Composition Textbooks

How can I learn to express my ideas in clear and intelligible Greek?
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Jason Hare
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Composition Textbooks

Post by Jason Hare »

So, I had mentioned to Louis that I would probably continue with Sidgwick's composition textbook once I work through First Greek Book (for Attic). There's another book by North and Hillard (Greek Prose Composition), and I was wondering if it might be better as far as topics re concerned. Has anyone used one of these textbooks that might be able to report back and tell us what each is like and which I might move into next?

Thanks!

Jason
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
cwconrad
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Re: Composition Textbooks

Post by cwconrad »

Jason Hare wrote:So, I had mentioned to Louis that I would probably continue with Sidgwick's composition textbook once I work through First Greek Book (for Attic). There's another book by North and Hillard (Greek Prose Composition), and I was wondering if it might be better as far as topics re concerned. Has anyone used one of these textbooks that might be able to report back and tell us what each is like and which I might move into next?
Yes: North and Hillard -- in the Fall of 1958! When it was already half a century old. But I used it later when some of our Classics majors wanted to do Greek composition. Those earlier chapters are especially useful for becoming aware of distinctive ancient Greek ways of expressing the most common notions and building the most common constructions. I think it may have been Sidgwick that had a very neat listing of idioms; you've gotta learn them, and you also have to become cognizant of the kinds of metaphors that are characteristic of the language -- they do differ from one language to the next.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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