Eta Sigma Phi round up, 2014-2015

Drew Cabaniss
Senior Classics major & ESP President

Eta Sigma Phi, the department’s undergraduate honors society, has primarily focused on academic support for undergraduates this year. Starting in the fall, we organized weekly tutoring for first- and second-year Greek students in order to provide informal opportunities for solidifying their knowledge of beginning Greek.

This spring, we organized the third annual UNC Chapel Hill Undergraduate Classics Conference, which brought seven speakers to discuss research ranging from the portrayal of barbarians in Caesar’s de Bello Gallico to reconstructions of the Persian court’s annual migration. Carla Antonaccio of Duke University presented an engaging keynote on the issue of identity at the site of Morgantina in Sicily.

We also hosted an opportunity for seniors to present their honors theses as short talks. Alexandra Talbert presented on the use of Classical Greek tragedy in the development of German aesthetic philosophy, and I discussed houses and social organization in Archaic Crete.