[B-Greek] reading Homer and period literature

R Yochanan Bitan Buth ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Sun Aug 15 03:42:03 EDT 2004


A regular item on this list that relates to reading Homer is finding
'readable' literature in any period. Ancient Greek is literature and
literature is normally at a slightly more complex level of language than the
normal conversation and daily talk that brings students of modern languages
into fluency. What is needed for Greek students is advice on 'intermediate'
low literature that they can cut their teeth on. When I say 'cut teeth' I am
not talking about ten pages of some nice text but 1000-2000 pages of text.
This is where the Rouse book comes in so handy, easy flowing narrative,
purposefully spoon-fed, 100+ pages. After such an introduction a person
might enjoy mixing works like Joseph and Asnat (admittedly highly Semitized,
but an easy and 'new' read for most) with a purer Greek like Aesop's fables.
Aesop has an advantage of being very short, but the vocabulary usually needs
prompting since there is no long contextual buildup. Another 'low lit' read
is something like the "Ephesians" romance by Xenophon of Ehesus, a long book
that uses shorter sentences than Josephus.

 

While on the subject of reading, I always advocate using a language to learn
a language. A first step might be to form a weekly reading circle with local
friends. However, to really make that come alive for language learning, the
discussion should be in the simplest Greek possible without any shame for
making mistakes and stutterings. 

 

A parallel idea would be to have a written chat group on something like
Rouse's Greek Boy which would allow a relatively easy entry level into
discussion about topics read. I don't have the time to organize such a group
but would join and follow one if set up by an energetic computer monitor. 

 

ERRWSO

Randall Buth

 

Randall Buth, PhD

Director, Biblical Language Center

www.biblicalulpan.org

and Director, Biblical Studies in Israel

Hebrew University, Rothberg International School

ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il

 




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