Complete Ancient Greek

A Comprehensive Guide to Reading and Understanding Ancient Greek, with Original Texts

Gavin Betts, Alan Henry

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781473627741
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Sprachen der Antike

Designed for complete beginners, and tested for years with real learners, Complete Ancient Greek offers a bridge from the textbook to the real world, enabling you to learn the grammar, understand the vocabulary and even how to translate the writings of Socrates and Homer. Structured around authentic material, placing an emphasis on the importance of reading classical texts in the original, and introducing both a grammar perspective and a full introduction to essential vocabulary, this course also features: -25 learning units plus maps and verb guide
-Authentic materials - language taught through key texts
-Teaches the key skills - reading and understanding Ancient Greek grammar and vocabulary
-Culture insights - learn about the culture and beliefs of the Ancient Greeks
-Self tests and learning activities - see and track your own progress.Featuring additional exercises in this new edition, this is a genuinely comprehensive yet accessible introduction to Ancient Greek. Rely on Teach Yourself, trusted by language learners for over 75 years.

In this unit you will learn about: how to read and write in ancient Greek how to pronounce ancient Greek using accents.

Grammar

1.1 THE GREEK ALPHABET AND ITS PRONUNCIATION

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with its traditional name. Today it is used in both upper and lower case but in antiquity it existed only in different varieties of capitals. The pronunciation given below does not in every case reflect what we know of the language of fourth-century Athens (the type of Greek described here – see Introduction); because we learn ancient Greek for the purpose of reading, not of communication, we do not need to be as careful about its pronunciation as we would be with a modern language.

Letter	Name	Pronunciation
A α	alpha (ἄλϕα)	a (see below)
B β	bēta (βῆτα)	b
Γ γ	gamma (γάμμα)	g (as in game, never as in gesture, but as n in ink before κ, ξ, χ or another γ; see below)
Δ δ	delta (δέλτα)	d
E ε	epsīlon (ἒ ψῑλόν)	short e (as in met)
Ζ ζ	zēta (ζῆτα)	sd (as in wisdom, but represented in English as z)
Η η	ēta (ἦτα)	long e (like ai in fairy)
Θ θ	thēta (θῆτα)	th (as in thing; see below)
I ι	iōta (ἰῶτα)	i (see below)
Κ κ	kappa (κάππα)	k (but represented in English as c)
Λ λ	lambda (λάμβδα)	l
M μ	mū (μῦ)	m
Ν ν	nū (νῦ)	n
Ξ ξ	xī (ξεῖ)	x (as in axe)
O ο	omicron (ὂ μικρόν)	short o (as in lot)
Π π	pī (πεῖ)	p
P ρ	rhō (ῥῶ)	r
Σ σ, ς	sigma (σίγμα)	s (as in sign)
T τ	tau (ταῦ)	t
Υ υ	upsīlon (ὒψῑλόν)	u (but represented in English as y except in diphthongs, e.g. hypothesis, autopsy)
Φ ϕ	phī (ϕεῖ)	ph (see below)
Χ χ	chī (χεῖ)	ch (see below)
Ψ ψ	psī (ψεῖ)	ps (as in maps)
Ω ω	ōmega (ὦμέγα)	long o (like oa in broad)

When initial or medial, sigma takes the form σ but when final it is written ς. Examples are σύστασις composition, Σωσιγένης Sosigenes. There is only one upper-case sigma (Σ).

In Greek words taken into English and in transcriptions of Greek proper names, Greek letters are normally represented by their phonetic equivalent, except where indicated above (and in some diphthongs – see Note 2 below).

Consonants

Unless an example is given, use normal English pronunciation. To distinguish between κ and χ, the latter is pronounced as the ch in the Scottish pronunciation of loch. The letters ζ, ξ, ψ are double consonants and the equivalents of σδ, κσ, πσ respectively, for which they must always be used. For example, when σ is added to the stem γῡπ- we must write γ

ψ, never γ

πς (5.1). The letters θ, ϕ, χ are not double consonants; the pronunciation given above is that normally used today but in the Greek of our period they were pronounced as t, p, k with an accompanying emission of breath (i.e. something like these consonants in English when initial. Compare the difference between the English and French pronunciation of the P in Paris).

Examples of the second pronunciation of γ are: σπόγγος (spóngos) sponge, Σϕίγξ (Sphinx) Sphinx, ἔλεγχος (élenchos) scrutiny.

Vowels

All Greek vowels have a long and short pronunciation. These pronunciations have separate symbols in the case of ε/η and ο/ω. The other vowels have both values but only one symbol. In works of reference, but not in normal printed texts, the two values of these vowels are distinguished by marking the long form with a bar above (macron), ᾱ, ῑ, ῡ. They are pronounced:

ᾱ as in father

α (i.e. short a) as in a shortened version of ᾱ, like u in but, never as in sat (this sound did not exist in Greek).

ῑ as ee in need

ι as i in sit (or, more accurately, as in French petit).

ῡ as in French sûr

υ as in French tu

Diphthongs

Ancient Greek has two types o...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• Contents 
• Acknowledgements
• Meet the authors
• Introduction
• How to use this book
• Abbreviations
• Map of ancient Greece
• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Unit 6
• Unit 7
• Unit 8
• Unit 9
• Unit 10
• Unit 11
• Unit 12
• Unit 13
• Unit 14
• Unit 15
• Unit 16
• Unit 17
• Unit 18
• Unit 19
• Unit 20
• Unit 21
• Unit 22
• Unit 23
• Unit 24
• Appendices
• The principal parts of verbs
• Vocabulary
• Suggestions for further study
• Copyright