Everything has a history. From a national constitution to modern consumer culture, from the rise of empires to global environmental crises, from the human species to your family: history interrogates the forces that have made the world in which you live. It helps you to understand the present by understanding the past. Beyond exploring societies of years gone by, history teaches students how to investigate the more abstract elements of studies of the past by questioning how history has been produced, and how it informs our approach to the challenges of the future.

History and Classical Studies at ANU encompasses History (North American history; Australian history; biography; British history; and European history), as well as Classics and Ancient History (ancient history; Ancient Greek; and Latin). History at ANU explores the evolution of modern nations including Australia, the United States, Asia and Europe, tracing themes such as empire, terrorism, revolution, war, gender, race, technology and the environment. Classical Studies focuses on two of the great civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean, Greece and Rome. These civilisations have been enormously influential and still have a lasting legacy in modern times. Much of Western culture claims descent from Greece and Rome, yet these ancient societies were also exotically different from our own.

Check the School of History website for more information on the faculty, research, projects, latest news, upcoming events and more.

*QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023

^Times Higher Education - Global University Employability Ranking 2021