NCLG

Greek Too! which is becoming a clearinghouse of information on websites, materials and articles for the study of Ancient and Biblical Greek.
Greek Teacher's Corner from CANE
Latinteach's Ancient Greek Language
Learning Greek on the Web
Textkit.com: Greek and Latin Learning Tools
Committee for the Promotion of Greek (thought a bit out of date)

"What have the Greeks Done for Us?"

We can imagine a conversation among Roman schoolmasters and schoolchildren,

What have the Greeks done for us?

invented the alphabet, democratically available literacy
gave us Homer, poetry
democracy and ostracism
temples, architecture
philosophy
physics,
astronomy
rhetoric
trial by jury
medicine
theater- tragedy and comedy
mythology
geometry, abstract math
history
sculpture
art
olive oil
wine

oh, give it a rest!~

(cf. Monty Python's "Life of Brian" the scene referred to as "What have the Romans done for us?" Transcribed with some omissions):

In the headquarters of the subversive JPF group the Leader, Reg rhetorically says:
(The Romans took) everything we had. And what have they ever given us in return?

Various members respond
The Aqueduct?

Reg. What?

Various members respond
Sanitation, remember what the city used to be like.
and the roads.
irrigation?
medicine!
education.
wine!
public baths?
and its safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.
They certainly like to keep order"

Reg: "Alright, but apart from the
sanitation,
medicine
education
wine
public order
irrigation
roads
fresh water system and public health,
What have the Romans ever done for us?

member: "brought peace? "

Reg: "Peace? Oh shut up!"

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The Greek Language

The Greek language is one of the oldest written languages in the world. There are Greek texts dating to the end of the Bronze Age (called "Linear B" texts); to the Archaic Age (ca. 800-600 B.C.), called Ionic, Aeolic, and Ionian Dialects; to the Classical Age (500-300 B.C.), or Attic Greek; to the Koine, or Common Dialect (300 B.C. to A.D. 400); and to Modern Greek (A.D. 1000 to the Present).

The literature from the Archaic to the Modern Age is exceptional. It has been called the greatest literature in the Western world.

The names of various Greek authors are among the most famous in the world: Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, The New Testament, Eustathios, Cavafy, Kazantzakis, Seferis, and Elytis.

The Greek people have always been among the liveliest and clear-headed people in the world. Their culture was the "cradle of western civilization." They have greatly influenced Western rhetoric, science, philosophy, sports (cf. the Olympics), fine arts, politics (particularly the forms of democracy), and theology (particularly Christianity).

There are many reasons for a student to study Greek.

STUDYING GREEK

Usually a modern student studies Attic (or "Classical") Greek, Koine (or "Common") Greek, or Modern Greek. Sometimes he or she studies all three periods in succession.

The advantages of Classical Greek are reading the great Classical authors in their own language, reading titles on Greek vases, and reading inscriptions of archaeological importance; of Koine Greek is reading the words of the New Testament, especially of Jesus, in their original language (as reported by the authors: Jesus himself may not have known Greek); of Modern Greek, to read modern authors and to speak with the people of Greece while traveling there.

ADVANTAGES TO STUDENTS STUDYING GREEK

College or University

Sharpens analytical language skills and improves knowledge of English. Introduces Greek words that have been borrowed by English, e.g. architect, athlete, Catholic, Christ, dyslexia, fancy, holistic, pedagogy, psychiatry, and sophomore. Many English technical vocabularies since the time of the Renaissance are based on Greek.
Greek language and culture teaches lessons in cross-cultural communications.
Knowledge of the varying periods of Greek helps students understand the continuity of culture, and how it changes but stays the same.
Teaches values, style, and terminology of Latin poets (who were strongly influence by their Greek predecessors).
Access to the finest multi-media computer program in the world: Perseus (has 25,000 images, an atlas, complete works of 31 authors, and the intermediate version of the Liddell-Scott Greek-English lexicon).
Required for students who plan to enter seminary, or pursue graduate studies in Western theater, history, literature, political science, or philosophy.
Learn to read texts that deal with eternal issues like power, gender, knowledge, mortality, and divinity.

