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Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek, Book 1
Combining the best features of traditional and modern methods, "Athenaze" provides a unique course of instruction that allows students to read connected Greek narrative from an early stage, and guides them to the point where they can read complete classical texts. There is a fictional narrative about an Attic farmer's family placed in precise historical context (432 BC). The narrative is interwoven with tales from mythology and the Persian Wars, and gradually gives way to extracts from "Herodotus", "Plato", and "Thucydides". Each chapter includes a full explanation of new vocabulary and grammar, and an essay on relevant aspects of ancient Greek culture and history. Exercises in translation from English to Greek are integrated throughout.
290 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
May 17, 2022
Good old Dicaeopolis! Lazy Xanthias! Brave Philip! How we students enjoyed snickering at the "Dick and Jane" approach to classical Greek that is to be found in this introductory text, and what an effective teaching tool it turned out to be...
This was the book used in the beginning Greek class I took in college, Book I the first semester, and Book II the second. Each unit contains a list of vocabulary, a text in Greek, a Word Study, a section on Grammar, and a list of exercises. Taken sequentially, the texts tell the story of Attic farmer Dicaeopolis and his family, living in Greece at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Interspersed throughout are various passages explaining some of the cultural background of the story. This first volume has 16 units, each divided into two lessons. The book also contains a reference grammar at the back , a brief dictionary, and an index.
These books are ideally suited, I think, for introducing students to this ancient language. They allow one to jump into textual passages right from the beginning, even though very little grammar or vocabulary has been learned. While I can think of any number of things more interesting than Dicaeopolis digging stones out of a field, it would be impossible to jump right into Homer, Plato, or any of the other greats. Nor would it be especially pleasant to spend an entire year doing nothing but memorizing lists of vocabulary and tables of grammar paradigms. Here is a noble compromise: and though my classmates and I may have groaned, I look back now with nostalgic fondness...
This was the book used in the beginning Greek class I took in college, Book I the first semester, and Book II the second. Each unit contains a list of vocabulary, a text in Greek, a Word Study, a section on Grammar, and a list of exercises. Taken sequentially, the texts tell the story of Attic farmer Dicaeopolis and his family, living in Greece at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Interspersed throughout are various passages explaining some of the cultural background of the story. This first volume has 16 units, each divided into two lessons. The book also contains a reference grammar at the back , a brief dictionary, and an index.
These books are ideally suited, I think, for introducing students to this ancient language. They allow one to jump into textual passages right from the beginning, even though very little grammar or vocabulary has been learned. While I can think of any number of things more interesting than Dicaeopolis digging stones out of a field, it would be impossible to jump right into Homer, Plato, or any of the other greats. Nor would it be especially pleasant to spend an entire year doing nothing but memorizing lists of vocabulary and tables of grammar paradigms. Here is a noble compromise: and though my classmates and I may have groaned, I look back now with nostalgic fondness...
December 26, 2017
So once upon a time I dated an archeologist who was into classics and terrible at languages. So I taught myself Classical Greek with this here book.
Honestly, Classical Greek is a terrible, difficult language with nothing to do with modern Greek, but if you want something to show off at parties or on museum dates, it can be a good choice. Yes, I completed the full text and exercises. No, I did not progress to book two— we broke up.
Yes, I do still read a little for fun but honestly I'm very very rusty.
Honestly, Classical Greek is a terrible, difficult language with nothing to do with modern Greek, but if you want something to show off at parties or on museum dates, it can be a good choice. Yes, I completed the full text and exercises. No, I did not progress to book two— we broke up.
Yes, I do still read a little for fun but honestly I'm very very rusty.
January 11, 2015
I didn't chose to use this book to learn Ancient Greek for myself, it was set for my university class. Unfortunately nor is it the book I would recommend those wishing to pursue the study of Ancient Greek especially on their own time. All of the information is there and I can not deny that my Ancient Greek has improved immensely whilst studying this book however I did have the aid of a classroom environment along with its structure. The book itself however has a structure unlike the definition of the word. It is somewhat 'all over the place'. In the aim of immersing you in the language it asks you to translate large passages before folioing these with an explanation and practice exercised with the grammar you have just experienced. Obviously this will very much depend on your preferences but I would much prefer to have my information presented the other way round and I know amongst my classmates I was not the only one that would say this. On the other hand the book itself is not 'bad', I have learnt a lot from it, I just feel there are better.
