[B-Greek] Accents

R Yochanan Bitan Buth ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Tue Jun 21 15:20:26 EDT 2005


Shalom Mitch, 

 

Your message shows that you are enjoying a survey of the history of
Greek. Keep going. 

 

Your instincts about trying to find a copy of originals are excellent.
See below. Pictures of many papyri and major manuscripts are often
available in what would be called a '(graduate) research library'. I
don't know what your options are near you. On the other hand there is
a growing availability of selected texts on the web. You might try the
Duke Papyri collection.

 

I would recommend two ways to further your study. 

 

1) Get a more recent history of the Greek language in order to present
a second opinion. Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek- A History of the Language
and Its Speakers (1997), is excellent, though I've heard its out of
print. Maybe you can get an interlibrary loan. It's worth the bother.
It has the advantages of being written by someone conversant with
modern linguistics and it also presents sample texts from the periods
discussed.

 

2) I would recommend reading some actual texts from a period of your
interest. These are usually available with regularized transcriptions
and spellings, though some of the more expensive editions will include
pictures. For example, the Greek documents from the Judean Desert are
available (1989) with transcription, translation, commentary and
pictures. [Naphtali Lewis, The Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period in
the Cave of Letters, Greek Papyri. Jerusalem:. Israel Exploration
Society, 1989.] Expensive editions of LXX documents from the Judean
Desert are available, like the minor prophets scroll, though these are
usually too expensive for anyone less than a specialist or hobbyist
with a serious income. There is a series of selected papyri documents
relating to the NT that is published in Australia.
http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/doccentre/NewDocs.html

 

Blessings

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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