Resources suggestions

[IreneY]

Hello everyone,

This thread represents an effort to create a thread with resources for all the different aspects of learning Ancient Greek and any relative issue.
In this thread people can a) post their suggestions for such resources b) comment on these suggestions
People cannot though ask questions about these resources.
Please make sure that your suggestion is not already posted here or (later on) the Resources thread.
I would also ask you to make clear which suggestion you are referring to when commenting on one already suggested.

Each suggestion must use the following format:
Name of the resouce: Either a link to a site or the name of a book
Whether it's free or not
Period(s) of ancient Greek and aspect of learning ancient Greek it covers
Short description/reasons it's suggested (about 5 lines tops)

An example would be:
http://www.textkit.com
Free
All periods of ancient Greek, all aspects of learning
An all-encompassing site for learners of ancient Greek (and Latin). Includes big list of free grammars, dictionaries etc.

Note that for paid resources such as books, links to specific on-line or off line shops are not allowed. Our purpose here is to suggest resources and not to advertise.

This is an effort that can only succeed through your participation and your comments/criticism. You can either PM me with the later or post in thisthread

[Hampie]

How about one of these for Latin too?

[pster]

I think it will take a while for this thread to grow. Right now the kiddies are busy with exams and the old fogies are out enjoying the spring. I'm sure it will pick up.

[TonyLoco23]

Here's a great resource for starting out with Koine Greek:
http://greek-language.com/grammar/index.html

What I like most about it is that for every word introduced it lists the number of instances the word appears in the Bible, which is helpful to determine which vocab to concentrate on.

It is incomplete, but it is well organized. Because it is online you can use Ctrl-F to find specific words and you can copy and paste text directly into your notes. Plus it is free, which is always a bonus.

The only criticism I have is that some verb forms are not presented in all their conjugations, for example διδωμι is introduced without explaining how to conjugate the other persons (2nd, 3rd, plural, etc.). I think that it does eventually describe how to conjugate -μι verbs, but certainly not in the same lesson that διδωμι is introduced. And ερχομαι is also introduced way before you learn how to conjugate it properly.

[spiphany]

JACT's "Good Text Guide"
http://www.jact.org/publications/goodte ... tguide.php
A bibliography of annotated Greek and Latin texts published in English-speaking countries. Includes information when available about the type of text (plain text, text with commentary, translation, etc) and how much linguistic help is provided for the student.

Greek Grammar on the Web
https://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0013314/greekg.htm
Portal site for online resources for learning ancient Greek. Divided by topic (alphabet, dictionaries, grammar, advanced resources, etc)

Enchiridion of metrics
http://classics-laohu.home.mchsi.com/gr ... trics.html
Step-by-step guide to understanding Greek metrics

Ancient Greek Tutorials
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ancgreek/
Online exercises and tutorials made to accompany Donald Mastronarde's Introduction to Attic Greek

Unicode Classical Greek Inputter
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tayl0010/polyton ... utter.html
Useful little online page which allows users to type short texts in polytonic Greek without having to install a special program. Type in betacode using the Latin alphabet and the characters will be automatically converted to Greek.

The University of Augsburg's Bibliotheka Augustana
http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/graec ... alpha.html
Online texts (in html form) of many, many Greek authors from Homer to the Byzantine era. The texts do not include annotations or commentaries of any kind, but the full text (instead of pdf) format is nice for those of us who want to create our own layout for reading.

And I think a couple of pages from Textkit people deserve a mention here:

Edonnelly's master list of Greek and Latin books available in PDF form
http://www.edonnelly.com/google.html

William Annis' articles on Ancient Greek and commentaries on ancient texts
http://www.aoidoi.org/
http://www.scholiastae.org/scholia/Main_Page

[spiphany]

Oh, and another thought: are we limiting the list to sites that are in English? I know Textkit is English-based, but a number of users here *do* know other languages, and there are some good sites for ancient Greek which aren't in English (eg Egon Gottwein's Greek course for German speakers).

[IreneY]

Hey thanks guys! Since I'd only received a PM with a lovely suggestion I was thinking of binning the whole project.
No, they don't have to be in English only. We'll just put the other languages under separate headings. Just make sure you mention what language they're in

[pster]

Irene, I'm wondering whether you are open to just getting links or if you also want formatted descriptions? Sometimes I come across something good, but I am too deep in what I am doing to stop and write and post a description and it is more likely than not that I will neither remember nor have the energy to do it when I am done. If you would accept undescribed or loosely described links I would be able to commit to at least one a week if not three.

[Markos]

Recently I wrote this on another forum.

[αρτι νυν εγραψα τουτο εν ετερῳ τοπῳ]

Here are my Top Ten Textbooks, in the order that I encountered them.

