Introduction

Textkit Community Open Board
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A quick Hello and short intro:

I’m a beginner in learning Ancient Greek; basically at alphabet stage.
Pleased to have found this site when looking for useful resources.

My interest stems from a philosophical perspective; particularly Plato, Socrates and the Stoics.

For example:
How intriguing is that first line in Plato’s Republic:
‘Socrates: I went down to the Piraeus yesterday…’

What, where is the Piraeus…why did he go…was it downhill, in more ways than one ?
My eventual challenge to read the Greek version !

Also, I love the sight and sounds of a foreign language. Studied Latin, French, German at secondary school ( several decades ago ).
More recently, Italian with the Open University.

So, the books I’ve ordered for starters:
Greek to GCSE: Pt 1 and Pt 2 by John Taylor
Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek
The pocket Oxford Classical Greek dictionary.

I will also be searching for audio resources.
Any advice and suggestions welcome.

Thanks for listening :slight_smile:

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Welcome to Textkit!

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Thanks for the Welcome !

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Hi amiti_blu,

I’m interested in ancient philosophy, too. I’ve been reading Stoic works in English translations and meditating on them for more than a year. I’d like to look up the original Greek, especially Epictetus’ Enchiridion and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. An online group I’ve been reading with recently decided to give Plato’s Symposium a try, so I’m looking forward to that. You’re always welcome to join if you’re interested. Let me know!

Enosh

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Hello Enosh.
Thanks for sharing your interests and invitation to join the on-line group; much appreciated.

Re: finding the original Greek. I note that the Perseus website has quite a collection. Also, there’s a sticky thread, here, by bedwere:
’ Textkit Book Collection’ with a fascinating list, including ‘Easy Selections from Plato’. So much to read…
However, I think I need to curb my enthusiasm and settle down to slow and steady :slight_smile:

At the Geoffrey Steadman site, you can download free pdf’s:
‘Plato’s Symposium: Greek text with facing vocabulary and commentary’.
It has useful advice on how to use it. For example:

  1. Master the core vocabulary as soon as possible.
  2. Read actively - make educated guesses before looking up vocabulary and grammar…

I would really like to hear the Greek version in audio format…