August 15, 2019
I feel a little weird dignifying this with a review but I did technically finish reading the book today so I guess that should count for something.
1. While learning Latin, I complained that it was difficult. I would like to apologize. Latin was so much easier than this. So very much easier than this. Greek verbal morphology is a nightmare. Why did I want to learn a language with one regular verb?
2. Everything this book says about the lives of women is just terrible and sad. Ugh.
3. The stories are engaging, I guess, but all the characters are jerks.
4. My wife basically held my hand the whole time and honestly I have no idea how you would do this book by yourself without someone who knows Greek to help you. And even so this took me about a year. (I was not a very motivated student and I am easily discouraged so I guess it's a miracle I finished at all.)
Now onto Book II, I suppose. And then, after that, I can read some real Greek. Probably Xenophon. (What, you think I want to read the Anabasis? I have wanted to read On Horsemanship since I was a small child. I'm not kidding.)
1. While learning Latin, I complained that it was difficult. I would like to apologize. Latin was so much easier than this. So very much easier than this. Greek verbal morphology is a nightmare. Why did I want to learn a language with one regular verb?
2. Everything this book says about the lives of women is just terrible and sad. Ugh.
3. The stories are engaging, I guess, but all the characters are jerks.
4. My wife basically held my hand the whole time and honestly I have no idea how you would do this book by yourself without someone who knows Greek to help you. And even so this took me about a year. (I was not a very motivated student and I am easily discouraged so I guess it's a miracle I finished at all.)
Now onto Book II, I suppose. And then, after that, I can read some real Greek. Probably Xenophon. (What, you think I want to read the Anabasis? I have wanted to read On Horsemanship since I was a small child. I'm not kidding.)
December 26, 2017
I have used this book (including the earlier first edition) for sixteen straight years in a high school Beginning Greek class I teach. I would not change it for anything else currently available. The best thing about the book is the connected prose story of Dikaiopolis the farmer (hero of Aristophanes' Acharnians) and his family. The decision to shape the book around this reading approach was a huge leap forward in the making of school textbooks for Greek. Students like the stories from chapter to chapter. They are very intelligently written with good repetition of vocabulary and new grammar that gets nicely ramped up from one chapter to the next.
I cover four chapters per quarter in an independent study that has limited class time each week. As a side note, this book prepares my students very well for the National Greek Examination as well as further study in Homer and advanced works of Attic prose and poetry. I cannot help but think this book has been and will continue to be a major factor in the increased number of students studying Greek today. A lot of Greek teachers owe a great debt to the authors for their efforts.
The grammatical explanations are very helpful, especially to students who may not have had the benefit of studying Latin. I should add that I do not use Volume 2 of the same series. One of the problems with Volume 1 is that the Greek sentences -- both those in the connected stories and those in the exercises -- begin to fall into predictable patterns that make for easy translating but do not always serve to give students a true feel for authentic Greek, at least the kind of Greek one encounters in actual Greek authors. This is one of the reasons I switch in the fourth quarter of year 1 to Schoder's Reading Course in Homeric Greek: Book One. Schoder's text uses more passive verb forms, more adjectives used substantively as nouns, more ellipses of the verb "to be," and greater variety of word order. Overall, the sentences (even little ones of four or five words) are composed in such a way as to give a far more authentically Greek feel than what Athenaze offers. Schoder's book also introduces the optative and subjunctive moods much earlier and presents more systematically the entire Greek verb system in all of its maddening, complicated glory.
I cover four chapters per quarter in an independent study that has limited class time each week. As a side note, this book prepares my students very well for the National Greek Examination as well as further study in Homer and advanced works of Attic prose and poetry. I cannot help but think this book has been and will continue to be a major factor in the increased number of students studying Greek today. A lot of Greek teachers owe a great debt to the authors for their efforts.
