AN N EA M70
Demons, Fear, and Uncanny in Ancient World
Description: (Same as Religion M70.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Consideration of place of demons and fear in several different societies and cultures in ancient world: Mesopotamia; ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; and Biblical and early Jewish contexts. Investigation into why demons and monsters existed in these cultures; how they were opposed or protected again; and what these different societies feared, and how that fear was represented. As demons and monsters are reflections of particular culturally specific fears and norms, studying them allows for examination of societies that constructed them. Examination of how fear of threats such as disease, illness, and death were constructed alongside fears of foreign and of women. Critical examination of wide range of primary source texts, addressing core question of how different societies construct unique fears--and how those fears shape those societies in turn. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - This was the easiest class I have ever taken. I put by far the least effort into it compared to my other classes and still ended up with an A+. There are a lot of quizzes, a midterm, a short paper and a final paper but the quizzes and the midterm are directly from the lecture and super easy if you attend class. I'll give you an example: We spent like weeks learning about this one demon, and then the quiz question was literally a picture of the demon and "who is this?" That was worth like 10 points of the quiz. There is a lot of busy work but they are memes that you create and are genuinely graded on completion. The only thing that they were kind of picky on was the short paper but still, I think the average was like a 90. TBH I found lecture really boring but I did like Discussion a lot, my TA Caitlyn was really chill and nice. I also don't really think you need to do the readings. They talk about them a lot in class so you will be able to easily stay on track. I would say that if you are considering taking 4 classes and want an easy GE to fulfill, this would be it. Super easy to add on to a big class load because it isn't really that demanding
Fall 2025 - This was the easiest class I have ever taken. I put by far the least effort into it compared to my other classes and still ended up with an A+. There are a lot of quizzes, a midterm, a short paper and a final paper but the quizzes and the midterm are directly from the lecture and super easy if you attend class. I'll give you an example: We spent like weeks learning about this one demon, and then the quiz question was literally a picture of the demon and "who is this?" That was worth like 10 points of the quiz. There is a lot of busy work but they are memes that you create and are genuinely graded on completion. The only thing that they were kind of picky on was the short paper but still, I think the average was like a 90. TBH I found lecture really boring but I did like Discussion a lot, my TA Caitlyn was really chill and nice. I also don't really think you need to do the readings. They talk about them a lot in class so you will be able to easily stay on track. I would say that if you are considering taking 4 classes and want an easy GE to fulfill, this would be it. Super easy to add on to a big class load because it isn't really that demanding
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