Richard Billows

Going into this class, I was looking forward to building a strong basis in Western Political Philosophy, this is what the class is designed to provide. This, however, was Professor Billows' 40th year teaching CC, so it was obvious he was pretty sick of teaching a lot of the texts. What resulted was 2 two-hour discussions about politics and world events vaguely related to the themes of that week's assigned reading. Professor Billows is affable enough, always willing to hear student's opinions, and genuinely interested in fostering conversation. He is also very outspoken about his own opinions, which I personally didn't mind. It is easy to do well in his class, but if you want a CC class that you will leave with a deepened knowledge of the Western Philosophic canon and solid skills in the field, you will leave slightly dissatisfied.

Basic CC readings. He did add the Maelian Dialogue which was actually great.

I heard good things about him from people who took his Greek class. He is just a stubborn old man. He stated the class' intention is to read the books that have influenced our culture and society and to understand how they did so. All sounded very interesting to me. We started with the Bible and he gave a disclaimer that he was atheist, but that really shouldn't matter imo. He presented the Bible in a critical lens, which is important, but he went on to challenge historical authenticity, criticize the catechism, etc. in a way that lacked information. For a man that has taught the class for 40 years, you would think he at least read the books he teaches. He made some valid critiques of christian practices, especially regarding their Biblical basis, but seemed to have only read Genesis and the 10 commandments, since I brought up other sections and he was like 'I don't know about that'. How can you teach the Bible if you haven't read it? I'm sure he knows but pleads ignorance to push an agenda, given he has been teaching that exact class since 1985. He even went on to defend why the New Oxford translation is chosen. Isn't the whole point of the class to read books that have influenced our society? So why not read KJV (which is what people read back then and were influenced by)? He made some comments calling it too conservative and seemed to insinuate that the girl of color who su…

Billows is one of the best professors I have ever encountered at Columbia. This class covers everything you would want to learn about Ancient Greek from around 800 BCE to the coming of the Romans. Billows is very funny, and has some very hot takes (like how Alexander the Great wasn't great, and how Spartans were HORRIBLE people). He also goes on tangents about random topics sometimes (usually American politics), so class may end 5-10 minutes late. However, it is all worth it! I learned so much about a period of history that I basically had little knowledge of, and Billows had made the class one of my most fun classroom experiences at Columbia.

Professor Billows is wonderful. He is kind, respectful and helpful to his students. It seems he actually enjoys teaching and sincerely cares about his students which, I believe, is not always the case of Columbia Professors. He is also a good lecturer and actually pretty funny, which can be useful as not everyone naturally gets excited about Ancient history. This Ancient Roman History course covered about 1000 years but Professor Billows did a great job structuring it. Just note that he particularly enjoys focusing on military history. Yet, he does make sure to cover all major topics but, as any lecturer, he focuses more on what he enjoys whenever possible. I would definitely recommend taking this class. It will be a pleasure, you will come out with a good understanding of Roman history and especially a better idea of how to work with ancient primary sources.

Great lecturer, really funny and gets off on random tangents to make snarky remarks about politics, government, religion, etc. He paces around a lot and knows his subject material off the back of his hand. The class was 100% lecture based and, though he did go over about 10 minutes most classes, his talks are interesting enough to make up for it. He is able to make the material come alive and be relevant.

Though this is an introductory course, it would be interesting to include more secondary literature on the Ancient Greeks and the imaginary of them in the Western mind, especially in the discussion sections. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2024 Course: HISTUN1011_001_2024_3-ANCGREEKHIST800-146BC-DISC : HISTUN1011_001_2024_3 - ANC GREEK HIST 800-146 BC-DISC Instructor: Richard Billows

If you want a good grade, don't want to put in too much work, and want to walk away from CC having learnt something, THIS IS THE CLASS FOR YOU! He begins with class everyday rocking in his chair like your typical grandpa, and briefs us about each author. It is obvious he is very well-read, has his own perspective on each of the others. After an introduction, he usually asks for our opinions. Most people haven't read the material or don't know what to say about it, and Billows doesn't mind continuing talking by himself. We spend most of the class debating a lot of contemporary issues. So if that's problem for anyone, this isn't the class for you then. However, Billows is able to tie back those issues to the text, and draw some interesting conclusions. I have probably put in zero work (besides essays), but I've walked away learning something substantial. He takes forever to hand back assignments, but its not that big of a deal. Grading: Overall, he seems relatively simple. Just agree with what he says in class, and you can't do too poorly.

Billows is one of those "old time" lecturers. That is, he lectures. I can think of maybe 5 questions that the students asked him all semester. However, I LIKE this style of teaching. The lectures were always very informative, and I learned a great deal about a fascinating subject. You don't get to know the professor at all (his TA, the wonderful Monica, does all of the paper consultations, and he's rather inaccessible... not someone you could easily talk to) but you do get to know history, which is more important. I hope to take many more classes with Billows.

Billows was, for the most part, interesting and impassioned in lectures, which is really what this class was, not a seminar. Students did speak everyone once in a while but for the most part Billows just rambled on about the texts and his personal opinions on them, which really wasn't a bad thing because he knew what he was talking about and made it entertaining--except for when it wasn't, in which case it was a struggle to stay awake. His specialty is ancient greece so he added a few texts from the era, but overall he kept mostly to the syllabus. Very strongly disliked just about everything we read except for Hume, and he is an especially vocal denouncer of religion. Definitely open to debate in class but if you want a good grade, just agree with him in papers and exams.