I am studying Greek using the video course Greek 101: Learning an Ancient Language. It teaches Homeric Greek but mentions the Koine forms too. I was wondering whether Attic was not important enough to merit the special attention given to Koine in the course. After all, Plato and Aristotle wrote in Attic, so one would think that Attic forms would at least be mentioned in passing. Am I missing out on something here?
Homeric vs Attic vs Koine
- Thread starter G A Sindh
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Almost everyone worth reading wrote in Attic, so that's the one version I'd choose, myself. But really Ancient Greek is close enough to the same thing, whether you study Homeric, or Attic, or Koine, the three varieties a reader has most need of. Once you've studied one, and can adequately read Homer, or whatever, you can then study the comparatively minor differences needed to understand Plato, or Pindar, or Sappho, or the New Testament. You're not confronted with a hugely different variety like Modern Greek.
@G A Sindh
Maybe because Koine Greek is the closest to Modern Greek than Homeric and Attic, and also a lingua franca for many centuries, so it was very important...
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Keep in mind also that in Christian (Protestant) unis and colleges all over the western world, the prevalence of Koine over Attic is almost universal because Koine is the language of the Christian Gospels
It sounds very strange. Normally, wherever Ancient Greek (with no further specification) is taught, it is Attic Greek that is meant. Its differences from Koine are very small, anyway; on the other hand, Homeric Greek is very different, about as different from Koine as Chaucer's English is from Modern English.
And how different is it (Homeric) from Attic?
Yes, I believe so. Attic Greek is merely a transitional stage between Homeric and Koine, much as Koine is a transitional stage between Attic and modern Greek.
I wouldn't quite put it that way. Homeric Greek is a highly artificial language, mostly Ionian but with a generous admixture of Aeolian and reflecting more ancients forms of Greek than the language of its final redaction. Attic Greek did NOT evolve from Homeric; it was a separate Ionian dialect that evolved independently. Koine, on the other hand, did evolve from Attic, with some influence from other forms of Greek (the replacement of specifically Attic -ττ- by -σσ-, for instance) but mostly under its own dynamic.
Of course, Attic Greek is chronologically intermediate between Homeric Greek and Koine. And feateures of Homeric Greek do help us understand the prehistory of Attic.
Yes, definitely. Koine displaced all older forms of Greek. (It is thought that one strange modern dialect, Tsaconian, may be derived from ancient Doric; but that, if true, would be the only exception.)
There was a 2nd-century AD grammarian named Phrynichos, who wrote a book of advice on Koine vulgarisms to be avoided and proper Attic equivalents to use. For a modern Greek, it is amusing to read: a good many of the expressions Phrynichos condemns are in standard use today. If you read Greek even just a little, you may wish to look at this extract: Ο Φρύνιχος και τα λάθη μας
There was a 2nd-century AD grammarian named Phrynichos, who wrote a book of advice on Koine vulgarisms to be avoided and proper Attic equivalents to use. For a modern Greek, it is amusing to read: a good many of the expressions Phrynichos condemns are in standard use today. If you read Greek even just a little, you may wish to look at this extract: Ο Φρύνιχος και τα λάθη μας
@G A Sindh
Maybe because Koine Greek is the closest to Modern Greek than Homeric and Attic, and also a lingua franca for many centuries, so it was very important...
So do today's Greeks understand Koine easily?
Not easily, certainly not without previous study. The grammar has changed considerably. But more easily than we can understand Attic Greek; as for Homeric Greek, though many words (ουρανός, γῆ, θάλασσα, θεός...) and forms are the same 3000 years on, just as many, if not more, are completely unrecognizable to us moderns.
Is there a good resource (course or book) for transitioning from Homeric to Attic without having to do yet another full blown course?
Clyde Pharr, "Homeric Greek", is a textbook for beginners. In the appendix he has an outline of the major differences in Attic.
Thanks. I saw that appendix, which is of course helpful, but it does refer you to a "good Attic grammar" in several places and at the end just says "read a good Attic author and consult a grammar as needed". Maybe that's all that's needed (I don't know). I guess if I ever get to that stage someday I'll post an update here.