Ancient Worlds Network 2024/25

We are working hard to create a new programme for the Ancient Worlds Network for Year 12 students in the North West. This webpage will be updated as soon as possible with the new programme for the academic year 2024/25. If you have any questions about the Ancient Worlds Network, please contact  ancientworlds@ccc.ox.ac.uk

Why study the ancient world? 

One of the great reasons to study the ancient world at university is that it is fundamentally strange to us while recognisable in its foundations, a combination which is helpful in making us more aware of the peculiar way in which our own world works. The history, philosophy, archaeology and literature we have access to from the distant past is never easy to understand, and must be studied together in order to make sense of any single part.

The challenge is not to try and make the ancient world more familiar, but embrace its distance and strangeness as an asset, and use it to learn to ask better questions about individuals and society in any place and any time. This allows us to become more sensitive to our own thoughts, behaviours, and responses to the world around us.