I am considering learning ancient greek, with the ultimate goal of being able to tackle the works of the well-known greek writers (Plato, the playwrights, and possibly Aristotle)
I have heard that New Testament Greek is far less complicated than the Attic Dialect used by later authors.
I have never read the New Testament, and would be interested to read it in its original language.
If I were to learn New Testament Greek first, how great of a headstart would I have when I tried to read the more difficult works.
If I could read New Testament Greek without difficulty, would I be able to progress directly to Attic works, or would additional grammatical study be needed?
Sorry for the long post, but I would be very appreciative of any helpful replies.
I think most people here would say that if your purpose is to read classical, you should start with classical. Once you have that, New Testament will be quite a bit easier.
I’m coming from the other end, having several years of formal education in koine plus personal study… and have just recently started tackling Classical. It is definitely tough but not impossible. New Testament greek is relatively simple since most of the writers were not native greek speakers, so their sentence structures and vocab are simpler… in that sense it makes a good beginner’s reader, but at the same time makes the transition to classical that much more difficult.
It’s up to you 
[quote author=klewlis link=board=2;threadid=727;start=0#7038 date=1064630285]
I think most people here would say that if your purpose is to read classical, you should start with classical. Once you have that, New Testament will be quite a bit easier.[/quote]
Yes that’s true. I would learn classical Greek first and then koine…
I had the same question when I started Greek. I’ve decided to start with Classical, then move on to Koine. Here’s my question, and the answers I got:
http://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/viewtopic . php?t=384
Hope this helps!
Keesa
I too would recommend ancient greek as you’re best learning ground. I would also start with Homer as soon as possible.
However, I think it depends a lot on you circumstances. If you’re teaching yourself, the best and only really good textbook I’ve seen for an absolute beginner completely on their own is ‘Basics of Biblical Greek’ by William Mounce. After tackling this book you should be able to read most of the NT and the Septuagint; and have a strong background to tackle more ancient greek.
Yes, and recent editions of Mounce also come with a cdrom for extra assistance, which can be very helpful for the self-taught.
[quote author=ranger86 link=board=2;threadid=727;start=0#7037 date=1064629649]
I am considering learning ancient greek, with the ultimate goal of being able to tackle the works of the well-known greek writers (Plato, the playwrights, and possibly Aristotle)
I have heard that New Testament Greek is far less complicated than the Attic Dialect used by later authors.
I have never read the New Testament, and would be interested to read it in its original language.
If I were to learn New Testament Greek first, how great of a headstart would I have when I tried to read the more difficult works.
If I could read New Testament Greek without difficulty, would I be able to progress directly to Attic works, or would additional grammatical study be needed?
Sorry for the long post, but I would be very appreciative of any helpful replies.
[/quote]
I would start even before what is considered “classical Greek” - Homer. Many have found it far easier to progress from Homer to Classical Greek than the other way around, and if you ever wish to go the route of Koine Greek, you will find that easier coming from Classical Greek as well.