HIGH SCHOOL

Sharpens analytical language skills and improves knowledge of English
Improves the students' SAT scores. The Verbal average of students who take Greek and/or Latin is consistently higher than for other students.
Smoothes admission to America's and Canada's leading colleges and universities, which especially favor high-school graduates who know Greek
Greek language and culture teaches lessons in cross-cultural communications. Modern Greek allows students to meet and complete field studies in a vibrant, on-going culture.
Introduces students to Greek words that have been borrowed by English, e.g. astronaut, dinosaur, hippopotamus, lycanthropy, Pan-American, Phi Beta Kappa, and rhinoceros.
Introduces students to Greek mythology, one of the best-known and most popular systems of myth in the world.
Because many English technical vocabularies since the time of the Renaissance are based on Greek, the language is valuable for those students who plan to enter the professions, e.g. scientific (particularly anatomy, anthropology, astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, entomology, mathematics, psychology, and zoology--all of which have Greek names), legal, and medical professions.
Teaches the basics of Greek rhetorical methodology (i.e., how to use a language effectively and persuasively) and improves students' ability at English speech-making and writing.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY KNOWLEDGE OF GREEK

Why does the Persian Language have many Greek words? Frequent cultural contact between Greeks and Persians.
Who was the first urban planner? Hippodamus of Miletos.
Who was the first great doctor in Western civilization? Hippocrates of Cos.
Who was the Greek king who expanded, through conquest, Greek culture as far as northern India? Alexander the Great.
Who first measured the circumference of the world? Eratosthenes of Cyrene.
Who was the Greek explorer who first sailed around Britain? Pytheas of Marseilles.
What non-Greek people preserved Greek literature, particularly scientific and philosophical works? The Arabs.
What was the name of the Gospel Writer who is thought to be Greek by birth? St. Luke.
What was the name of the medieval Greek hero whose story is preserved in Greek and Russian manuscripts? Digenis Akritas.
Who wrote the modern Greek national anthem, Hymn to Liberty? Dionysios Solomos.
What twentieth-century author wrote a version of the Odyssey? Nikkos Kazantzakis.

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Dear Incoming Freshman:

(This is an open letter to incoming freshman at Ohio University.)

Among the most important choices you will make is the one concerning your foreign language requirement. The easiest thing, of course, is to treat the whole matter as a bit of a nuisance, a bureaucratic requirement. Put in your time in Spanish or French and be done with it; you might even shorten the time of the requirement if you present some high school credit. Frankly, that's what most students do.

Specifically, I want to call your attention to the fact that you can learn to read some of the most important authors of the Western tradition in the original Greek: Homer, Plato, Aristotle, the New Testament. I know that we are in difficult economic times, and the tendency of most people is to be as practical as possible: I can't afford the luxury of doing anything weird, they say. I've got to be pragmatic and goal directed, preparing myself for a high-paying job. I think that is a mistake for two reasons. First, that is precisely how most students feel. Consequently, at graduation they will find themselves part of a huge herd, scarcely distinguishable except by a few tenths of a point on their GPAs.

The better personal strategy, I would suggest, is to sharpen and stretch your mind as much as possible, to prepare yourself to be a self-motivated, imaginative and thoughtful person--a graduate with unique interests and views. My personal bias is that learning to read from Homer, Plato, and the New Testament in the original Greek will stretch your intellectual vistas in a way that learning to discuss the weather or dining options in a modern language is not likely to. And you will be introduced not only to the roots of Western historical, political, philosophical, and theological thought, but to the roots of English academic vocabulary. Greek thought kindled the spirit of the Renaissance, and the Greek language provided the bases for many modern technical vocabularies, including the vocabularies of most of the sciences. As a consequence, students of Greek have a great advantage in learning scientific and medical terms, and they tend to do very well indeed on such pre-graduate and professional exams as the GRE (grad school), MCAT (med school), and LSAT (law school).

The second reason that a pragmatic educational strategy is misguided concerns our need for wise leadership (corporate, political, family, ...) in the coming decades. We are not facing difficult times in this country because our current leaders paid too much attention to clear and accurate thought about complex issues. Our problems arise instead from the recent tendency to ignore questions of historical depth and intellectual complexity in favor of short-term simplistic pragmatism. Modern leaders have left a monumental mess for your generation to clean up--if you can. Your generation will need hard thinkers--disciplined, accurate, big-minded dreamers--to set things right. People tend to forget it, but that is why our country initiated public education: to provide for a smart, informed, intellectually energetic citizenry. You cannot become an energetic and imaginative thinker by making cautious, predictable, bureaucratically serviceable decisions. So, why not decide to make the most of your language study?

For a few of you there are very specific pragmatic reasons that you definitely should study Greek. If you entertain even the remotest possibility of attending seminary after college or of pursuing an academic career in such fields as history, philosophy, or literature, gaining proficiency in Greek in your undergraduate work can be an enormous benefit. Students who enter seminary knowing Greek can begin advanced New Testament study immediately. Students who enter graduate programs in history, philosophy, or comparative literature can do serious research from their first day in the program rather than spending two or three years developing their language skills. In the past two years students prepared in Greek at OU have been accepted to graduate study at Yale Divinity School, Ohio State, the University of California at Berkeley, Chicago, Toronto, Kentucky, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--and all have been awarded large grants, fellowships, or teaching assistantships. A faculty member at Chapel Hill, commenting on an OU grad who accomplished a double major in History and Classics, noted that the student's fine preparation in the languages made him one of the top five candidates in the nation in ancient history, and he urged us to send him "all the students you've got who are similarly prepared to do research in the original sources."

