take the exam to enter the Greek Uni

The following is part of the exams in Ancient Greek students wanting to enter several University Schools in Greece have to take at the end of their final high-school year (In case you are wondering, that is the only piece of untaught ancient Greek text they had to translate in 2002)

Αδίδακτο κείμενο
Δημοσθένης κατά Μειδίου (169 - 170)

Ἐγὼ γὰ? οἶδ’ ὅτι πολλοὶ πολλὰ κἀγάθ’ ὑμᾶς εἰσιν εἰ?γασμένοι, ο? κατὰ τὰς Μειδίου λῃτου?γίας, οἱ μὲν ναυμαχίας νενικηκότες, οἱ δὲ πόλεις εἰληφότες, οἱ δὲ πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ τῇ πόλει στήσαντες τ?όπαια· ἀλλ’ ὅμως ο?δενὶ πώποτε τούτων δεδώκατε τὴν δω?ειὰν ταύτην ο?δ’ ἂν δοίητε, ?ξεῖναι τοὺς ἰδίους ?χθ?οὺς ὑβ?ίζειν α?τῶν ἑκάστῳ, ?πότ’ ἂν βούληται καὶ ὃν ἂν δύνηται τ?όπον. ο?δὲ γὰ? Ἁ?μοδίῳ καὶ Ἀ?ιστογείτονι· τούτοις γὰ? δὴ μέγισται δέδονται δω?ειαὶ πα?’ ὑμῶν καὶ ὑπὲ? μεγίστων. ο?δ’ ἂν ἠνέσχεσθ’ , εἰ π?οσέγ?αψέ τις ?ν τῇ στήλῃ “?ξεῖναι δὲ καὶ ὑβ?ίζειν α?τοῖς ὃν ἂν βούλωνται”.


Now if you can translate that and do the following exercises you are half way there :slight_smile: (provided my English is not too confusing)

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  1. Καλὰ, μεγίστων
    Write the comparative and superlative (same gender, case and number)

  2. write the types of the following words that are asked for.
    οἶδ(α): 3rd singular in subjunctive and imperative, same tense
    δεδώκατε: same person (? you know first, second or third) in indicative mood’s imperfect tense and indefinite tense
    δύνηται: same person,same tense in optative

3."Ἐγὼ γὰ? οἶδ’ ὅτι πολλοὶ πολλὰ κἀγάθ’ ὑμᾶς εἰσιν εἰ?γασμένοι":
a)Find the (dependent, subordinate?) clause, state its kind, and its syntactical role

b) turn indirect to direct speech

  1. κατὰ τὰς λῃτου?γίας, τῇ πόλει, ο?δενί, ὑβ?ίζειν, ὑπὲ? μεγίστων.
    Find the syntactical role of these words/phrases

Είχε θεω?ηθεί δ?σκολο κείμενο Ει?ήνη;

Με μια ματιά φαίνεται ε?κολο.

I would have to ask my mother about that, she has a better memory :smiley: I bet they didn’t find it as easy as it really is.

It IS rather easy isn’t it (too easy but maybe I am not a good judge)?

But I guess you know how excellent Greek students are in ancient Greek

Anyway, I didn’t post it as a difficult piece; more like an informative one so to speak