Spring 2027

Fakes, Forgeries, and the Ethical Problems in Classical Antiquities

Examines the crisis of fakes and forgeries in classical antiquities, focusing on ancient Greek and Roman art from 1200 BCE to 400 CE, and includes comparative cases in modern art.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · William Aylward

The workload was manageable, allowing students to deprioritize the class when other commitments became demanding.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Summarize the crisis of forgeries in the world of ancient and modern art, with emphasis on forgeries of ancient Greek and Roman art from the period 1200 BCE to 400 CE.

  • Employ the basic vocabulary of art forgery and recognize the impact that fakes and forgeries have on perceptions of past civilizations and truths of the present day.

  • Identify original works from fakes and forgeries and discover the ways that fakes and forgeries can distort understandings about the past and present.

  • Employ tools for art historical analysis and the study of forgeries and discuss these matters with peers.

  • Organize material to produce coherent and cogent arguments and think critically about the impact of ancient art (both real and fake) on today's modern world

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
CLASSICS 120

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

WILLIAM AYLWARD is recorded teaching in Fall 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

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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · William Aylward

Students found the course engaging due to the professor's evident passion for the topics, making it a worthwhile choice even for those taking it for credits.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 82.6% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · William Aylward

The workload was manageable, allowing students to deprioritize the class when other commitments became demanding.

Past student reviews · William Aylward

Reviewers highlighted that the instructor's enthusiasm made the material interesting and helped them learn a significant amount.

Topics

  • Ancient Greek and Roman art from 1200 BCE to 400 CE
  • Comparative cases in modern art
  • Vocabulary of fakes and their impact on perceptions of past civilizations and present-day truths
  • Critical thinking about the impact of ancient art in modern times

Skills

  • Distinguish originals from counterfeits, deploy tools for art historical analysis, discuss ethical problems with peers, and organize evidence to produce coherent arguments.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

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AB
B
BC
C
D
F
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "9f7c640ef3f8660bf72dc360c134db4a1a73a3f1dd1244f24a0a3c8ff9445283",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}