Two Southwestern students, Greek major Trey Frye ‘12 and Latin minor Andrew Waller ‘11, presented papers at the annual Sunoikisis Undergraduate Research Symposium in Washington, DC. Their abstracts were chosen through a competitive selection process.

The site of this national conference is the Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS). Students from other institutions around the country presented as well. Participants were invited to stay the following day for a symposium in which the Fellows of the CHS presented the results of their research during their fellowship period.

Mr. Waller, in his paper “Aristotle and Thomistic Metaphysics: Cause or Creator?”, distinguished the Aristotelian Prime Mover from Aquinas’ conception of the Judeo-Christian God. Mr. Frye, in “Demosthenes and the Great Man in ‘Against Conon’” extracted facets of Athenian ideals of manhood from 4th century legal oratory.

Both Mr. Frye and Waller received Fleming Student Travel awards to help defray expenses.

“Sunoikisis” comes from Thucydides (3.3.1) in reference to the alliance formed by the cities of Lesbos (Methymna excluded) in their revolt against the Athenian empire in 428 B.C.E.  Likewise, this collaborative program seeks to develop a set of common goals and achieve a degree of success and prominence that goes beyond the capacity of a single program.

Southwestern University is one of the founding institutions of Sunoikisis. In addition to the Symposium, Sunoikisis sponsors collaborative courses, faculty development seminars, and excavation opportunities.