Classics and Ancient Civilizations: Assyriology

The master's in Assyriology, a specialisation of the Classics and Ancient Civilizations programme, at Leiden University provides you with a multidisciplinary study of the languages, literatures and cultures of ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia.

The master in Assyriology is a one-year programme that gives you the opportunity to study with internationally acclaimed academics immersed in the latest research and engaged in actively expanding our knowledge of the field. Your teachers are not only experts in languages and cultures of the ancient Middle East, but also active researchers engaged in innovative projects that constantly build bridges between cutting-edge research and the courses in your programme. The programme offers basic and advanced language and script training in the three major languages that were written in cuneiform (Akkadian, Sumerian and Hittite). We encourage all our students to work with original clay tablets, kept at the Netherlands Institute of the Near East in Leiden.

You will be able to tailor your study programme to your personal interests by creating your own combination of courses from the Assyriology programme or from other programmes within the Faculties of Humanities and of Archaeology. We encourage all students to consider applying for a study visit abroad. As a student of Assyriology you can join research programmes at one of our partner universities.