<p>I really want to get into Ancient History, and learn a lot. What would be better classics or a history degree, where I specialize in Ancient History. I know Classics is very literature oriented, and that isn't really what I want to do, although I am very good at latin.</p>
<p>Yay! Another ancient history person (Duke has an awesome program, but then I'm biased). Keep in mind that ancient history does not exist in a vacuum. You MUST deal with ancient sources in ancient history (Thucydides, Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, etc.), so you can't really escape from literature. Some of these history sources, like Herodotus, can be rather fun to read, though. If by ancient history you mean the history of Greece and Rome, a classics major is best (classical history classes in the history department are usually taught by classics faculty). Also, most classics departments have the archaeology courses needed to grasp ancient history; history departments may or may not offer these. However, if by ancient history you mean a broader program (the Americas, China, etc.), then perhaps a history major is best. At many schools you can create an interdisciplinary major, so it would actually be very possible to combine classics and history. A few schools, like Brown and U Chicago, even have a major called "Ancient Studies" that covers most of the ancient world.</p>
<p>Some classics programs allow you to study just history and culture, as in not the language, really. Anyway, it is far more likely that you will study a larger body of ancient history this way than as a history major. Also, in history, you will read lots of literature, so don't expect to avoid lit thorugh history.</p>
<p>Which is better? It depends on the specific program you participate in, but they will likely be fairly similar, with different requirements of you and the classes that you take.</p>