Ancient Greece experts thread

[taurin]

hey BHW,

I'm on a mission to dive deep into Ancient Greece — already started with the epics and planning to move on to the big-name philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

any experts around?

would love a roadmap or even just some recs on where to go next

I've read the Odyssey, now in the middle of the Iliad. what's a good follow-up?

also wouldn’t mind finding someone to talk to about what I’m reading — share thoughts, throw around ideas, maybe even argue a bit. all that good stuff

 

[Johnny Doe JD]

Do you have any particular reason for this?
Can you read Ancient Greek? If you are serious about it, this should be the first step.

 

[taurin]

Do you have any particular reason for this?
Can you read Ancient Greek? If you are serious about it, this should be the first step.

nope, no specific reason. I just don’t need it for what I enjoy doing and what feels right to me

not planning to learn Ancient Greek. I gave modern greek a shot, but it didn’t really work for me. I’ve been slowly learning latin instead — it just makes sense to me and feels natural. I’ll be reading Roman texts in the original later on

 

[Johnny Doe JD]

nope, no specific reason. I just don’t need it for what I enjoy doing and what feels right to me

not planning to learn Ancient Greek. I gave modern greek a shot, but it didn’t really work for me. I’ve been slowly learning latin instead — it just makes sense to me and feels natural. I’ll be reading Roman texts in the original later on

Give it a shot, it’s not so difficult and you will enjoy reading the original texts way more than the translations!

Anyway, you should absolutely read Plato’s Apology of Socrates,
For bedtime reading, Anacreon’s poetry.

 

[taurin]

Give it a shot, it’s not so difficult and you will enjoy reading the original texts way more than the translations!

Anyway, you should absolutely read Plato’s Apology of Socrates,
For bedtime reading, Anacreon’s poetry.

thanks for the recs — adding them to the list =)

still not sure about the language part, maybe i’ll give it a shot later =)

btw, do you actually speak ancient greek?

 

[Johnny Doe JD]

btw, do you actually speak ancient greek?

no, and I understand nothing of spoken modern Greek.
However it is useful for learning the Cyrillic alphabet and Russian language.

 

[taurin]

no, and I understand nothing of spoken modern Greek.
However it is useful for learning the Cyrillic alphabet and Russian language.

xD that’s exactly why I went with Latin — it’s the mother of Italian, Spanish, French and a bunch of other languages =)

 

[Johnny Doe JD]

xD that’s exactly why I went with Latin — it’s the mother of Italian, Spanish, French and a bunch of other languages =)

And the official language of the Vatican!

 

[taurin]

And the official language of the Vatican!

I’ve seen vids where an American guy goes to the Vatican and chats with the clergy in Latin, just for practice. they said not everyone actually knows Latin, but all church documents are first issued in Latin, then translated into other languages =)

then I watched the new Pope take office and read his oath in Latin — but man, there was live Italian translation over it and it got all mixed up xD

can’t wait till my level’s good enough to read Roman thinkers in the original. sorry, but I’m not gonna wait till I learn Ancient Greek just to start reading them. maybe way down the line I'll come back to the Greeks and read them in the original to

 

[Johnny Doe JD]

I’ve seen vids where an American guy goes to the Vatican and chats with the clergy in Latin, just for practice.

That guy is great, and it’s not easy for an English native speaker to learn Latin so well.

they said not everyone actually knows Latin, but all church documents are first issued in Latin, then translated into other languages =)

For sure high level clergymen know Latin quite well, they are requested to study it and then they practice it almost daily with laws and prayers.
Even ATM machines in the Vatican use Latin!

can’t wait till my level’s good enough to read Roman thinkers in the original. sorry, but I’m not gonna wait till I learn Ancient Greek just to start reading them. maybe way down the line I'll come back to the Greeks and read them in the original to

Respect