ImportMaster at 22:36, 16 November 2021

2021-11-16T22:36:23Z

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{{Infobox language
| name = Ancient Greek
| image = Account of the construction of Athena Parthenos by Phidias.jpg
| imagecaption =Inscription about the construction of the statue of [[Athena Parthenos]] in the [[Parthenon]], 440/439 BC
| nativename = {{br-separated entries |{{lang|grc|Ἑλληνική}} |''{{transl|grc|ISO|Hellēnikḗ}}''}}
| region = eastern [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]
| era = 9th century BC to the 4th century AD
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Hellenic languages|Hellenic]]
| script = [[Greek alphabet]]
| map = Homeric Greece-en.svg
| mapcaption = {{center|Map of [[Ancient Greece|Ancient (Homeric) Greece]]}}
| iso2=grc
| iso3=grc
| iso3comment=(includes all pre-modern stages)
| glotto=anci1242
| glottorefname=Ancient Greek (to 1453)
| notice = IPAs
}}

'''Ancient Greek''' was an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]] spoken in [[Ancient Greece]] from about 1500 [[BC]] to about 300 [[BC]]. Ancient Greek and [[Latin]] are very important languages. Although they are no longer spoken, they influenced almost all modern European languages.

Greek had many different [[dialects]].<ref>Woodard, Roger D. 2008. Greek dialects, in: ''The Ancient Languages of Europe''. R.D. Woodard (ed) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 51.</ref> Attic Greek was spoken in [[Athens]], the largest city, and was thought to be the purest form of Greek. Later, in the educated [[Ancient Rome|Roman world]], children were taught Greek as a [[second language]] just as many people now learn [[English language|English]] as their second language. '''Koine Greek''' was the common language of Greeks. It was Attic Greek mixed with several other dialects.

[[Homer]] spoke and wrote in an old dialect that was somewhat different from Attic Greek. The ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'' are long poems that tell exciting stories about [[warfare]], [[travel]] and the [[Greek mythology|Greek gods]]. In the 5th century BC, some great plays were written by [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]]. The Golden Age of Ancient Greece inspired literature that has been read for [[century|centuries]].

== Attic Greek ==
'''Attic Greek''' was the dialect that was spoken in Athens and the rest of the region of [[Attica]]. It was the dialect most similar to later forms of Greek since it was the standard form of the language. It is studied in Ancient Greek courses because it was the most common dialect.

== Changes ==
All languages change with time, and Greek has changed a great deal over 2500 years. [[Greek language|Modern Greek]] is often said to have started in the year 1453 AD.<ref>Nordhoff, Sebastian ''et al'' (eds) 2013. ''Ancient Greek (to 1453)''. Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. [http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/anci1242]</ref>

Unlike Latin, Ancient Greek did not split into [[Romance languages|many languages]], but it is still considered to be a separate language from [[Modern Greek language|Modern Greek]]. The pronunciation has changed; for instance, beta was pronounced "b" in Ancient Greek, but it is pronounced "v" and is called "vita" in Modern Greek. The spelling has not changed much, which gives the appearance of less change than has actually happened. Also, many different vowels and diphthongs merged into "i", the vowel sound in the English word "ski". The [[tone language|tonal system]] of Ancient Greek has disappeared, but modern Greek had only recently changed its spelling to match that change.

Despite these changes, much of the language has remarkably survived intact through the centuries.<ref>Palmer, Leonard 1996. ''The Greek Language''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, p. 262. {{ISBN|0-8061-2844-5}}</ref> There is a community near [[Trabzon]], [[Turkey]], that speaks a dialect that is closer to Ancient Greek than to Standard Modern Greek.<ref>''[[The Independent]]'', 3 January 2011 [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/jason-and-the-argot-land-where-greeks-ancient-language-survives-2174669.html Jason and the argot: land where Greek's ancient language survives]</ref>
[[File:Beginning Odyssey.svg|thumb|350px|Beginning of Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]'']]

== See also ==
* [[Greek alphabet]]
* [[Greek language]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Greek language]]
[[Category:Ancient Greece]]

Ancient Greek - Revision history

ImportMaster at 22:36, 16 November 2021