Spring 2027

Topics in Classical Archaeology

Topics in Classical Archaeology explores the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome, including the Seven Wonders, Greek and Roman religion, and Late Antique Palaces.

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

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · William Aylward

The course required significant reading, and some specific information was only available during lectures rather than in the written materials.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Demonstrate knowledge of Classical and ancient Near Eastern societies and cultures.

  • 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.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
CLASSICS 430

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: 3.0/5 raw quality · 3.3/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

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

Past student reviews · William Aylward

Students described William Aylward as a knowledgeable and hilarious lecturer who was invested in his work. They noted that the course involved lots of reading and that some information was only available during lectures. One reviewer found him willing to talk during office hours.

One student found William Aylward to be a very unclear lecturer who rushed office hours and did not answer questions.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2015: 3.11 GPA, 55.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.61 GPA, 74.5% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.61 GPA, 73.7% A/AB (n=38 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

WILLIAM AYLWARD is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2015, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. 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 / 240

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 taught Troy: Myth and Reality with engaging, hilarious lectures and demonstrated extensive knowledge of the subject.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2017: 3.43 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.61 GPA, 74.5% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.61 GPA, 73.7% A/AB (n=38 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · William Aylward

The course required significant reading, and some specific information was only available during lectures rather than in the written materials.

Past student reviews · William Aylward

A student who took the class for the third consecutive semester noted that the professor was willing to talk with students during office hours.

Topics

  • Archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome
  • The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
  • Archaeology of Greek and Roman religion
  • Late Antique Palaces

Skills

  • Examine, analyze, and interpret material culture.
  • Critique and compare ancient Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern societies to other cultures.

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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
CLASSICS 430 · Spring 2027

Topics in Classical Archaeology

Recorded 2026-10-14
CLASSICS 430 · Spring 2027

Troy & the Trojan War

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:244:003725",
    "course_id": "CLASSICS 430",
    "course_uid": "course_352415d8b20c5921ef3f9eea",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003725",
    "source_subject_id": "244",
    "title": "Topics in Classical Archaeology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:244:003725.4",
    "course_id": "CLASSICS 430",
    "course_uid": "course_352415d8b20c5921ef3f9eea",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003725.4",
    "source_subject_id": "244",
    "title": "Troy & the Trojan War",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
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 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "cfc4db09df01d9743d07bee432cacd9443dee749189a465da368bceea3497e02",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}