Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

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Cathexis
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Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by Cathexis »

Greetings All,

I put this post here in hopes both Latin & Greek Lovers would see it.

A little clarification: 1. By "easiest" I mean just that. Needing the least handholding.
I think traditionally Caesar was often the first Latin author students tackled. 2. By
"authors/texts" I mean a complete text, not selections. So for example, a dialog by
Plato I would consider a text but "Pericles' Funeral Oration" is not a text - it's a selection.
A letter by Cicero I'd consider a text, The "Catalogue of Ships" no. I'm not looking for
modern compilations of ancient texts either such as a Loeb "Fragments," etc.

BTW, I wouldn't ask without first googling around myself but all I got for "1st Latin Authors"
was Octavio Paz! :lol: Hence this polite request.

Please accept my thanks in advance,

Andrew
Romani ite Domum

Shenoute
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by Shenoute »

Eutropius maybe?

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bedwere
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by bedwere »

The Gospels and their translation by St. Jerome.

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Cathexis
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by Cathexis »

Thank you both!

Anyone have any ideas on easiest, first Greek authors & texts?

Andrew
Romani ite Domum

cb
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by cb »

Hi Andrew, for Greek I'd say Euclid or other technical texts where simple repetitive structures are used by the author, and where the difficulty is more in the content than in the Greek itself.

Cheers, Chad

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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

"Easiest" is a bit subjective... :)

But Greek authors taught at the intermediate level usually include Xenophon's Anabasis, Plato's Apologia, and the gospels from the New Testament.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter

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Cathexis
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by Cathexis »

Thanks to both you Barry & to Chad.

I'd always welcome anyone else's opinion but I'm good to go with these suggestions.

As Always - Thanks to Textkit & the Forum!

-Andrew
Romani ite Domum

npc
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Re: Easiest Greek & Latin Authors/Texts

Post by npc »

IMHO, the Greek New Testament is easier to translate than anything written in Attic Greek. Of these, the gospel and epistles of John seem the most straightforward to me. Not NT, but in a similar vein, the non-canonical Didache and Shepherd of Hermas are also very straightforward to read, as is something like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

Leaving aside Koine and exploring Attic authors, Xenophon is, indeed, fairly straightforward, although I think his Hellenica is a bit easier than the more often selected Anabasis. It's quite a stylistic change to jump from Thucydides to Xenophon, as the latter's Hellenica is designed as a continuation of the former.

One source of good beginning material for the classic Greek reader comes from the Hellenistic period, folks living in Koine times trying to write (a bit) like they did in Periclean Athens. Lucian is fairly easy as he's mostly writing in dialogue, and I find Aelian (especially his Varia Historia) to be both pretty straightforward and contained in easily digestible bites. Lucian, Xenophon, and the Koine examples are all well known as good starting points. Aelian was often adapted by folks assembling graded readers, such as Morice.

Hope this helps.

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