The grammatical explanations are very helpful, especially to students who may not have had the benefit of studying Latin. I should add that I do not use Volume 2 of the same series. One of the problems with Volume 1 is that the Greek sentences -- both those in the connected stories and those in the exercises -- begin to fall into predictable patterns that make for easy translating but do not always serve to give students a true feel for authentic Greek, at least the kind of Greek one encounters in actual Greek authors. This is one of the reasons I switch in the fourth quarter of year 1 to Schoder's Reading Course in Homeric Greek: Book One. Schoder's text uses more passive verb forms, more adjectives used substantively as nouns, more ellipses of the verb "to be," and greater variety of word order. Overall, the sentences (even little ones of four or five words) are composed in such a way as to give a far more authentically Greek feel than what Athenaze offers. Schoder's book also introduces the optative and subjunctive moods much earlier and presents more systematically the entire Greek verb system in all of its maddening, complicated glory.
April 22, 2012
I've looked at a lot of Greek texts and taught from several, and this is not the text that will teach students lightning-fast parsing skills, but it is the text that will teach students how to read Greek. I have tried more grammatically-intensive language-as-an-interesting-puzzle approaches, and students can slam-dunk the parsing questions on an exam but then they run into an actual chunk of Greek prose or poetry, and they are lost. Since my actual aim is to teach students to read Greek, this is the text I use. I tell them that if they go on to grad school they might want to work their way through Hansen & Quinn vel. sim. at a later date.
January 7, 2022
A standout textbook to give you the basics of ancient Greek grammar, plenty of exercises explanations and vocabulary I found myself rarely having to leave the book to understand its content. Further, it gives you a real sense of progress by not holding back some original (if simplified) Ancient Greek texts (not too far in to the book you're translating the myth of the minotaur - albeit in a simplified tense!) which really emboldens you in the process of learning such a difficult language.
I couldn't recommend this highly enough!
I couldn't recommend this highly enough!
July 4, 2016
Yes, I did finally read this. And yes, I DO deserve a medal (ποῦ ἐστι ὁ στέφανός μου;)
I had been unfair to Athenaze in the past: the stories get much more interesting than the first few chapters would have you think. There's even a cliffhanger of sorts at the end of Book 1 here: will Philip ever recover his sight?... I still think the bits with Xanthias and Dicaeopolis moving rocks around the field are dreadful, and the portrayal of women is MISERABLE, but I actually did really enjoy the history and myth stories, and things do happen, and the culture readings in English are good.
The exercises are okay, although my feeling is someone using just this book would need a LOT of additional practice. (We'll see on that.)
I had been unfair to Athenaze in the past: the stories get much more interesting than the first few chapters would have you think. There's even a cliffhanger of sorts at the end of Book 1 here: will Philip ever recover his sight?... I still think the bits with Xanthias and Dicaeopolis moving rocks around the field are dreadful, and the portrayal of women is MISERABLE, but I actually did really enjoy the history and myth stories, and things do happen, and the culture readings in English are good.
The exercises are okay, although my feeling is someone using just this book would need a LOT of additional practice. (We'll see on that.)
November 29, 2016
Overall a very well organized and interesting introduction to ancient Greek. However, I think the vocabulary should be better supplemented with better explanations of the aeorists...maybe even a list of all the irregular aeorists because I found learning ancient Greek was quite easy up until we hit the aeorists. It would be helpful to have a full list of all the past tense stems etc. for guide and ease of translation from ancient Greek to English.
May 25, 2012
I have both learned and taught ancient Greek from this textbook in an undergraduate context.
April 18, 2013
πᾶς αὔτος ἔστιν Ἕλληνικος ἐμοῖ.
May 24, 2017
After studying this book for my first year of university, I have come to conclude that this book, although it does teach everything in an almost orderly fashion, it also happens to use material from future lessons in earlier ones, has a confusing layout for the parts about grammar, and it does not translate many of the composite words "so students have to learn them themselves". Although this sounds like a good method, it can be very very frustrating at times.
