Does anyone know if there is a textbook for Attic or Epic Greek similar to Lingua Latina ? I’ve recently downloaded the Ollendorf Greek, but I’d like something with extensive reading, etc.
Thank you.
Hi, check out this thread:
http://discourse.textkit.com/t/athenaze-vs-reading-greek/7391/1
and this website:
http://www.johnpiazza.net/ancientgreek
Supposedly JACT’s Reading Greek comes close, but there are other options (note that I have not used the JACT books, but if you do, look for the new edition). After you have acquired an initial base, perhaps you can supplement your studies by reading A Greek Boy At Home, which can be found at the second website. Good luck!
The only book that comes close to Lingua Latina is the Italian Athenaze, which, so far as I understand, is not available in the US. Now, unlike Lingua Latina, this version of Athenaze is not wholly in Greek, and, the readings are not as extensive (there’s a lot of grammar, though). What I did to compensate is study the Greek paradigms first and then grab myself a reading course like Thrasymachus and A Greek Boy At Home. So far it seems to be working, but it’s just not the same. 
Xaire!
As a note, the Athenaze Italian edition can be ordered from here if one is interested:
At this website you can select English, and then search for “Introduzione al greco antico” (there are two volumes).
I hope that someone who has used JACT Reading Greek (2nd ed.) can mention if it is at all similar to Lingua Latina.
No, that’s the English version. Apparently the Italian version is quite different, see this thread:
http://discourse.textkit.com/t/athenaze-book-ii/6212/1
[I’m not saying it’s what you should get, but you should read the various opinions about it.]
I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered the second volume of Athenaze from Italy. Let me just say that the weak dollar is not in favor of my hellenistic studies… I’m just hoping that when it arrives in a few weeks it’ll be the correct volume.
I’ll be finishing volume one this week. It’s been a great experience and I feel that it has put my Greek on a stable foundation. I’ve been studying/reading for speed and comprehension, so I’ve assuredly missed many of the finer grammatical points and constructions. However, the fact that I can still read the Greek without having to puzzle over many words or constructions confirms my sense of progress. I haven’t reread any chapters, but I’ve tried to complete all the end of chapter assignments before I move on. The translations into Greek, however, are very time consuming and I’ve become lax with them. Greek is a more complex and tricky beast than Latin, for sure, but I also find it to be somewhat more elegant and sonorous. Maybe it’s just my beginner’s sense of wonder. Who knows which language I will prefer in the end?
I really look forward to completing the second volume, as I believe by then I’ll be able to study unadulterated texts without great difficulty. In the meantime, I’ll be going the traditional approach and taking up my copy of Mastronarde.
To my great pleasure, I found a Greek-Latin edition of Plato’s dialogues in the university library. Of course most of the Greek is beyond me, but it is very satisfying to slowly comprehend bits of Plato’s own language, one which was once entirely ‘Greek to me.’ I look forward to the day when I’ll be able to read the Greek as readily as the Latin.