Greek as an academic discipline traditionally embraces the study of the Greek language and literature from the earliest period to the end of Late Antiquity (from ca. 700 BC to the 6th century AD). Texts written in Greek from the subsequent period (from the 6th century to the fall of Constantinople in 1453) most often fall within the scope of Byzantine studies.

In Uppsala these two disciplines now rather represent two different orientations of Greek, with focus on its earlier or later phase of development. It is often difficult to draw a line between the two orientations, which the latest PhD disserations show: one is a codocological analysis of codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8, a manuscript with both ancient and Byzantine texts, copied after the fall of Constantinople (so actually a post-Byzantine work, though highly relevant also for classicists), the other is a study in the rhetorical practices of the Gaza school, late 5th and early 6th century, a transition period between Late Antiquity and early Middle Ages. The same difficulties with boundaries arise when we deal with the Late Antique period, and while Ph.D. students are expected to chose an orientation towards either ancient or Byzantine Greek, many reseachers devore themselves to both periods.

Methodologically, a number of approaches are represented in Uppsala, textual and literary criticism as well as language history and codicology. Byzantine Studies also contain more interdisciplinary subdisciplines such as art history, cultural history and reception studies, all important complements to Greek in its entirety. Current text critical projects span a long period of time, from the Imperial period and Late Antiquity to the middle and late Byzantine periods. Several important studies (including critical text editions) of Byzantine hagiographical texts have been made in Uppsala over the years, and this tradition continues, but there is also ongoing work on new methods for both digital text editing and cataloging of medieval manuscripts. The same range is presented in literary and linguistic studies, where current research is dealing with ancient, Late Antique and Byzantine material. Some projects focus on reception theoretical aspects of ancient or Byzantine material, while others border upon cultural or mentality history. Art historical projects are devoted primarily to Ethiopian, Coptic and Syrian material, with a certain emphasis on illuminated manuscripts and mural paintings. Major works in the field are published in the series Studia Graeca Upsaliensia and Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia.