Master of Arts - Classical Studies - Specialization in Medieval and Renaissance Studies (Thesis)

The Department of Classics and Religious Studies, located in the Faculty of Arts, offers a master’s program leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Classical Studies. The program comprises one main field: Late Antiquity (A.D. 200-700).

The objective of this program is to prepare the students for further study in the field of Late Antiquity, the important transitional period between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The Department also offers the possibility of studying Coptic, Syriac and Ethiopic (in addition to Latin and Greek). Candidates will acquire a thorough background that will enable them to pursue doctoral studies.

The program aims to refine critical and scholarly skills and to broaden the knowledge of its graduates in certain areas. The ability to conduct detailed research, to argue coherently, to write an academic paper, and other skills learned can be applied in careers outside academia. Several graduates find positions in local or federal government, where their training at the MA level is clearly valued.

The Department offers a collaborative program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the MA level. For more information on this program, see Admission Requirements.

The collaborative master’s in Medieval and Renaissance Studies (MDR) has two goals: • To offer at the graduate level a multi-disciplinary education in Medieval and Renaissance Studies; • To teach students the theoretical approaches and methods of research specific to the study of the period.

Since the 16th century, study of the Middle Ages implies studying a ‘middle’, or intermediary period, seen as standing between two great civilizations: Roman Antiquity and the modern western world. This definition has had a major impact on scholarship, crystallizing a periodization that has now become traditional in most of the humanities.