Medieval and Ancient Studies B.A.
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Division of Humanities (MDHU)
202 - Bachelor of Arts
Program description
Medieval and Ancient Studies (MAS) is an interdisciplinary major and minor in the humanities division, administered by the medieval and ancient studies faculty and the chair of the humanities division.
Medieval Studies examines primarily European languages, literature, cultures, and material remains of human societies from roughly 500 to 1500 CE. Ancient Studies examines the languages, literature, cultures, and material remains of human societies from roughly 3000 BCE to 500 CE. The fields include anthropology, archaeology, art history, English, history, math, philosophy, political science, theatre, music, world languages, and areas such as gender and religion with historical roots in ancient and classical periods and Byzantine cultures. These fields provide an opportunity for students to think synthetically across disciplines and geographies. Uniquely, UMN Morris includes the study of Indigenous languages, spoken across the same times as the more exclusively understood European Middle Ages.
Coursework in Medieval Studies enhances understanding of artistic and material relics of the Middle Ages and many of the foundational choices that have made the world what it is today, for good and ill. Many current challenges in the fields of Western law, human rights, attitudes toward power, authority, gender relations, and sexual mores derive from how these were viewed a millennium ago.
Coursework in Ancient Studies enhances understanding of literary and material relics of the ancient world on all continents: the languages and cultures of the Americas prior to European colonization, and the prehistoric cultures of Asia and Africa. The cultures of the ancient world built the foundations of art, thought, literature, architecture, religion, and politics on which much of the modern world still rests, for better or worse.
Program Student Learning Outcomes:
Students explore implications and intersections of products of the medieval and ancient world across disciplinary, chronological, and geographical barriers. This major prepares students for graduate study in many academic fields as well as internship and career opportunities from museum curating to education, law, and data analysis.
The Medieval and Ancient Studies curriculum is designed to ensure that students:
1. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the key dates, people, places, and events of the Middle Ages. and Antiquity.
2. Read, write, and discuss in an analytical fashion primary and/or secondary texts related to the Middle Ages and Antiquity.
3. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the range of cultures, languages, schools of thought, and religion in the Middle Ages and Antiquity and how these are reflective of personal and social contexts.
4. Critically analyze, interpret, and synthesize various types of evidence for the medieval and ancient periods.
5. Apply methodologies and critical paradigms from relevant academic fields to explain ways in which the medieval and ancient past, including language, is tied to various places, times, and cultural contexts.
Medieval Studies examines primarily European languages, literature, cultures, and material remains of human societies from roughly 500 to 1500 CE. Ancient Studies examines the languages, literature, cultures, and material remains of human societies from roughly 3000 BCE to 500 CE. The fields include anthropology, archaeology, art history, English, history, math, philosophy, political science, theatre, music, world languages, and areas such as gender and religion with historical roots in ancient and classical periods and Byzantine cultures. These fields provide an opportunity for students to think synthetically across disciplines and geographies. Uniquely, UMN Morris includes the study of Indigenous languages, spoken across the same times as the more exclusively understood European Middle Ages.
Coursework in Medieval Studies enhances understanding of artistic and material relics of the Middle Ages and many of the foundational choices that have made the world what it is today, for good and ill. Many current challenges in the fields of Western law, human rights, attitudes toward power, authority, gender relations, and sexual mores derive from how these were viewed a millennium ago.
Coursework in Ancient Studies enhances understanding of literary and material relics of the ancient world on all continents: the languages and cultures of the Americas prior to European colonization, and the prehistoric cultures of Asia and Africa. The cultures of the ancient world built the foundations of art, thought, literature, architecture, religion, and politics on which much of the modern world still rests, for better or worse.
Program Student Learning Outcomes:
Students explore implications and intersections of products of the medieval and ancient world across disciplinary, chronological, and geographical barriers. This major prepares students for graduate study in many academic fields as well as internship and career opportunities from museum curating to education, law, and data analysis.
The Medieval and Ancient Studies curriculum is designed to ensure that students:
1. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the key dates, people, places, and events of the Middle Ages. and Antiquity.
2. Read, write, and discuss in an analytical fashion primary and/or secondary texts related to the Middle Ages and Antiquity.
3. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the range of cultures, languages, schools of thought, and religion in the Middle Ages and Antiquity and how these are reflective of personal and social contexts.
4. Critically analyze, interpret, and synthesize various types of evidence for the medieval and ancient periods.
5. Apply methodologies and critical paradigms from relevant academic fields to explain ways in which the medieval and ancient past, including language, is tied to various places, times, and cultural contexts.
Program last updated
Fall 2025