Learn Ancient Greek: 1_Introduction to learning Ancient Greek

Leonard Muellner (Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies at Brandeis University) and Belisi Gillespie present all the content covered in two semesters of a college-level Introduction to Ancient Greek course.

Professor Muellner tries to help us wrap our minds around what learning Ancient Greek is like for the modern student. Some of the topics under discussion include: differences between learning a language through writing versus speaking, the limited types of texts that we have, and what grammatical concepts we might encounter along the way. This video does not correspond with any particular lessons in the Hansen & Quinn textbook, but you might want to begin to digest the information in their Introductory chapter, particularly pages 1-6 (up until Section 10) which discusses the alphabet, basic pronunciation, and breathing marks. Happy learning!

[Maerowyn]

Very glad I took Latin long ago. Much of what he's saying is returning to me and makes sense. My goal is to read the Iliad in Ancient Greek. I hope this will help!

[jessicaramer]

Thank you for making this course public.

[shreyassheshadri]

Thank you for posting these videos. Please post the entire course content. I'm from India and I don't have any facilities for learning western classical languages. These videos will help me a lot.

[Simrealism]

What an amazing resource. I'm going into Koine Greek II in senminary and this was just the "bam bam bam" through 1st year Ancient Greek to get me up to speed.
Thank you Professor Muellner and Belisi Gillespie for your time and effort.

[danelitchfield]

As a theology major with eventual hopes of Biblical Studies, I am extremely excited to be studying this course with the aid of a friend and a textbook this Summer 2020! Sending love from Holy Cross College at Notre Dame, IN!

[schifoso]

I just want to thank you for having such extensive information in one place. I've been trying to learn ancient Greek for around a month on and off, the reason for the on and off being that I could not find any resources that give me the full scope of the information in one concise, all encompassing go, at least until I found this channel. Thanks again.

[huberttrocks]

I also want to say thank you for this amazing content. I am currently studying Greek and these videos are a big help to my studies!

[GlaneciaXCat]

I took a year (or was it two? I can't remember now) of attic greek at the University of Washington. I should have failed the last term, but my professor was kind lol. I struggled the entire way through. This was in 1998/1999. I didn't have access to videos such as these. YouTube didn't exist yet. I had a study group with students who learned quicker than I did. I'd like to go back and relearn everything but move through it at a slower pace - because I think that's how I will succeed.

[rgwebster]

I've just begun to learn Attic Greek and these videos are priceless! Thank you!

[herodotus]

glad i found these lessons . I'm from india and we have no way of learning ancient greek or latin . I like Greek culture and mythology so i decided to learn this beautiful language ♥️

[jessicaramer]

Thank you, Professor Muellner and Belisi Gillespie for making your knowledge available to us.

[mrgaaconnell]

Thank God for this gift that Professor Muellner and Belisi Gillespie gave the world. I too am hoping to one day read the Iliad in ancient Greek. With their help and two different textbooks (one of which is the Hansen & Quinn book), I think I just might be able to do this.

[demetra]

A friendly correction from a native greek speaker. The greek word for father is not πατέρ. It’s πατέρας in contemporary greek and πατήρ in ancient greek.

[johncroall]

Wow! Professor Mueller and I went to the same high school - Roxbury Latin. He was class of 61, me class of 75. Hi!

[scothebert]

Hello My name is $cot. And this is my show. Please do not stop making this show. :)

[oanagrossu]

amazing surprise! - if only THE SOUND were a little bit louder!

[CarolineLawrence]

Recommended by a fellow student in my CityLit Aristophanes class here in London! Useful even if you already know some Ancient Greek.

[hyugmpp]

Thanks A LOT, i'm from China and we don't have much resources in Ancient Greek. By taking this course, i hope i could read more books in philosophy. I wanna ask if there's any materials or textbooks that is needed in this course, much appreciated!!!

[Sobreira]

So cute, you both. So interesting people to have a conversation with.

[mindtoeye]

As I understand it Ancient Greek is subdivided into many dialects and even sub languages (Hellenistic, Attic, etc) My understanding is also that depending on which variety you learn you can either read texts like the original Homer or Plato or you can not. So before I take the plunge and dive into learning 'Ancient' Greek, which version will be taught here and which texts from which period(s) would I be able to read?