[B-Greek] Questions

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Feb 22 18:31:59 EST 2004


At 5:17 PM -0600 2/22/04, Rev. Doug Pickrel, Litt.D wrote:
>  Hello All,
>
>  I am new to the Greek language and your postings confuse me with the
>different terms you us.
>
>  What are the differences between
>  Classical Greek,
>  Classic Greek,
>  Attic Greek,
>  Koine Greek,
>  NT Greek?

I've not heard "Classic Greek," but very roughly speaking, there are these
dates:

Mycenaean Greek (written in the Linear B syllabary): 15th-14th cc. B.C.
Homeric/Epic dialect: language of the Homeric poems and of later epic
literature
	and certain kinds of poetry: 8th century--
Attic or "Classical" Attic: 5th-4th centuries B.C. and again in formal
	literature from the later 2nd c. A.D. for two or three more centuries
Hellenistic = Koine Greek: late 4th c. B.C. - 2nd c. A.D.
NT Greek: the Koine used in the various books of the GNT: 1st & 2nd cc. A.D.
Byzantine Greek: 3rd century A.D. -

Again, please note that these are very rough designations of eras. One
could add an Archaic era of 7th and 6th centuries during which there are
literary versions of the dialects: Ionic, Aeolic, and Dorian

>  Doug.

Doug, please use a full-name signature in accordance with b-greek
conventions, even if your full name is in the "From" header.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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