Alexandros: To Hellenikon Paidion

by Mario Díaz Ávila

Rare book

Paperback

Published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Timothy Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the selections of readings enjoyable. Some highlights were the chapters "The Parrot" and "The Monkey". The difficulty of the readings increases significantly, so I wouldn't recommend it to self-learners, except as supplementary reading to another approach such as working through the Italian "Athenaze."

There are too many rare words, such as "eyelid," "wrestling," and "stern" (of a boat). Many words cannot be adequately understood from the context or pictures alone, so having a dictionary close by will be required. There is also not enough repetition of vocabulary or grammar concepts introduced.

Furthermore, there is no over-arching narrative. Each chapter is its own thing. So you're learning about different areas of life such as "gardens," a festival in Athens, and nautical warfare. It's interesting enough.

It is rewarding to make it through the entire book, and I believe your Greek will be better. But I can see many getting discouraged by some of the difficult or awkward Greek that doesn't have any explanation. The last chapter is in particular a big step up in difficulty.

If you are going to get this book, I recommend not getting this version, but the newest edition, which contains better illustrations in color and fixes mistakes in the first version.

[Daniel C · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book caught my interest because it appears to be edited in the same style as the last Greek textbook I read (Logos. Lingua Graeca per se Illustrata) and perhaps by some of the same teachers based in Spain. This book was very similar in format as it was monolingual and either defined words via synonyms or images and contained stories that are familiar to people with some experience the classical world. I enjoyed it greatly but didn't do any of the exercises and so suffered the same sharp learning curve in the final chapters as the previous book. I guess the only criticism I could have is that I originally took learned Latin and Greek in the grammar translation method and so direct explanations work better for me when dealing with concepts like the middle voice or aorist participles, but that is just me. Overall this is a great book and clearly the authors put a great deal of work into making something so useful.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so grateful for Ávila's work on this, but it's only partly successful. It can't stand alone in the way that Ørberg's Familia Romana can, both because the illustrations aren't up to the task and, even more, because Rouse's original text was not written with the same principles in mind. There's far too much vocabulary for vocabulary's sake.

[Nick Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as text-rich as LLPSI, but likely a good companion to Athenaze p.1. This, along with Thrasymachus, would really supplement the beginner into something intermediate like Plato or Xenophon.

[Logan]

Ἅλις χρησιμόν εστι βιβλίον.

[Cristobal Peña]

re-read

[Edragone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

Relecture de ce volume qui s'apparente à LLPSI mais en grec. La progression grammaticale et syntaxique n'est pas très poussée, c'est dommage, mais l'ensemble est intéressant et permet d'appréhender la base et d'apprendre (ou redécouvrir) du vocabulaire dans un autre contexte.