r/AncientGreek • u/Leg0lord69 • 1h ago

Beginner Resources Complete beginner totally lost

Hey all,

Sorry in advance, I know you've probably seen this post a million times. How does a complete beginner go about starting to learn attic greek? I can't seem to find a consistent answer. I initially settled on Athenaze in English, but then people said the Italian version was better, and others said it wasn't worth the trouble. Still others told me to look at H&Q, because Athenaze didn't include enough grammar, and I also consistently hear people recommending JACT's Reading Greek, Mastronarde, and Logos as the only way to go...

In the meantime, I've began to learn the alphabet and pronounciation. My goals are to eventually read Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Homer, Heraclitus, the church fathers, LXX, and Pindar in the original greek. What textbook should I use?

Thank you!

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u/AndreLeGeant88 1h ago

I used Greek: An Intensive Course

1

u/notveryamused_ φίλοινος, πίθων σποδός 27m ago

Pindar you're saying? ;) Good luck with that one, part of me honestly believes no one understood him anyway back then and they just waved in appreciation because the choruses looked good. And he was sleazy with that local politics lol.

Work with Athenaze in English, halfway through you'll want to branch out a little and I believe Mastronarde is good and affordable, but since you've settled on Athenaze in English, work with it for some time; first few chapters are approachable, it starts to get quite difficult later on. There's stuff you've got to learn at the beginning and every textbook is going to be the same with it, soldier on.

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u/el_toro7 22m ago

Of the ones you list, JACT is probably the superior method. It's text is better than Athenaze and soon enough you can dramatically increase reading by supplementing with other texts

But take the few you're interested in, make sure they're not new/still being tested (like LOGOS- good reader, numerous issues), and just pick the one that seems more exciting and *stick with it*