If you need to or want to take Greek Myth, then make sure you take it with Erickson. The man is amazing and his passion for the subject along with his personality keeps the class engaged. Honestly, it's because of him that I'm most likely going to take Classics as a double major. By far one of the best professors I've had thus far.

Cool professor. bad class. he's passionate/eager bout the subject. ALOT of reading /books & memorization required. Slides were NOT organized. 80% were archeology pics (he's an archeologist) Hard to follow if you don't go to class or don't take good notes. Depending on the TA, you either get assigned weekly writings OR quizes.

Erickson is very enthusiastic and lectures were fun. I personally thought first half of quarter was amazing (gods), but when we moved onto heroes I was always bored & could never stay focused. I had no idea what was going on. Lots of names to remember. But he makes up for it b/c of his personality. Didnt do any readings and still got a B. Recommend

He's super passionate about greek myth, and greece in general. he's also really funny and he showed us music videos before class which was AWESOME. it's also in general just a really easy class. 10/10 would recommend

please dont take this class.. it sucks. its hard and the lectures are sooooo boring, but if you dont go you dont pass.

Erickson is great! You can tell that he's passionate about Greek Myth. It's all interesting information so it's not hard to remember. Just make sure you go to lecture, he explains everything, even the readings he assigned, in depth. 1 paper that's only 5 pages, a midterm and a final. Great GE to take!

Love the energy and passion. That being said, his slides are terribly organized. If you don't have a laptop or a recording device when taking notes, you'll be screwed. Posting slides online is basically pointless because its mostly pictures. Very specific test questions. Expects you to memorize EVERYTHING. more about memorization than understanding

Really funny lecture, but make sure you go to them cause it actually helps.

Great class, you must go to and pay attention to lectures. The tests are just pictures of some of the things we talked about so actually gathering the information is a must. He makes them interesting though, so don't worry.

Took this class as a GE, and ended up REALLY enjoying it! I rented the book but only read it ONCE... go to lecture- all you need to know without spending money on the book! Over 100+ terms you have to know for the midterm/final (object, dates, location, significance) but do-able! He is flexible on dates- I went to office hours and got points back!

He was charming, charismatic, and funny. However the content of the class was pretty boring. It was heavily architecture based, had a lot of boring reading, and I didn't fall in love with the subject at all. I wish he had spent more time lecturing on the stories. I am glad I took it PNP. Too many books you have to buy$$$. I just sparknoted.

Our midterm and final were based on lecture. Take good, organized notes on your laptop and you can do really well. I took it PNP because section is worth 25% and I missed it a lot, but I did really well on the midterm and paper so I was okay. Material itself is cool and the paper was fun to write. Brice is really corny and fun. Take it pnp for GE

Takes an interesting subject and makes it boring, in my opinion. This class was supposed to be about Greek Mythology but ended up being an archaeology class. We looked at waaay too many cracked pots and ancient broken buildings.

Professor Erickson is by far the BEST professor I have had here at UCSB! Take his Classics 40 class to be intrigued and entertained. He is an incredible lecturer and you can really tell that he loves what he teaches. He is so personable and easy to talk to one on one in office hours. HIGHLY RECOMMEND TAKING CLASS40 WITH HIM!

Professor Erickson is an intriguing lecturer, but I didn't like how he is so obsessed with Greece and shows it while teaching a class about Italy. I love Italy and wanted to know more about it, not Greece. However, the class is super easy! I put almost no though into the test and paper and got a B+ on both. Btw, he lets you out late EVERY day. :(

BEST lecturer I've had at UCSB...really funny and knows his stuff. Only thing is, the tests are picture IDs and 1 essay and they require you to intensively pay attention in lecture in order to do well. If you miss one little thing you could be screwed...just my take. If you don't do scattered, this class isn't for you.

LOVE HIM. If you are at all interested in ancient Greece/Rome and willing to put work into his class, you will do well. If you are in one of his smaller classes, make an effort to see him after class and in office hours, he appreciates when you put effort into his class. He takes this into account IF he remembers you, but he is a little scattered.

Great Professor, LOVE HIM to death....Class 40 you have to read to get a good grade, and if not at least attend all lectures...Class 50 was the first class i took with him, and hes amazing lots of terms to know for a 10 term test, but still amazing lecturer... I will surely take another of his classes

I am interested in learning about greek mythology prior to taking this course, so when I was actually taking this class, i did not find any difficulty to concentrating on reading the textbook. Yes, i think it is really important to read the textbook to have a clear understanding of the lectures and the sections. Fairly easy class.

looked like he got some good reviews. Maybe he got complacent this quarter. But for Fall2012, he wrote his midterm the night before, couldn't even get his own questions correct when he took it, the TA says he was too lazy to create a gauchospace page, and the class averaged a 68% on the midterm. Greek Myth was a fascination of mine since a kid.

Awesome teacher! He was hilarious and able to make a random subject very interesting. It isn't really necessary to read all the books to get a good grade. Just read the main textbook and show up to lecture and you'll be fine.

He's a really goofy guy which makes the class more intriguing. I only went to lecture & I had a good understanding of the material because he goes over it decently. Don't go into the class thinking mythology is logical, it's not.

Sure, he's funny and approachable, but his teaching? He jumps around from the myths & Gds w/o really taking time to slowly describe the importance. He didn't even write the midterm, he had his T.A.s do it. Avrge was a C- (this is a GE class) and my personal Final SG is 26 pages, half of which still looks like Gibberish to me. TONS OF READING.GLuck

He makes class interesting and teaches in a way that everyone can understand.