Spring 2027

The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome

Explores the art and archaeology of ancient Italy, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 William Aylward4.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · William Aylward

Grades were based solely on four exams, but the instructor provided detailed study guides well in advance and explicitly stated what to expect, making preparation straightforward.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Demonstrate knowledge of ancient Roman society and culture.

  • Examine, analyze, and interpret material culture.

  • Critique ancient Greek, Roman, and/or Near Eastern societies and cultures and compare them to other societies and cultures.

  • Understand and evaluate the art and archaeology of ancient Rome, current archaeological methods, the ethics of collecting antiquities, and the legacy of ancient Roman material culture and technologies.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ARTHIST/CLASSICS 304

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

William Aylward

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.42/5 from 178 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.3/5 raw quality · 2.0/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · William Aylward

William Aylward graded the course on four exams, including two midterms and a final. He provided study guides in advance, changed the final to shorter take-home essays, and based midterms on infopics from the text. Students described him as passionate, humorous, and accessible, noting he clearly wanted students to succeed.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.43 GPA, 69.8% A/AB (n=53 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.47 GPA, 69.0% A/AB (n=58 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 79.2% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Nicholas Cahill

Past students found Nicholas Cahill’s course demanding. One found first weeks intimidating due to a vast amount of information, and advised note-taking, textbook reading, and exam review. Another said lectures were disorganized, using images without slides or notes, and that exam and 10-page paper criteria were unclear, grading was harsh, and feedback was slow.

NICHOLAS CAHILL is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

WILLIAM AYLWARD is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · William Aylward

William Aylward teaches with passion and humor, creating an engaging environment where he clearly cares about student success. Students found the course content accessible and supported by his approachable teaching style.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.68 GPA, 77.3% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 79.2% A/AB (n=24 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.58 GPA, 74.2% A/AB (n=31 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · William Aylward

Grades were based solely on four exams, but the instructor provided detailed study guides well in advance and explicitly stated what to expect, making preparation straightforward.

Past student reviews · William Aylward

One student appreciated the instructor’s decision to replace a difficult final exam schedule with shorter take-home essays, noting his willingness to adjust assessments for student convenience.

Topics

  • Art and archaeology of ancient Italy, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity.
  • Current archaeological methods, ethics of collecting antiquities, and the legacy of Roman material culture and technologies.

Skills

  • Examine, analyze, and interpret material culture.
  • Critique and compare ancient societies and cultures.
  • Evaluate archaeological methods, ethics of collecting, and technological legacies.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ARTHIST/CLASSICS 304 · Spring 2027

The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome

Recorded 2026-10-14
ARTHIST/CLASSICS 304 · Spring 2027

The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "offering_id": "1274:180:001308",
    "course_id": "ARTHIST/CLASSICS 304",
    "course_uid": "course_6b9725f707372f60cdd26af6",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001308",
    "source_subject_id": "180",
    "title": "The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  },
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:244:001308",
    "course_id": "ARTHIST/CLASSICS 304",
    "course_uid": "course_6b9725f707372f60cdd26af6",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001308",
    "source_subject_id": "244",
    "title": "The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "594587224ef5286e215f673d54692a3adf9993c29ef5b19b5cd4e5f84f3e5f68",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}