the Master’s programme can be viewed via heiCO.
Please note that the registration periods for courses in the individual specialisation areas and related degree programmes vary. Information on the relevant periods can be found on the departments’ websites and on heiCO.
The registration period for courses in Classical Philology (Greek and Latin) for the winter semester is as follows:
1 September – 30 September 2026.
Individual courses can be registered for until 7 October.
Withdrawal from courses is generally possible until 7 October 2026.
