We are fortunate in having seven Fellows: Professor Tim Whitmarsh, Professor Emily Gowers, Professor Geoff Horrocks, Professor Malcolm Schofield, Dr John Weisweiler, Dr Ester Salgarella, and Dr Talitha Kearey who teach different aspects of the subject. Much of the supervision for Parts IA and IB, the first two years of the degree, is organised within the College. Part II courses tend to be more specialised, and the supervision teaching is often co-ordinated centrally by the relevant Course Directors (appointed by the Faculty of Classics).

The Faculty arranges lectures and classes, and houses its own library and the Museum of Classical Archaeology, but the College also provides excellent facilities for those studying the subject. The library is well stocked with the books and periodicals recommended by the Faculty for its courses, and the College provides a generous book grant to enable you to purchase the essential texts.

St John’s has an active College Classical Society that organises talks and social events, and there are also a number of College prizes for Classicists. We have recently introduced a new series, the annual Newell Classics Event, to bring interesting figures in the public eye to Cambridge and get them to share their enthusiasm. Recent speakers have included Emily Wilson (classicist and translator of the Odyssey), Tom Holland (historian), A.C. Grayling (philosopher), Ali Smith (novelist) and Charlotte Higgins (the Guardian's chief culture writer).

Anyone can study Classics at Cambridge: there are no subject-specific A-level requirements. There are two pathways: the three-year option (for people who have at least one classical language up to A-level standard) and the four-year option (for people who do not). In addition, you can study Classics jointly with Modern Languages.

The three-year option

The three-year Classical Tripos (the syllabus and examination set by the University) is for applicants who are doing Latin A Level (or equivalent). This course has two parts: Part I is studied over the first and second years, with Part II usually at the end of your third year (though a small number of students opt for a two-year Part II). Part I is split into Part IA, with an exam at the start of the Easter term so that you (and we) can gauge your progress since coming to Cambridge, and Part IB, taken at the end of the second year. There are special Intensive Greek courses for the large number of applicants who are accepted without A Level or equivalent, and for these students the Faculty provides weekly reading and grammar classes throughout the Part 1A year, backed up by teaching in the College. All students have the option of attending language support classes in Greek and/or Latin in their Part 1A and 1B years.

Classics is the study not just of the Classical languages but also of two whole civilisations, and in the two years leading up to Part IB students are introduced to all aspects of the ancient world. You can then select from a huge range of options in Part II and concentrate on those subjects in which you have a special interest.

Further details of courses and syllabuses can be found on the Faculty website, but a brief summary of the first year course may be helpful here.

The integrating focus is a group of central texts in each language. Classes and supervisions on these help you to develop a number of related linguistic skills. There is a new-style Part IA exam for 2014-15, consisting of three compulsory papers: Greek Language and Texts, Latin Language and Texts and Classical Questions. The first two papers (which have different versions for Intensive Greek and Intensive Latin students) require you a) to translate unseen passages of Greek or Latin and b) to give detailed literary and stylistic analysis of a passage from the target texts. The Classical Questions paper is divided into sections: Section A is a selection of general essay questions on the target texts; Section B contains questions on Philosophy, History, Art & Archaeology and Linguistics/ Philology. You must answer three questions, at least one from each section. Further papers, in prose and verse composition in Greek and Latin, are optional.

Part IA students will have an integrated lecture programme centred on the target texts and designed to provide a focused introduction to all aspects of antiquity: Greek and Roman literature, history, philosophy, religion, art and archaeology, and the techniques of modern linguistics as applied to Greek and Latin. It is hoped that students will sample a wide selection of courses, to provide themselves not only with a good general knowledge but also with a sound basis for making subject choices in their second year.

Work for Part IB will begin in the Easter Term of the first year, following exams at the start of that term. At the end of your second year, you will take translation papers in Greek and Latin, which will consist of unseen and seen (set text) translation. Two literature papers, Greek and Latin, remain compulsory, and you are asked to choose two more papers out of Philosophy, History, Art & Archaeology and Linguistics/Philology. Again, there are further optional papers, in prose and verse composition in Greek and Latin.

The four-year option  

This option is designed for those applicants who have not had the opportunity to study Latin to A Level at school. All students accepted for the course will be asked to attend the JACT Latin Summer School in the summer before they arrive in Cambridge. In the first year you will concentrate on Latin language, and Roman literature and culture through the study of original Latin texts, with a Preliminary exam in the summer including two papers and a portfolio of essays. Much of the teaching will take place in Faculty-based classes, but there will also be College supervisions. In the second year you will join those taking the three-year degree without A-level Greek in the Intensive Greek programme, and take appropriate options in Parts IA and IB and Part II.