CLAS 2010

John Dillery is the best professor I have had at UVA, he really likes his job. Interesting class that I really enjoyed.

So this class is very misleading in that you do not learn about Greek Civilization. You learn about Greek values through ancient Greek literature. There is usually about 200-300 pages of fairly dense Greek reading a week (Plato, Aristophanes, Homer etc). Make sure you know what you're signing up for before you take this class! Listen to every quote that professor Dillery mentions in class because the tests are passage identification (identify the author, speaker, significance, chapter # etc.) and are very specific to his lessons. Overall he is a very passionate lecturer, but since I was not interested in Greek literature, the class got very dull sometimes. Papers aren't bad, but send them to the TA to review! It helps! And Bouxsein was an awesome TA. This was a rewarding course in that I learned a good bit and it was hard sometimes, but in retrospect I regret taking it. If you do all the work and reading, it takes hours and hours a week. The grading is pretty fair, though. If you put the right work in to it you'll be fine. Seriously, though, if you aren't interested in Greek literature... do not take this class!

A ton of reading, definitely more than was necessary...the exams were based almost entirely on the readings...the only connection to the lectures was that passages discussed in class were covered in lectures as well...too much reading, really only worthwhile if you are a Classics major or if you have an interest in Greek literature.

This class was a ton of reading, a lot of times you needed to read about 70 pages for each class. I found a lot of the readings to be interesting though. Two exams for this class and two short papers (5 pages). Going to class is important because the exams are mainly all passage identifications from passages focused on in class. If you do the readings and pay attention in class you will do fine. Dillery makes lectures interesting as well. Harold Reeves is also a good TA. If you are interested in Greek Civilization and don't mind the reading then you should take this class. If not, then avoid this class and save yourself a ton of time from all the reading.

So much reading, but Dillery is an awesome professor. I recommend this class highly

This class is amazing! The professor is very enthusiastic about his work and is always makes the lectures interesting. There is a lot of reading so beware, this is not an easy class. However, even if you have no prior knowledge of Greek Myth then you can definitely take this class because that is who it's targeted towards. I definitely recommend taking this class and experiencing having such an enthusiastic professor!

Professor Dillery is very enthusiastic and passionate about the subject which is nice because even if you aren't that interested in Greek Civ the lectures are usually pretty interesting. It is a VERY reading heavy course. You have to buy like 7 or 8 books and read large amounts for each class so be prepared for that. The papers are usually pretty easy and the exams are easy if you go to lecture because Dillery goes over all of the passages you will need to know in class. It's not the greatest class, but was definitely not as bad as I thought it would be.

I really loved this class! I was a little worried about how much reading it seemed like we had to do, but honestly it wasn't bad, and Dillery explains them all so well in class. Dillery is a GREAT lecturer. There are two papers, a midterm, and a final. As long as you go to class and take notes you should do fine. I highly recommend this class!

This class is very interesting for anyone who likes Ancient Greece/mythology, but be warned it includes a LOT of reading. I didn't mind all of the readings, usually about a book or two per week, but I could see someone disliking the course if they don't find the topic interesting because you have to read for every class. That being said, Professor Dillery is a phenomenal lecturer who is really enthusiastic about Greek classic literature and Ancient Greece. He had interesting lectures that always included some form of culture lesson as well, usually with art or architecture. He made sure to go over in detail every reading assignment in class, which was helpful for some of the more obscure works. I also had a great TA, Evan Waters, who made the discussions bearable on a Friday morning. The two papers were manageable and were fairly graded. I'd highly recommend this class to anyone who likes Ancient Greece and reading!

Do not underestimate the readings, there are SO many. In the beginning, reading the Iliad and the Odyssey aren't so bad but then you move into Herodotus and Thucydides and they were pretty hard to get through in my experience. It is pretty standard to have 100 pages of readings for each the Tuesday and Thursday lectures and then 100 more between Thursday and Friday for discussion. Other than that, Dilly is a really good lecturer and tells you exactly what you need to know for the tests as long as you take good notes. Tests were fair, the grading on the papers kind of bothered me because he only wanted to see his own ideas reflected on paper but otherwise, alright. It's not hard to do well in this class.