Why Study Ancient Greek?

Greek and Roman Studies

"I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an laurels,

and Greek as a treat."  ---Winston Churchill

Aboriginal Greek! The linguistic communication of Aeschylus, Aesop, Alexander the Neat, Archimedes, Aristophanes, Aristotle, Euclid, Euripides, Hippocrates, Homer, Pericles, Plato, Ptolemy, Sophocles, Thales, Thucydides, Xenophon, and lots of other famous characters from our Western heritage. It'southward as well the language of the Greek New Testament.

Why Written report Aboriginal Greek?  Starting time: If you are interested in ancient Greek literature, you could be reading it in the original language.  So much is lost in translation!  Second: Vocabulary edifice and improved grammar comprehension in English—Spelling and syntax in English improved.  The reason?  Aboriginal Greek is the foundation of many English language words, from alpha 'adamant' to zeta 'zodiac'. In fact, roughly 60% of all English words and 90% of technical and scientific terms are derived from ancient Greek and Latin. And, if you are interested in a career in law or medicine, you will do good enormously from the vocabulary building you will gain in the aboriginal Greek classes.

How is Ancient Greek Different? Ancient Greek lives on in mod Greek, but we learn ancient Greek primarily to read and study ancient texts written originally on papyrus (papyrology), on stone monuments (epigraphy), or coins (numismatics). A person who studies ancient Greek & Latin literature is chosen a philologist. From ancient written sources we take a good idea of what the dialects of ancient Greek sounded similar, simply you will not exist learning how to speak Greek in this course; rather, you will learn the grammer and syntax through  oral and written drills. The goal of a class in ancient Greek is to learn plenty grammer and vocabulary to exist able to read ancient Greek literature: poetry, prose, and the Greek New Testament.

Are there other ancient non-spoken languages to learn? Yeah! Many other ancient (pre-modernistic) languages are taught at universities around the world: Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, Pali, Persian, Sometime Tamil, Coptic, Hittite, Sumerian and Akkadian Cuneiform, Egyptian Heiroglyphics, and Old English. Many of these languages are taught at our neighboring institutions:  U of I,  and U. of Chicago.

Many of IWU's best students in majors equally diverse as English, Informatics, Biology, Music, Religion, and Philosophy have taken Greek. Some of their comments include:

 "I read English very differently now--I am much more than aware how my own linguistic communication works and see nuances of significant that I never noticed before." "I recommend this form for pre-meds because of the vocabulary building. tachycardia? echolalia? osteophyte? Got 'em covered."

 "Equally a estimator science major I am amazed at the similarities between the language of computers and the language of the Greeks." "I've always been fascinated past Greek culture, and learning the language has helped me to understand their lasting contribution to our own."