Greek Mythology

[The Andy-Man]

Does anyone know a list of books of the stories of greek mythology? As many stories as poosible aswell, eg, the Argonauticus, Heracles, PErseus, etc etc.




Also, does anyone know a good way of learning homeric Greek??

[Boris Godunov]

Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" is the standard-setter, despite it being pretty old. It gives a really good introduction to the myths, is written on a very readable level. It is not, however, comprehensive.

Robert Graves' "The Greek Myths" would probably suit you, as it gives far more detailed stories. It's written on a little higher level, too.

As for learning Homeric Greek...why?!

[The Andy-Man]

As for learning Homeric Greek...why?!

So i can read Homer and Hesiod in the original language they rote in.

Also, it'd be nice to read plate etc in ancient greek to.

[Boris Godunov]

Eh, seems like a waste of time to me, since you can get superb translations of their works. Richmond Lattimore's Iliad is all you'll need!

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Eh, seems like a waste of time to me, since you can get superb translations of their works. Richmond Lattimore's Iliad is all you'll need!

This is barbarism. Reading Ancient works in the original brings to light the limits of even the finest translators.

If you want to learn classical Greek, prepare yourself for a really hard slog.

[Firelad]

One of the reasons for learning ancient Greek is that it is impossible(!) to translate it to any modern western language as far as I know - Not the rhythm/meter anyway. Which is a major part of ancient Greek literature. It is impossible because of the different way in which the syllables and stresses work...

[The Andy-Man]

well, boris, everyone has answred you for me


Yep, it sure will be a hard slog, thats why i am asking if anyone can help

[Traianvs]

that's right firelad.... on top of that, it takes a LOT of effort to actually read ancient Greek fluently...

Only if you learn it intensively for a long time you'll be able to understand it thoroughly and and notice the "finesses"

i've had some experience, and though i was a lot younger, it was still pretty difficult..

[Firelad]

I suspect that it would be worth it for somebody who really loves classical Greek literature. Perhaps I'll do it sometime.. Too busy right now.

EDIT: For some reason I've lately acquired the tendency to spell "Too" with a single "o".

[The Andy-Man]

well, i am intending on learning alot of languages simply for reading literature anyway
Classical greek (duh!), Russian (war and peace) and so on...

[Agathon]

Originally posted by The Andy-Man
well, boris, everyone has answred you for me

Yep, it sure will be a hard slog, thats why i am asking if anyone can help

Your best bet would be to get "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne H Groton. That is a course in basic Attic Greek that will allow you to read things like Plato, Xenophon and the New Testament (which is written in Koine, which isn't much different).

Then, once you have mastered that there are specialist books on Homeric Greek since it is written in a different dialect. I don't read Homer in Greek myself (more a case of not having the time to learn the dialect) but reputedly it isn't that hard since there are many standard repeated forms and lines - e.g. "Then Agamemnon, sacker of cities....".

I only know a few people who can read Classical Greek with any sort of fluency, and they're published scholars who've been doing it for more than 30 years. I can read prose fairly well, but I still spend a lot of time in the lexicon.

Here's an example of the limitations of translation. This is by my namesake:

 monou gar autou kai theos sterisketai,
ageneta poien hass' an ei pepragmena

It's usually translated as "God is deprived of only this - to undo what has been done"

Literally (a rough translation) it translates as "For of this alone even God is deprived - to make anything whatsoever not to have happened, if it has been done."

The word order in Greek is more flexible because of the case system and the Greek sentence is more semantically complex.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by The Andy-Man
well, i am intending on learning alot of languages simply for reading literature anyway
Classical greek (duh!), Russian (war and peace) and so on...

It's certainly worth the effort to be able to read Greek. It's just hard and time consuming. I think this is partly because it's now a solely academic language. I doubt whether any Ancient Greek pored over the grammatical minutiae of a sentence in Plato the way people like me do.

[The Andy-Man]

yeah, i know its hard, i tried to translate some stuff i had with an oxford classical greek dictionary, the book had both english and greek, it said, 'So, Alexander'

i Had, 'Lets, fire brimstone'

this is why i need a good 'teach me' book.

[The Andy-Man]

Originally posted by Agathon


It's certainly worth the effort to be able to read Greek. It's just hard and time consuming. I think this is partly because it's now a solely academic language. I doubt whether any Ancient Greek pored over the grammatical minutiae of a sentence in Plato the way people like me do.

luckily, my dad is cypriot, so if i get stuck with vocalizing it, or pronounciation in general, he could probably help me. Though, the languages are now so different he couldn't help me out generally

[Traianvs]

I can't imagine learning ancient greek without a tutor.
Learning by the book will never be what a teacher can teach you ..