[B-Greek] Advancing from the Basics (many questions)

Richard Maurer rsmaurer at mac.com
Sun Apr 6 10:02:40 EDT 2003


My guess is that no one is addressing your very interesting query because of
the bizarre line lengths that turned up--at least on my screen. Anyway, let
me hazard an answer:

It sounds like you have made an excellent start and are well motivated to
continue. I would say get a grammar that covers the differences between
Koine and Classical and just keep reading, reading, reading. For starters, I
would recommend Stephen W. Paine¹s Beginning Greek (Oxford). It¹s a primer
that proceeds through the Gospel of John, covering the elements of Koine,
and then switches to Xenophon¹s Anabasis halfway through to fill in the
picture on the classical language. It will provide excellent review for what
you already know, while immersing you in the somewhat more complex dialect
of classical Attic.

Among reference grammars, Blass, Debrunner and Funk¹s A Grammar of the New
Testament (Chicago) consistently points out how Koine differs from
Classical. You may also want Smyth¹s Greek Grammar (Harvard) for a full (and
I mean full!) picture of Classical.

Aside from working systematically through Paine, I wouldn¹t get bogged down
in a grammar book--I would just keep reading the ancient texts. For
comparative purposes, you might enjoy D. A. Russell¹s Anthology of Greek
Prose (Oxford), which has short extracts of authors from Herodotus to St.
Paul, with a little leeway on either end. The Joint Association of Classical
Teachers has a Greek Anthology (Cambridge) that is similar, but with less
variety (though it does have poetry) and without the excellent introduction
to the changing styles that Russell provides.

Geoffrey Horrocks¹ Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers
(Longman) will help you figure out where you¹ve ventured with your Byzantine
authors (I can¹t). As for the Septuagint--again, I¹m at sea, though Proverbs
seems like a good choice to tackle.

Anyway, keep it up! I hope this helps.

Richard Maurer
Holden, MA

 



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