Personally this class wasn't my cup of tea. This might not be the GE for you if you want something with minimal commitment since there is a lot of reading. I only kept up the first half of the quarter (pre-midterm) and after that the reading became too much for me. After the first midterm I completely stopped reading since the readings just got longer and harder to follow. Fortunately, Professor Ellis made the final optional and cancelled a term paper due to the strikes. I fortunately passed with a 91% solely based off a group project (which is easy) and the midterm. From what I have observed the people who consistently enjoyed the material and knew what was going on were people who already dabbled in mythology before. Professor Ellis isn't a bad lecturer by any means, he kinda looks like an older Andrew Garfield and he's British if that's an incentive to anyone (his photo here on Bruinwalk doesn't serve him justice IMO) and my TA Emma was really cool and made people feel welcomed. This might be a very easy GE for you if you enjoy reading and go to his lectures everyday, but again, as someone who had 3 other demanding STEM classes, this class became a drag for me and I was only lucky in the given circumstances.

I really enjoyed his class and the lectures were always very interesting. Sometimes I would say the workload was a lot but not out of the expected for a GE. It was just a lot of reading but a lot of the reading was very fun and the lectures would help clear up any confusion. The grading scheme was 20% section attendance, 20% midterm, 25% group essay, 35% final. However, there was supposed to be an individual 5-6 page paper, he had cancelled it and the final became optional due to the protests.

I would recommend this class to anyone with an interest in Greek mythology, otherwise the readings would not be fun to read. A little bit of prior knowledge of Greek myth is required to fully understand the texts.

I really liked this class, and would recommend for anyone interested in mythology and people's belief systems. There was a moderate amount of reading to do, not too much but it would be difficult if another class you are taking also has a lot of required readings. The professor is really cool and makes the lectures pretty engaging. The workload isn't too bad, although there are two projects that require some creativity, which was challenging for me. The 'exams' were just timed analysis of some passages from what we had read and gone over in lecture.

I would highly recommend this class for anyone interested in learning more about ancient human beliefs and historical mythology. Professor Ellis' passion for the subject is wonderfully contagious, and while he can sometimes spiral into rants nobody quite understands at times, he always finds a way to circle back to the subject. The assignments are clear and manageable, and many of the TAs for this class are just hilarious and so helpful (I had Lena Barsky). Many of the stories we learn in class are fascinating and implement themes familiar in our modern life, revealing what patterns humans have gravitated towards since the dawn of storytelling.
I will miss this class's lectures and sections. If you can, take it!

I really liked Professor Ellis. His lectures are really engaging and he has a fantastic british accent. There are three PATs in this class, which are passage analysis tests where you have to respond to two quotations from the texts. If you go to lecture and read the texts, you'll be fine. It was kind of hilarious because my TA (Shoutout Lena) was lowkey beefing with him throughout the quarter over grading stuff, because he was apparently swooping in and giving people different grades than what the TA did. I didn't really notice any of this though, and didn't have any problem. Overall I really liked Professor Ellis, and he really cared about teaching and the subject matter.

Selling required reading materials for this class.

Gods, Heroes, and Monster - $20
Sophocles, Oedipus the Kind - $5
Euripides Bacchae and Other Plays - $ 10