Looking for advice on which dialects to concern myself with

[jeidsath]

The Apology is where I first started to see Greek really click into place for me.

[Ioseph]

Thank you for any and all additional help/good advice, everybody.

@Hylander

My suggestion would be to read some of Xenophon’s Anabasis as the first Greek text other than selections found in the textbook, to cement what was learned in the textbook, and then proceed to Homer. Maybe Odyssey 9 or Iliad 6, which are more or less self-contained. After that, then proceed to follow your specific interests. Use relatively literal translations to check your understanding of the Greek and to help out when you get stumped.

So would you think that after working through an Attic textbook and an easier text or two (e.g. Anabasis and The Apology) that a Homeric textbook is necessary for anything other than reference in order for the student to start reading Homer?

[Hylander]

Most annotated texts of Homer aimed at beginners will include a brief introduction explaining the Homeric language and the differences from Attic, and the notes will typically explain the forms that are likely to cause problems. After learning Attic Greek, it’s not necessary, in order to read Homer, to work through another textbook specifically dedicated to Homeric Greek. Just plunge right in.

For anyone intending to read more than just a book or two, I would recommend acquiring Cunliffe’s Lexicon of the Homeric Language, available soft covers.

[SamParkinson]

@Barry Hofstetter

@SamParkinson

@C. S. Bartholomew

I seem to recall comments from various places (including CS Lewis’s introduction to On the Incarnation) that Athansius is relatively easy Greek. How would it compare with the tougher parts of the NT - Hebrews, for instance? And how does it compare to Plato or Lysias?

Athanasius isn’t too far away on my reading list, and it’s nice to be prepared.

Difficulty can be rather subjective, and depends on your reading experience. If all you have is the NT, you might find Athanasius challenging. If you have broader reading experience, not as much. I personally find Athanasius quite straightforward. It’s almost as though he said to himself prior to writing “How can I make this difficult subject matter as understandable as possible?” Syntactically easier than either Plato or Lysias, I would say, but more syntactically complicated than the gospels or Paul but not “as bad” as Hebrews. Again, my subjective experience.

Thanks, that’s really helpful. I shall work a little more on my attic and then plunge in!