1. J. Gresham Machen, New Testament Greek for Beginners (the best of it's type, simple, systematic, 100% inductive)
2. Paula Safire, Ancient Greek Alive (wonderfully entertaining stories)
3. Athenaze (excellent free audio available, interesting and easy extended readings introduced early on)
4. Frank Beetham, Reading Greek with Plato (he's the only guy who admits how hard Greek is. He spoon feeds you, but Plato, like cheesecake, tastes good when eaten with a spoon. He has an answer key.)
5. Schoder/Horrigan, A Reading Course in Homeric Greek (more complete and systematic than Pharr or Betham. First half has good made up exercises, then you read real, heavily annotated Homer)
6. Christophe Rico, Polis (best Greek audio ever. He teaches you to speak Greek.)
7. JACT (excellent adapted readings. The audio c.d. is great and not too expensive for what you get.)
8. Gerda Seligson, Greek for Reading (the only book that uses linguistic/grammatical analysis not to pin down the precise meaning of the Greek but to alert you to what makes reading Greek so hard. Lots of good and easy sentences to read.)
9. Assimil, Ancien Grec sans peine (living language but also covers the entire Greek grammar. The audio is pleasant.)
10. C.A.E. Luschnig, An Introduction to Ancient Greek, A Literary Approach (many more exercises than are found in most texts. She also teaches you some conversational stuff. I think she is a she.)

[IreneY]

Wow! I should soon start the actual resources thread!

pster undescribed I don't know, I'd rather not. Loosely described, well, let's see how it goes. Just as long as it's not very loose.

[helios]

http://www.classicalmyth.com/greek/stan ... ponse.html

Free
All periods of Ancient Greek

This is a simple page written by Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Professor of Classics at University of New Hampshire. This page talks about where to start as a beginner. He says, "in my experience less than 5% of those who launch into learning ancient Greek outside of a classroom setting…manage to succed at it," and then goes on to to tell you how to do it if you are still interested. Despite the caution, he has some great advice on where to start.

[pster]

Just a thought Irene. You perhaps should consider compiling a list of Textkit's greatest threads.

[IreneY]

It's a good idea (though a daunting task) and, since I should soon start compiling the actual resources, I will look into it.

[margotfajard729]

As a noob of the Greek language. If you could create a sticky post of all of the great resources in textkit then that would be great!

[IreneY]

Yes, it would. Unfortunately we've run into a technical difficulty (there's no way I can input more than 10 links into one message; breaking up the resouces into many messages each containing only 10 links will make the thread cumbersome to navigate). When that problem's solved we will proceed.

[Mesmerized]

First of, I have to give you all credit. I remember learning greek in high school in Europe and I could not get passed the alphabet. I am now older and want to learn it the right way. Any resource you would recommend?

[Razroct]

Here's a great resource to improve your greek grammar: http://greek-language.com/grammar/index.html

[jimsohan]

Learn Greek Online is a course provided by Kypros-Net in collaboration with the CyBC to teach the modern Greek language online.

Learn Greek Online is currently composed of 105 real audio files (around 15 minutes each), online student notes, a collection of collaborative learning tools and an online greek dictionary and a greek spell checker.

The text version of these lessons has been contributed by students of this course.

[edenbisdee7215]

I found a very interesting and useful site for the Greek language. It has everything about the language. I don't see this material before which has placed on this site. I have seen exercises, literacy text and helping links and a dictionary on this site. I think this is a nice site for those people those are interested in Greek language.

[bedwere]

The Academia Vivarium Novum has two pages with links to downloadable books to learn Greek (and Latin) in alternative ways:

For teaching
To improve one's knowledge

The text of the pages is in Italian, but I don't think it will be difficult for those who don't speak the language.

[stephenesherman]

A Short Grammar of Attic Greek, by Francis M. Connell, 1919

Reprint editions available for approximately $15

Covers Attic Greek.

This 196 page grammar covers most of what I have encountered in Attic Greek prose, and is a much more convenient size, for reference purposes, than Smyth. It is not a replacement for Smyth, a copy of which I will be buried with. But for quick reference and paradigm memorization, it's great. And the margins are wide enough for pencilled-in additions and notes.

[chalimac]

Best resource ever (if you can read french):

Classical greek and latin authors in XIX c. editions with literal word-for-word translation and running translation:

http://juxta.free.fr/
http://www.europeana.eu/portal/search.h ... iqu%C3%A9s

[daivid]

Polis by Christophe Rico
Available in French, German and Italian but not English. I got the Italian version because it was cheapest even though I know almost no Italian - that it hasn't been a problem for me but it might be more tricky for a complete beginner.

The readings (for which audio is included) are specially written with humor and are used to illustrate the grammar being taught. Hence the second lesson has an aorist imperative on almost every line.

[Markos]

daivid:

Polis by Christophe Rico
Available in French, German and Italian but not English.

It is strange that an English version has not yet appeared. Can we take this to mean that Europeans are more supportive of Living Language Methods than Americans and Canadians and Australians, not to mention Brits? On the other hand, I've heard that a second edition, with new material, is forthcoming, and this will be available in English.

Your are correct that intermediate Greek learners don't need an English translation anyway, since the whole idea is to stick to the target language.

What, Daivid, do you think of the book so far?