By the end of the first quarter, students are able to read virtually unedited passages from Heroditus, "the father of history," who wrote almost 2500 years ago. By the end of the spring quarter students have read passages from Aristophanes, Plato, Euripides, and Demosthenes, and are able to read from the gospels on their own. It's not just Greek that they've learned, you see. They discover something about themselves: that with steady effort and patience they can learn to read the actual words of the founders of the Western intellectual tradition. They come to know themselves not just as kids from Welleston or Pittsburgh who hope to find a job someday, but as people who have engaged Herodotus, Plato and St John in conversation. Studying Greek may not in itself equip you for the kind of thinking and leadership our world needs. You will more likely be on the right track, however, if you choose to study the foundation texts of Western civilization in Greek than if you choose to take whatever course offers the easiest way to fulfill your language requirement.

With best wishes for a superb language experience,

Steve Hays,
Ohio Univeristy

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Why Study Greek?

(from Andrea Craig, La Jolla H.S.)

You're a busy high school student loaded down with classes, clubs, sports and a social life. So why would you want to study GREEK?!?

Only for the following reasons...

Are you interested in doing well on the SAT's?

Most people know that Ancient Greek is one of the roots of English language. However what most people don't know is that Ancient Greek (along with Latin) is the major building block of SAT vocabulary. After you have studied Greek, you can figure out words like:

myriad
lexiphanes
eudemonism
polyglot
patronymic

even if you've never seen them before!

Thinking about being a Biology Major in college or going to Medical School?

What goes for vocabulary building on the SATs goes double for medical terminology. Check out the following gems that studying Greek will give you.

1. Medical word: anhypnia: an/hypn/ia
Greek breakdown:

an - not, without, lacking, deficient
hypn - sleep
ia - state or condition

Meaning: the state of lacking sleep.

2. Medical word: macrodactylia: macr/o/dactyl/ia
Greek breakdown:

macr - (abnormally) large or long
o - connecting vowel
dactyl - finger, toe
ia - state or condition

Meaning: state or condition of having abnormally large or long fingers or toes.

3. Medical word: arachnoidea encephali: arachn/oid/ea en/cephal/i
Greek breakdown:

arachn - spider, web,(membrane)
oid - resembles
ea - forms noun ending

en - within, inside
cephal- head
i - of the

Meaning: the arachnoidea of the encephalon (the part of the arachnoid membrane enclosing the brain.)

Again many scientific terms derive from Classical Greek such as:

zoophyte
tetrapterous
odontoid
leucodermatous
glaucous
hectare
nanotechnology
Gaia Hypothesis
Pteranodon
Triceratops
Chronobiology

Do you like two for the price of one?

With Greek roots you not only get the word you needed to know, but you also get a myriad of other words! For example:

Greek Root:

rhin = nose
keras = horn

together = rhinceros

Gift words:

Keratectomy
Keratosis
Keratin
Keratoid
Keratose
Keratode

Greek Root:

neur/neuro = having to do with nerves
logos = the study of

together = neurology

Gift words:

neuron
neurosis
neuroma
neurotic
neurology
neuropod

Need some more reasons? How about School Pride.

While you surely realize that taking Ancient Greek is a rare subject, here are the national stats about Greek classes.

There are currently 18 out of the 50 states that offer Ancient Greek to their students at the high school level.
There are 63 schools in the entire nation that offer Ancient Greek.
Out of these schools, 13 are public institutions.
Only one of these public schools is in California. That school is La Jolla High.

If you think about your future of applying to colleges, you surely realize that you need to find ways to distinguish yourself from the other applicants. The Classics is a way to set yourself apart from the rest.

Greek is a challenging language. However, the rewards will reap from it are well worth your effort. After you study Greek you will have mastered some of the most important skills you could ever learn in high school. By studying Greek you will gain:

a clear understanding of English grammar
how to evaluate information
how to problem solve
how to be organized and methodical
how to think logically

Study Ancient Greek and never get that confused look on your face again when your teachers say the dreaded words:

Split infinitive
Direct object
Prepositional phrase
Indirect object
Gerund
Dependant clause

Finally, study Ancient Greek and gain the most valuable thing you could from it: An understanding and an appreciation for its myths, its history and its culture--a culture and a tradition that has remained a part of Western Civilization for over 2500 years; a culture and a tradition that you can explore and someday pass down to a new generation; a culture and a tradition that is already your own.

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Last Updated January 3, 2004. This site was created June 1999 by Ginny Lindzey, Webmistress of the Texas Classical Association. To report problems please contact webmistress@promotelatin.org.