Ancient Greek I: A 21st Century Approach

This text contains twenty-five years of learning and teaching experience. During this time, I have had the pleasure of introducing ancient Greek to a variety of students and thank them for giving me the opportunity to teach them. In this book a guiding philosophy is to present as much as possible with as little as possible: οὐ πολλὰ ἀλλὰ πολύ (“depth not breadth”). Attempting to do so has been a labor of love.

Since teaching ancient Greek at BGSU, I used several different textbooks before settling on Chase and Phillips’ elementary textbook. I began writing my own textbook as a reworking of their A New Introduction to Greek, a text that, though lacking in some essentials, I admire for its restraint. Using Chase and Phillips as a model for accomplishing much with less, I then built this book around the principles of memory, synthesis, and analysis. Students will memorize the top 250 most frequently occurring ancient Greek words, the essential word endings, the eight parts of speech, and the grammatical concepts they will most frequently encounter when reading authentic ancient texts. The logic behind this approach is obvious: students should learn first the vocabulary and concepts that they will encounter most often. The hope is that familiarity with the commonplace will turn more efficiently and effectively into a mastery of reading this beautiful language. Vocabulary outside of the top 250 is glossed as it is in texts with running vocabulary. Glossing these words on the same or adjoining page enables students to focus as much of their attention as possible on acquiring the reading skills that they will need as they progress in the language.

Many years ago, I had the privilege of learning from Drs. Hansen and Quinn and their text Greek: An Intensive Course. The authors, their book, and their teaching methodology were transformative for me. I hope that, in some way, I keep alit the flame of the Latin and Greek Institute and the excellence they instill in their students.

Some Tips on Using This Book

If using a hardcopy, to minimize flipping back and forth, open the book with the spine flat and two pages visible. If using a digital copy, use the word search feature to find information. Whichever version you are using, print and then keep at your elbow the Case and Function Chart, the handout on Adjectives, Adverbs, Nouns, and Pronouns, and the handout on Verbs. Resist the urge to write down your English translation. Learn to translate into English while reading directly from the Greek. Resisting this graphical urge will improve your vocabulary retention and your reading ability.