The funniest parts are the bits were a quote from a philosopher or from the Bible is put in, and to help us translate it, they have given us the meaning of every single word used in the text. (What use is translating this when I'm going to forget most of the words; they are never repeated...). It would have been far better if I could already translate at least some of the passage they were going to give me (from the extras, not from the lesson)
However, the dictionary is extremely well-made and even has a revers (English to Greek) part and so vocabulary is rather easy to find. It is true that the book is confusing and uses a strange layout, but looking past that, given that one has a teacher to help them out, it is a good book to learn this language off of.
It would also have been nice to provide useful meaning for grammatical phrases, as they are sometimes rather hard to acknowledge.
The funniest parts are the bits were a quote from a philosopher or from the Bible is put in, and to help us translate it, they have given us the meaning of every single word used in the text. (What use is translating this when I'm going to forget most of the words; they are never repeated...). It would have been far better if I could already translate at least some of the passage they were going to give me (from the extras, not from the lesson)
However, the dictionary is extremely well-made and even has a revers (English to Greek) part and so vocabulary is rather easy to find. It is true that the book is confusing and uses a strange layout, but looking past that, given that one has a teacher to help them out, it is a good book to learn this language off of.
It would also have been nice to provide useful meaning for grammatical phrases, as they are sometimes rather hard to acknowledge.
March 23, 2016
I haven't read this book nor have a I studied Ancient (or Classical) Greek. Therefore my low rating isn't biased because of the pains related to learning a new language academically. However, I am fairly competent at Koine Greek and over the years I've interacted with numerous text books. I'm also in the embryonic stages of learning biblical Hebrew, broadening the range of textbooks I've encountered.
As I've helped my wife who is learning Ancient Greek, using Athenaze, I've been frustrated on every single occasion. There exist numerous reasons for this: unhelpful layout, peculiar and partitive order to grammar, as well as vocabulary shaped by the pedagogical narrative rather than classical ones. But the most infuriating and confusing aspect of this book is its frequent use of unknown (yet to be learnt) words into a texts for translation and questions. The meaning of these words are provided by the authors in square brackets, but the user has no idea how the word will behave because they are still foreign. This might seem like pedantry. In fact, it most probably is. But if you're going to teach a language then move people along at the same speed they're learning vocabulary, simple.
As I've helped my wife who is learning Ancient Greek, using Athenaze, I've been frustrated on every single occasion. There exist numerous reasons for this: unhelpful layout, peculiar and partitive order to grammar, as well as vocabulary shaped by the pedagogical narrative rather than classical ones. But the most infuriating and confusing aspect of this book is its frequent use of unknown (yet to be learnt) words into a texts for translation and questions. The meaning of these words are provided by the authors in square brackets, but the user has no idea how the word will behave because they are still foreign. This might seem like pedantry. In fact, it most probably is. But if you're going to teach a language then move people along at the same speed they're learning vocabulary, simple.
Currently reading
February 2, 2016I mentioned the existence of Russian-Icelandic cognates in a recent status update. But that isn't all too surprising, given their geographical as well as cultural proximity (speakers of old norse settled deep into Russia and even established the now still standing cities of Novgorod and Kiev). Rather, what is surprising is that Ancient (Attic) Greek seems to share with Old Norse at least one very distinct grammatical construct, perhaps a relic of their common Indo-European heritage. For example, on page 3 of Athenaze, we are assured in the first reading passage of the following: 'αλλά ισχυρός εστίν ο ανθρωπος και αοκνος' which can be transliterated as 'but strong is the man and energetic'. This was quite odd to my ears, so when I saw it again in Old Norse, 'Gormr, sonr Hörða-Knúts, var mikill maðr ok sterker', or 'Gormr, son of Horda Knut, was big man and strong'. I wonder if there's anything to it.
