Skidmore scholars participate in regional Parilia Conference
Classics majors Sarah Breitenfeld ’15, Benjamin Turnbull ’15, and Sarah Donovan ’17 presented “exemplary” work at the recent annual regional undergraduate conference, Parilia, according to Michael Arnush, associate professor and chair of Classics.
Named for the ancient Roman festival honoring Romulus’ founding of the city of Rome, the conference included students from Hamilton, Skidmore, and Union colleges, as well as the faculty. The ninth celebration, held April 17 at Union, featured the following presentations by the Skidmore students.
• Breitenfeld discussed her paper titled "Ruined Cloak, Ruined Reputation: Sexual Misconduct in Menander's Epitrepontes and Terence's Hecyra,” which explored the complicated issue of rape in Greek and Roman comedy. She wrote the paper for the fall seminar on “Sex and Gender in the Ancient World,” taught by Prof. Leslie Mechem.
• Turnbull, a double-major in Studio Art, shared the results of his research into the influence of Homeric epic poetry on the work of the world’s first historian. He wrote his paper, labelled "Worthy of Legend: The Poetic Techniques of Homer in Herodotus' Histories," for Arnush’s fall seminar on Herodotus.
Icarus, by Sarah Donovan ’17
• Donovan, also a double-major in Studio Art, displayed images from her bound book that included original subtractive woodblock prints of various mythological scenes from Greek and Roman mythology. She created "Disastrous Love in Mythology" for Mechem’s Classical Mythology class last fall, and learned about crafting monotypes and intaglio prints in Prof. Kate Leavitt’s “Introduction to Printmaking” in the fall as well. Donovan had already displayed her book at the student art exhibition at the Schick Art Gallery earlier this semester.
Arnush described the responses to the academic papers as “laudatory,” adding, “The audience’s reaction to Sarah Donovan’s art was stunning: a virtual bidding war ensued among the assembled faculty and students to purchase individual prints!”
Breitenfeld, this year’s winner of the department’s Doblin Prize, and Turnbull will both enter the University of Pennsylvania’s post-baccalaureate program in Classics in the fall, to prepare for matriculation in Ph.D. programs. Donovan has two more years at the College.All three students, together with two other majors, will present their work at this year’s Academic Festival, scheduled Wednesday, April 29.
