An Introduction To Ancient Greek ((LINK))

The ancient Greeks lived in many lands around the Mediterranean Sea, from Turkey to the south of France. They had close contacts with other peoples such as the Egyptians, Syrians and Persians.The Greeks lived in separate city-states, but shared the same language and religious beliefs.

an introduction to ancient greek

In the Egyptian sculpture gallery (Room 4), you can see impressive statues of kings and gods, monumental tomb architecture and ancient tomb reliefs spanning 3,000 years. These include the imposing colossal bust of Ramesses II and the Gayer-Anderson Cat. You can learn the importance of large-scale sculpture in ancient Egyptian temples and tombs, and get the perfect introduction to this unmissable collection.

Discover how people lived and died in ancient Egypt, and explore their hopes and aspirations for the afterlife. From painted coffins, statues and models of daily life to spectacular wall paintings from the tomb-chapel of the high official Nebamun, investigate what tombs and burial goods tell us about the lives of ancient Egyptian people. The tour will explore the preparation of the deceased for burial, including mummification, and the use of magic to help and protect people on their perilous journey to the afterlife.

Tours are limited to a maximum of 20 places per session (14 for Life and death in ancient Egypt). If you would like to bring a group of 10 or more people or arrange a special out-of-hours tour, please email traveltradebookings@britishmuseum.org to discuss your options.

Most but not all language courses taught at The University of Texas concern modern languages; however, numerous courses in ancient Greek, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, are taught in the Department of Classics (link opens in a new browser window). Other online language courses for college credit are offered through the University Extension (new window).

C.A.E. Luschnig's An Introduction to Ancient Greek: A Literary Approach prepares students to read Greek in less than a year by presenting basic traditional grammar without frills and by introducing real Greek written by ancient Greeks, from the first day of study. The second edition retains all the features of the first but is more streamlined, easier on the eyes, more gender-inclusive, and altogether more 21st century.

C.A.E. Luschnig's An Introduction to Ancient Greek: A Literary Approach prepares students to read Greek in less than a year by presenting basic traditional grammar without frills and by introducing real Greek written by ancient Greeks, from the first day of study. The second edition retains all the features of the first but is more streamlined, easier on the eyes, more gender-inclusive, and altogether more 21st century. It is supported by a Web site for teachers and learners at

L. spreads the material across an introduction and fourteen lessons. The presentation of the grammatical concepts reflects a desire for students to get the big picture early and build on this broad foundation. Accordingly, Lesson 1 introduces verbs in both the active and middle/passive present indicative, nouns of both the first and second declensions along with the definite article, particles, prepositions, and elision. The next three lessons lay out forms derived from the first three principal parts (imperfect tense in Lesson 2, future in Lesson 3, and aorist in Lesson 4). Lessons 5 and 6 shift the focus to nouns and adjectives of the third declension. The next three lessons each cover one more principal part of the verb along with sections on other parts of speech (in Lesson 8, the perfect active along with τις / τι and related words; in Lesson 9, the perfect middle/passive and personal pronouns; in Lesson 10, numerals, comparison, and the aorist passive). The last four lessons cover the leftovers, mostly to do with verbs (contract verbs and nouns in Lesson 11, μι -verbs in Lesson 12; forms and uses of the subjunctive and optative in Lesson 13). Finally, Lesson 14 adds on the imperative mood and the vocative case.

Thus there is a logic to the presentation of material, but it is not always in the best interests of the beginning student. While it makes sense to marshal verb forms in order according to their principal parts, deferring the presentation of some material can distort the importance of certain high frequency items. Forms of contract verbs and μι -verbs, for example, not to mention imperatives, are far more common in most readings than forms from the last three principal parts (perfects and aorist passives). Students need earlier exposure to the more common items so that they have as much practice and exposure as possible when they begin encountering them regularly in the ancient authors. The delay in presenting some of these ideas seems especially odd in the context of other material in the book. L. regularly explains how vowel contraction and consonant combinations lead to the counterintuitive spellings of many forms. The rules for contraction which apply to nouns and verbs in Lesson 13 are no different from those she invokes in many earlier lessons, so that presenting these observations as general principles of contraction would help students see and understand their use throughout the language. The appearance of imperatives and vocatives at the tail end of the text is odd, too, given that L. has sections on conversation and greetings in the first three lessons, where such forms are likely to appear.

Course Objectives: To appreciate the history of reading epics and the importance of their reception-history to Romanticism, Nationalism, and Modernism.To study the differences between epics of oral and literary traditions.To understand the narrative conventions of ancient epic by contrast with those of modern fiction and film; to explore the scholarly vocabulary for describing such conventions.To understand heroic narratives from Greek and Roman antiquity as well as ancient northwestern Europe in their respective cultural contexts, and to study their common themes.

Student Learning Outcomes: Ability to analyze complicated historical and literary texts for their implicit ideologies and worldviews and to analyze material evidence for its value for reconstruction of ancient forms of life.Ability to read and critique modern scholarly writing on the history of ancient time.Gain knowledge of the literary and material evidence for ancient conceptions of time and history.Preparation to ask and answer fundamental historical questions about the forms and experiences of temporality in different social and historical contexts.

Calder Classics is an educational boutique that offers customized learning experiences. We are founded on the premise that modern life is enhanced through an interaction with the achievements and legacy of the ancients.

"...her approach brings students to competency quickly and efficiently. The new version improves what was already a good text, keeping the many exercise sentences, providing a realistic selection of 'real Greek' readings with translation aids conveniently below. The proof is in the pudding: after doing beginning Greek with Luschnig's text, my Greek students have been able to move easily to the second year reading classes in either Euripides or Plato." -- Karelisa Hartigan, Department of Classics, University of Florida. "...offers a thorough and clear account of grammar and syntax, copious exercises for practice, and a wonderful array of brief passages from ancient authors for translation and discussion. My students and I have used the text happily for years, and this new edition is even better than its predecessor." -- Deborah H Roberts, William R Kennan Jr Professor of Comparative Literature and Classics, Haverford College. "...the most successful of the more than half-dozen beginning Greek grammars I have used in the classroom, especially in this revised edition. Students meet 'real Greek' early and often, and the exercises are ample and varied. What I appreciate particularly is that this grammar has personality, even a sense of humor, so that my students feel they are learning ancient Greek from Cecelia Luschnig rather than an anonymous textbook..." -- Sherry Gray Martin, Faculty, St John's College, Santa Fe.

Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in the Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian, such as the Pella curse tablet, as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note.[4][5] Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet, Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect,[6][7][5] which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly.[6][5]

Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics, ancient Greek words could end only in a vowel or /n s r/; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes,[14] notably the following:

Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages, is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual, and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative) and three voices (active, middle, and passive), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"): the present, future, and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist, present perfect, pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. 041b061a72