Updated for 2014: So I am reading Thucydides very slowly. It is about 700 pages. Anybody interested?
Is there a downloadable version of the text? I need to have something to read everyday.
Vol 1: http://www.archive.org/details/thucydidishistor01thucuoft
Vol 2: http://www.archive.org/details/historiaerecogno02thucuoft
I was wondering what people think? I am somewhat sick of reading philosophy in other languages because after you figure out the grammar, you still need to make sure you understand the logic of the argument. So I thought maybe I should just go for history. On the other hand, they say Thucydides is hard. Can anybody tell us how hard Thucydides is? Now for most writers, e.g. Demosthenes, what you notice is it they start to repeat themselves–same constructions, same vocabulary, etc. Hopefully Thucydides is the same. Does it start to get easier because more familiar after you have crawled through first couple of the eight books? I just worry about having to learn a bunch of vocabulary for warmaking that I will never encounter again. I was also thinking maybe just Xenophon’s history stuff. But then I thought oh hell might as well grab the bull by the horns. Finishing Thucydides would probably increase one’s Attic confidence dramatically. I have had such an experience with another language. Nothing like a super long book to earn you your stripes.
If I were to read it along with you, I would have to avoid any type of translation and belaboring of the text. What I mean is, I have never yet finished a large Greek text (I’ve read the New Testament, but that’s about the extent of it). I’ve wanted to get into reading larger Greek texts, but I get bogged down by translation most of the time. If I don’t catch all of the details, that’s fine. I just want to start reading and absorbing. I haven’t had enough time and experience with it.
Whether it’s Thucydides or another author, I’m not too highly concerned. I just want to jump in and try to swim!
Well, I just did a massive amount of French reading (5hrs/day for four months), so I am ready to do something similar with Greek. How many pages a day would you want to do? What do you think of 2/day? Does that strike you as too little?
Too little?! No way! LOL
Do you want to confine the reading the Histories? I could pull the Pelopponesian War from Perseus for the reading, if you’d like.
I’ve just thrown the first 23 chapters (they’re short!) together as an example. You can find it here. It’s searchable. I can put this together for the reading. It comes down really quickly. Let me know what you think. I’ve done it in two fonts. Let me know which one you prefer, if you want to read it this way. The font switches on page 8.
Link deleted. - jaihare
Well, I love GFS Porson. I haven’t given much thought to how I want to read it. I am not going to do anything until the beginning of the year anyway. We should wait and see what others think. When I read Greek on the computer it is because I want to make use of the hyperlinked LSJ through a Perseus text. But if you want to pull off 8 pdfs of Thucydides in GFS Porson I won’t stop you. Perhaps I will print them out rather than buy the Oxford. I like big fonts.
In the meantime, I’ll try to put together some decent-looking texts for you. I prefer the SBL Greek font, but I’ll make one type for you and style it otherwise for me. Do you want it 12pt font or bigger? I’m more concerned with saving trees, so I’ll probably print two pages on each side of the paper or just make mine landscape with two columns. The new year is just around the corner!
Actually, I just discovered that if I convert it to PDF with GFS Porson, it’s not searchable. If I use SBL Greek, it is searchable.
Does this make a difference to you?
No, I don’t need it to be searchable, because I would only use it to print out a hard copy. 14 pt is best for me.
For you, Porson it is!
Here’s an example of how it will look (book 1, sections 1-45). Readable? Or, do you want the font bigger/smaller? This is size 14.
Link deleted. - jaihare
Only because you say it is so easy. I have other resources for printing texts. I have this site set up with Porson on my browser and I usually use it for printing: http://mercure.fltr.ucl.ac.be/Hodoi/concordances/intro.htm#thucydide (It is down at the moment, so you can’t see much; goes down every night it seems.) They have good tools for creating vocabulary lists.
Since I can’t look at this site right now, what is the site (aside from the vocab lists and such)? Is it larger sections of the text itself?
Did you see the link I posted above? If not, here it is again. It’s Porson size 14. Let me know if this is what you’re thinking.
Link deleted. - jaihare
Then again, the file is much smaller if I publish it as XPS instead of PDF. This only works with SBL Greek, since GFS Porson converts as Bitmap images instead of as font information (don’t ask me why!).
Here’s the same text in SBL Greek as an XPS. It loads much more quickly. Would you be interested in the smaller files instead? I actually like to read in this font. I read the GNT in this font quite a lot.
Link deleted. - jaihare
Anyone else going to take part in this reading??
What will be required? Any posting or discussion? Or, do we just ask questions about things we find in the reading? Do we have a knowledgeable leader?
I’ve deleted all of the files associated with the links above.
SBL Greek: PDF (1,061 KB)
GFS Porson: PDF (484 KB)
I found a way to reduce the file size of the Porson formatting. 
So, now it’s much smaller — which means short upload and download time. (You’re welcome!) I hope you like how it looks. I’ll be using the SBL Greek, since I like it better. 
Anyway, these files contain all 146 sections of the first book of the Peloponnesian War.
I have maintained the structure of the Perseus text, just cleaning things up (such as the use of : instead of · throughout the text, the appearance of the parentheses from their site, non-breaking spaces after closing square brackets, etc.). The text is faithful to the Perseus edition in all of the body of the text. This will be my intention as I put together all of these files.
Can you put together vocabulary lists for the text? If you make the vocab lists and I put together the printable text, we can both invest in the project and enjoy it more.
I wonder if Nate or anyone else would like to join us in this endeavor?
My impression is that Xenophon is easier if you haven’t read a lot of prose. (We read parts of Kyrou paideia in a second-year Greek course). The annoying thing about Thucydides is that his sentences seem to go on forever. I haven’t read much by him at all, though, so I can’t say a lot about his style or relative difficulty.
Lucian (A True History) is another option if you want to read prose and want a break from philosophy.
I can’t promise I’ll be able to participate, although it would be a good way to keep my hand in with Greek. Perhaps I can bring the text along to read during my 12+ hours sitting in an airplane in January.
The appeal of a long work is once you get into it, there is no turning back. If you read shorter works, then you can pat yourself on the back after finishing one, and then go flake off for a month. I don’t have any interest in Lucian. Must be history.
As for long sentences, I don’t mind that. What I do find difficult, as I said earlier, is holding onto an extended philosophical argument while trying to work through difficult grammar.
My only real concern about Thucydides is vocabulary that you will never use again. Contrast Demosthenes where most of the vocabulary is worth learning. This is what I would really like opinions on: Thucydides’ vocabulary.
The French site I linked to above is again down at the moment, but you can get vocabulary lists there. You can do it by book and then by frequency. No definitions though. So perhaps Perseus will be better for vocabulary lists. I am losing confidence in the efficacy of vocabulary lists, especially for something long like Thucydides. My attitude now is if you put your head down and march to the end of the book, the vocabulary and grammar will fall into place and you will have read Thucydides (which hopefully was one of the reasons you wanted to learn Greek in the first place).
Maybe we should do 1 page per day for the first book, just so people get their bearings. And I was thinking about formally starting the second week of Jan, so say Jan 8.