I had a bit of a break-through recently and I figured someone might be interested in how I’ve been learning.
I started Greek long ago in college. At that time it was assumed that everyone learning Greek had already learned Latin. I squeaked through a few courses, but never really got it. Nevertheless, I have kept my books with me with the idea that I would come back to Greek later in life. Now that I’m approaching retirement and started out again. I worked through most of the Italian Athenaze, taking long breaks along the way. I felt that as long as I was working on Greek in some way or another, it didn’t matter how eclectic my approach was. At one point I worked my way through Easy Selections from Xenophon, Apercu d’Une Histoire de la Langue Grecque, Simon Pulleyn’s wonderful Odyssey I, and some Theognis. I also dipped into many other things and discovered that one of my favorite things was to read the notes to critical editions. (BTW, after reading Easy Selections from Xenophon I came to understand and agree with Michael that rearranging Greek words in English word order is a terrible idea and actually inhibits learning to read Greek.)
Not too long ago I was coming the the last few chapters of volume II of Athenaze when I decided to move on. I couldn’t see the point of struggling through Thucydides and then Aristophanes before reading easier stuff. I started on Cynthia Claxton’s Attica: Intermediate Attic Greek. In one selection from the Hellenica I found myself incapable of understanding one sentence. I came back to it multiple times and still didn’t understand. Feeling quite down about the experience, I happened to decide to listen to bedwere’s recordings of the Anabasis. Even though I wasn’t understanding much, I immediately realized that the sentence structures were much easier that the Hellenica passages I was struggling through. I picked up Mather and Hewitt’s edition and feel that, with the help of their notes, feel I’m understanding the content, the reason for the choice of case, tense and mood, and even getting some sense for why the words are in the order they’re in.
I am never shy about rewarding myself, I found a bargain on Eduard Fraenkel’s Agamemnon with few reader notes ($338 delivered).
Hi Mark,
I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed with Attica. The speeches by Theramenes and Critias were definitely difficult (I suspect this is where you got stuck). I think somewhere Dr. Claxton suggests skipping them and then returning to them later or even just reading them in translation. (Now that I’ve taken the book off the shelf, I can tell you the speeches run from Chapters 9 to 16.) I did get through them, but it was a slow slog. It took me roughly six months to complete the book and that was working with it everyday.
Right now, I happen to be reading the Anabasis as well . It is much easier and to be honest, a lot more fun! I’m using Marchant’s edition. I like to read from an OCT with Logeion, Perseus and Goodwin’s notes up on my desktop screen. I prefer reading from the hard copy as my floaters don’t get in the way so much, but I do like Goodwin’s (of Goodwin’s A Greek Grammar) edition, which I downloaded as a pdf. It has an excellent introduction, loaded with information, especially on military matters. In his notes, he occasionally throws in a few syntax questions as well, to get you to analyse the sentence structure. Now that you’ve mentioned Mather & Hewitt, I’m going to download it from archive.org and have a look.
If at any point you decide to revisit Attica (perhaps after the Anabasis), I’d be happy to help. In the meantime, enjoy the Anabasis!
I wasn’t disappointed with Attica – I just decided I wasn’t ready yet. BTW, I get the impression that in books 1 & 2 of Hellenica, Xenophon is imitating the style of Thucydides. His other writings are easier. I have John Lee’s A Greek Army on the March which is very helpful in understanding what Xenophon is talking about. It helps to be able to picture conditions in camp and on the march. I also find it interesting that scholars are able to learn from modern reenactors.
I’ve found Goodwin’s Greek Grammar to be an excellent companion to the Anabasis. The grammar quotes Xenophon a lot, and Mather and Hewitt’s edition provides references to Goodwin’s grammar in their notes.
Little by little, the grammar is beginning to sink in.
I have a hardbound copy of Goodwin that I picked up somewhere years ago and am finally beginning to use. For me it’s “just right” – not too skimpy and not bewilderingly detailed. But the references in Mather and Hewitt must be based on a different edition; they don’t point to the right places in the book I have.
Does anybody have a link to the “right” version of Goodwin?
The edition I have is revised by Gulick, copyright 1930. At the back of the book I have a section called Parallel References. It maps the Mather and Hewitt Goodwin references to section of the edition I have.
Thanks Mark! This is the perfect solution for me. My hardbound copy has the names of three previous owners inside the front cover. One of them gives the date: Dec. 1, 1936. When I hold it I feel a kinship with those who struggled with Greek grammar in past times. There are plenty of marks and notes inside, but thank god no yellow highlighting. Not invented yet!
The online will be enough when I get lost and want a pointer from Mather and Hewitt.