[daivid]

Greek to GCSE by John Taylor, 2 volumes
The first volume is about 10GBP and the second will be closer 20.
Classical Attic Greek
Conventional mix of grammar explanations, exercises and adapted readings.
Grammar explanations very clear and concise
Exercises keep strictly to the core vocabulary so you can focus on the target grammar.
The books can be easily held in one hand.
(the key is available only by writing to John Taylor at the address in Vol 1 - took about 2 months for me)

[Dorothy]

Are people aware of the Perseus Collection of Greek and Roman Materials? Tests with links to translations and notes. For some texts It is possible to have the text, translation and notes pulled up at the same time.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/col ... reco-Roman

Included are also digital lexica: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/res ... direct=tru
It is a bit fussy entering the letters, but, for example, if you enter: starting with: aggel, it brings up a lot of variations, and references not just to Liddell and Scott, but to a Homeric Dictionary and a Lexicon to Pindar. and if you enter a form you don't know, say, for a simple example h(=gon it will send you to a site that helps you figure it out.If these links don't work, just google the Perseus Project.

[akhnaten]

I have been planning my reading of Greek and have found several sources that may be appreciated here...It is mostly introductory level content. Everything is free.

Online Course in Koine Greek using Clayton Croy's A Primer on Biblical Greek. Course designed by Laura Gibbs in 2005 for students studying Greek online, going through Croy's text in 15 weeks. Most materials are still available: http://www.mythfolklore.net/bibgreek/

Athenaze - materials related to the Athenaze textbook
1) Athenaze Book I, rev. ed. - can be (legally) found through free online lending library, http://www.openlibrary.org (requires registration): https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1682541W/Athenaze
2) Athenaze Teacher's Manual, Book I, rev. ed. - also found (legally) through OpenLibrary's lending initiative: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL11320111W/Athenaze
3) Third-Party Resources for Athenaze
a) Cornell University website (audio, additional readings, historical information, etc.): http://www.cornellcollege.edu/classical_studies/ariadne/index.shtml
b) University of Victoria website (many additional exercises in vocabulary and grammar, some additional reading exercises): http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/greek/
c) individual who has shared personal study materials on Athenaze; this may be useful, but I try to use sites related to university courses, as it is more likely errors will be found and corrected if they exist: http://leserables.tripod.com/
d) University of Georgia "Homework Text" to accompany Athenaze vol1: provides additional exercises, explanation and vocabulary (available via scribd):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/81249404/GREK-1001-Text

Annotated Greek Text
1) Geoffrey Steadman's digital editions of Greek and Latin texts: http://geoffreysteadman.com/

[brunapogliano]

http://www.poesialatina.it/_ns/Greek/html/Presentazione.html
Free
Attic Greek and Latin (separate sections)
Mostly in Italian but for a few pages I have been translating
It covers all aspects of Learning: grammar, texts, tests, reading poetry.


An impressive work is being carried out on metrics, featuring audio examples too.
The section "Interactive Texts" is very interesting and helpful, pity it is only in Greek/Italian.
The Greek Tests had to be removed upon request from TLG, because it seems that having dutifully paid yearly subscriptions does not allow the use of tests.
Greek keyboard available and fully functional.

I am not promoting anything but quality, the author's passion and deep knowledge of Greek and Latin. Actually, I joined him with my little help because it was the only way I had to show him my gratitude as a learner of Greek.

[icet4t]

Here's a great resource to improve your greek grammar: http://greek-language.com/grammar/index.html

I'm also just beginning to learn greek and find it a bit overwhelming. I'm a slow learner and find it difficult to truly learn something if I don't practice everyday. Found some resources here that were very useful and helpful particularly this one "Ancient Greek Tutorials" http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ancgreek/ posted by spiphany. Have any of you mastered Greek by the way? just curious.

[Lucretius2327]

One's first twenty or forty minutes of the study of Greek should be devoted to the pronunciation exercises of S. G. Daitz. —

http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/Greek.htm

The student should listen through the twenty practice words. Daitz's enunciation of the sounds of the alphabet (including diphthongs) and his twenty practice words (with aspirations and pitch clearly sounded) provides a solid foundation for a living approach to Ancient Greek. (The reading from the Iliad is fine until Chryses speaks: at which point, of Montana children at least, one could well ask — What dying animal does this sound like?).

But let it be asserted with ever so much force: BEST, BEST, BEST practice is to read the Latin or Greek words OUT LOUD as you peruse them — so that the English meaning imbues itself to the SOUND of the Greek or Latin word. For them, language was first and foremost ACOUSTIC, AUDIBLE and ARTICULATED. (Aristophanes' word for snore in the opening of the Clouds (ῥέγκω) was thought to mimic the sound of a snorting horse.) The more senses one involves in the process of learning, the deeper the roots of assimilation are struck. Attempting to learn Greek or Latin without employing the mouth and ears, is like fighting a heavyweight bout with both hands tied behind one's back!

[Paul Derouda]

There's much good to be said about Daitz, but for many ears, he might sound a bit too... um... er... enthousiastic (and someone might compare him to a dying animal)... But indeed I think he was the first to do this sort of thing.

Are you aware of Stefan Hagel? He has done a stunningly good reconstruction of what Homer's singing just might have sounded like, perhaps more to the liking of Montana children. The song of Demodokos from the book 8 of the Odyssey.
http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/sh/

There's also some extracts of reconstructed Greek that are not sung, also very good.
http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/agp/