HIST 116B
Byzantine History
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Political, socioeconomic, religious, and cultural continuity in millennial history of Byzantium. Reforms of Diocletian. Byzantium's relations with Latin Europe, Slavs, Sassanids, Arabs, and Turks. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
1 of 1
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - If you are a history buff, then you will definitely love this course; however, if you're not a History major, STAY AWAY!!! Professor Langdon is a great professor, and his enthusiasm for the subject matter is projected in the lectures, but the workload is not easy. Professor is very clear, sometimes funny, and cares a lot about the success of his students. Unfortunately, his teaching methods are VERY old school. Get ready to read about 30+ pages a night on Byzantine history and fully invest all your time in passing this class. There is no homework besides the readings to keep up with lectures. On the bright side, he provides a binder's worth of detailed notes and timelines to provide context for lectures and historical timelines to keep track of for the exams. The class is basically graded solely on the exams. So, make sure to take detailed notes while listening to his lectures. The course has two exams: 1 optional midterm (I recommend taking it for extra pts) and the final. Both exams are extremely difficult and require you to memorize a good chunk of the reading to recall specific historical events and leaders. All the exams are written responses (IN-PERSON), there are about 3 questions for the short response, each with about 2-3 in-depth smaller elements (part a, b, c) within each. The final portion is a 1-2 page essay-long response. Passing this class is possible, but you're going to have to devote a lot of time and effort to understanding the lectures and key players & events to succeed on the exams. Personally, I wished Professor Langdon would've added more homework assignments and offered more opportunities for credit to lessen the pressure on students on the final exam. This class could've been more fun and engaging if he included more creative projects and presentations—anything besides reading straight from a textbook written in the 1960s.
Winter 2022 - If you are a history buff, then you will definitely love this course; however, if you're not a History major, STAY AWAY!!! Professor Langdon is a great professor, and his enthusiasm for the subject matter is projected in the lectures, but the workload is not easy. Professor is very clear, sometimes funny, and cares a lot about the success of his students. Unfortunately, his teaching methods are VERY old school. Get ready to read about 30+ pages a night on Byzantine history and fully invest all your time in passing this class. There is no homework besides the readings to keep up with lectures. On the bright side, he provides a binder's worth of detailed notes and timelines to provide context for lectures and historical timelines to keep track of for the exams. The class is basically graded solely on the exams. So, make sure to take detailed notes while listening to his lectures. The course has two exams: 1 optional midterm (I recommend taking it for extra pts) and the final. Both exams are extremely difficult and require you to memorize a good chunk of the reading to recall specific historical events and leaders. All the exams are written responses (IN-PERSON), there are about 3 questions for the short response, each with about 2-3 in-depth smaller elements (part a, b, c) within each. The final portion is a 1-2 page essay-long response. Passing this class is possible, but you're going to have to devote a lot of time and effort to understanding the lectures and key players & events to succeed on the exams. Personally, I wished Professor Langdon would've added more homework assignments and offered more opportunities for credit to lessen the pressure on students on the final exam. This class could've been more fun and engaging if he included more creative projects and presentations—anything besides reading straight from a textbook written in the 1960s.
AD
1 of 1
