[B-Greek] reading Homer and period literature
Arie Dirkzwager
dirkzwager at pandora.be
Sun Aug 15 10:23:58 EDT 2004
I think we have to make a difference between learning to read Greekand
becoming acquinted with various kinds of literature.
You can of course start with Homeric Greek or Herodot or Attic or Koine or
even Byzantine Greek. As professor Conrad wrote, the transition between
various dialects or historical types of Greek is not very difficult.
In my opinion however Yochanan was right. If you want to *learn* to read
Greek you should choose "easy" texts that are also interesting for you.
He proposed several authors. I would like to add: Apollodorus
(mythological), Pausanias (a guide for tourists with many historical
passages), historical parts of the LXX (e.g. the history of Joseph in
Genesis !!), Lucianus (ALHQHS hISTORIA and e.g. BIWN PRASIS), Euclid (if you
like mathematics) and even Plato (historical passages about the death of
Socrates), Xenophon (Oeconomicus, e.g. chapter 7 ff. about Ischomachus and
his wife).
If you have an interest in philosophy Diogenes Laertius could be rewarding.
And .... do you know the FILOGELWS ? The Greeks had sometimes an other
feeling for humour !
Arie
Dr. A. Dirkzwager
Hoeselt, Belgium
e-mail dirkzwager at pandora.be
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