Subscribe to Blog via Email
Archive:
Day: April 24, 2017
What is the word for the thief in the every day language of your country and in the New Testament?
Ancient Greek made a distinction between thieves and robbers: kleptēs vs lēistēs or harpax. Both kleptēs and lēistēs are used in the New Testament; the men crucified with Jesus were lēistai. The Modern Greek vernacular had lost the word lēistēs, and had kept the word kleptēs (as kleftis) to refer to both thieves and robbers. […]
How did Byzantine Greeks regard ancient Greek civilization?
As a complement to Dimitra Triantafyllidou’s answer and Niko Vasileas’ answer: There was an undercurrent of resentment of the ancients and their pagan wisdom, but it remained an undercurrent. There’s the renowned hymn on the Pentecost by Romanos the Melodist, dismissing ancient learning with puns on the pagan scholars—and alas, a favourite of the Greek […]