Arabic and Ancient Greek

Few degree combinations reveal the deep connections between language, thought, and civilisation as clearly as Arabic and Ancient Greek. These are two of the world's great scholarly languages, each central to the intellectual traditions that shaped not only their own cultures but also the wider sweep of European and Islamic thought. Arabic carried the works of Aristotle and other classical philosophers into the medieval Islamic world, where scholars translated, extended, and transformed them, before those ideas flowed back into Western Europe from the 12th century onwards.

Studying the two languages together gives you access to this history at its source.

At Edinburgh you will develop genuine proficiency in both Arabic and Ancient Greek, reading texts in their original form and engaging with the grammatical, literary, and philosophical traditions associated with each language. This is a four-year full-time degree, giving you sufficient time to build real competence in two demanding linguistic systems alongside the cultural and historical knowledge that makes those systems meaningful. The typical entry tariff for this programme is 168 UCAS points.

You will engage with poetry, philosophy, history, and theology, tracing lines of influence across cultures and centuries and developing the kind of comparative, cross-cultural analytical skills that are unusual and genuinely valued.

Graduates with expertise in Arabic and Ancient Greek are well positioned for careers in academia, where postgraduate research in classical studies, Islamic studies, or the history of ideas is a natural continuation. Beyond universities, these graduates work in diplomacy, international organisations, journalism, translation, heritage, and intelligence. The rigorous linguistic training and deep humanistic knowledge the degree provides are assets in any field that demands careful reading, precise writing, and the ability to work across cultural boundaries.