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Category: Ancient Greek
What is written on the Library of Celsus and is it still readable easily for a modern average Greek?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Celsus Well, there’s a whole bunch of writing on the Library. In order of size: The four statues: ΣΟΦΙΑ ΚΕΛΣΟΥ, ΑΡΕΤΗ ΚΕΛΣΟΥ, ΕΝΝΟΙΑ ΚΕΛΣΟΥ, ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗ ΚΕΛΣΟΥ. “Wisdom of Celsus, Virtue of Celsus, Meaning of Celsus, Science [Knowledge] of Celsus”. False friend in “Science”, but no problem. The facade: I actually got this from a Google […]
What was Clearchus’ tragic flaw?
Desmond, I have the highest of regard for you who have A2A’d me, and you have the highest of regard to me to have A2A’d me. The problem is, I don’t even know who Clearchus is. Yes, I am actually an impostor. But Wikipedia remedies that! So. Clearchus of Sparta – Wikipedia, and Battle of […]
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 […]
What does the suffix “ostomy” mean?
stoma is Greek for mouth. –stomia is stoma plus an abstract noun ending: “-mouth-ation”. In medicine, a Stoma (medicine) is also a surgically made opening. So a colostomy is a surgical intervention creating an opening (a stoma, a “mouth”) in the colon: kōlo-stom-ia > colostomy, “colon-mouth-ation”. The Wikipedia article gives 16 other stoma operations. The […]
Are there any dialects of Greek that Nick Nicholas can’t understand?
First up, my vanity is well gratified! Well, there’s the question, and then there’s the details. Can I understand someone speaking modern Tsakonian, or read ancient Arcadian and understand it, sight unseen? Mate, I struggled to understand the Cypriot of my cousin’s husband Fotis; and I have no idea what Homer is on about. Homer! […]
Do you find Thucydides hard to read in Greek?
In Nick Nicholas’ answer to Are there any dialects of Greek that Nick Nicholas can’t understand?, I just exclaimed: I can kinda understand Attic, but I will sneak peeks at the dictionary when I don’t think you’re looking, and I ain’t touching no Thucydides. So. Let’s touch some random Thucydides. 6.30. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα θέρους […]
What are some interesting examples of Ancient Greek vernacular?
This is (a) very old and (b) profane. Hope it’s what you’re looking for, Vangeli. Whether or not it’s what you’re looking for, it’s what you’re getting from me. The Greeks got hold of the alphabet in the early 8th century BC. If you’re studying the history of the Greek alphabet, as I’ve done, you […]
Is language production very important in order to be good at reading comprehension in classical or biblical languages?
It certainly is not regarded by most language teachers as important. Latin and Greek prose composition, which required students to produce original text (even if as a pastiche of Thucydides or Caesar) was huge a century ago, and I get the impression is extinct now. There are some ancient Greek text books that trying to […]
What is the Ancient Greek translation of ‘Stachys’, and what are the modern Greek translations of ‘Hydrobius’, ‘Kornephoros’, and ‘Protrygater’?
They’re all Ancient Greek, really, and they’re all Greek star names from Nick Nicholas’ answer to What are all the Greek star names? α Virginis: Stachys is “Ear of Wheat”. It’s Aratus’ name, and the established name Spica is its Latin translation. ζ Hydrae: Hydrobius (whatever the name’s provenance) is “living in water” (or in […]
If you were allowed to add a symbol to unicode, what symbol would it be, and what would it mean?
I should be recusing myself from this question, because in fact I have added dozens of symbols to Unicode, both as an employee of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, and as a tapped on the shoulder expert. When Asmus Freytag tapped me on the shoulder, though, and said to me “We want to finalise Greek: Suggest […]