I really might just be seeing things though; the more languages I learn, the more I use the grammar of known languages as scaffolding for the new ones. There are bound to be similarities somewhere.
I really might just be seeing things though; the more languages I learn, the more I use the grammar of known languages as scaffolding for the new ones. There are bound to be similarities somewhere.
August 30, 2023
Τὴν γλῶτταν Ἑλληνικὴν, μισέω καὶ ἐράω· οὐ πλείων λέξω.
Initial review in May: I still remember how much I had suffered with LLPSI, and all I can say for Athenaze is that this is at least 10x more painful. Orberg wrote such an awesome textbook and it could never be overrated. To Luigi Miraglia and Borri and Balme and Lawall, y'all tried hard. I appreciate it. But I think there's a better way for us to teach everything. A LOT of reading. 22 pages in the table of contents & preface and 506 pages of text & grammar & vocab feels heavy in my hands, heavier since non capisco l'italiano. Ma va bene così, I shall endure.
August update: Finished both books earlier this month; the experience was very painful, the Italian was very tedious, but I finished it. Yeah. I can read Xenophon and Plato and Thucydides and Herodotus thanks to this book. I still hope this book could've been more like LLPSI, but perhaps that's just not possible, because there is only one LLPSI and one Orberg who sadly passed away 13 years ago. Thanks to Luigi though - although I would've appreciated it more if you used Reading Greek instead of Athenaze as the basis of your adaptation for the AVN textbook
Initial review in May: I still remember how much I had suffered with LLPSI, and all I can say for Athenaze is that this is at least 10x more painful. Orberg wrote such an awesome textbook and it could never be overrated. To Luigi Miraglia and Borri and Balme and Lawall, y'all tried hard. I appreciate it. But I think there's a better way for us to teach everything. A LOT of reading. 22 pages in the table of contents & preface and 506 pages of text & grammar & vocab feels heavy in my hands, heavier since non capisco l'italiano. Ma va bene così, I shall endure.
August update: Finished both books earlier this month; the experience was very painful, the Italian was very tedious, but I finished it. Yeah. I can read Xenophon and Plato and Thucydides and Herodotus thanks to this book. I still hope this book could've been more like LLPSI, but perhaps that's just not possible, because there is only one LLPSI and one Orberg who sadly passed away 13 years ago. Thanks to Luigi though - although I would've appreciated it more if you used Reading Greek instead of Athenaze as the basis of your adaptation for the AVN textbook
April 29, 2009
Yes, it's true, I have studied Ancient Greek. I know, wierd. This was a good book and taught me a lot. The first time through in class and again when I sort of knew what was going on and it made a lot more sence the second time around. I found the mechanism of the story, building in greater liguistic complexity to be very useful. With each chapter, you would learn a few more words, and a few more rules, all of which were used in that chapter's story. Once you could reliably read the new story, and knew why you could now read it, you were ready for the next chapter.
Hope to go back to this when I have more time.
Hope to go back to this when I have more time.
September 7, 2016
It is possible to have a language textbook that features an emphasis on reading, even one for beginners, and one that, once it introduces a grammar idea/paradigm, focuses on that grammar idea in a tightly-focused way such that that idea is reinforced through repetition and subtle variation. The main point of learning Attic Greek is not to speak or write but to read. So this overall idea makes sense. This book might have worked if it was at all possible to study from, and did any of the things that would have made it at all user-friendly, which, bizarrely, seems to be what it was aiming to be. Just stick with annotated student readings and Hansen and Quinn drills.
December 23, 2013
The stories were fun to read, and the vocab introduced by this text was decent, but this series utterly drops the ball in teaching Greek grammar. Ancient Greek grammar is hard, and learning it is essential to being able to make sense of any actual texts you might want to translate. If you want to take a couple of years of Greek and then have to spend a couple of more years learning the grammar you need and should have learned the first time through, use this series. Otherwise, avoid it like the plague.
November 22, 2022
The book is absolutely phenomenal! This book isn't meant to be completed; it's meant to be studied, but this book contains basic, simple, and comprehensive approach to the Ancient Greek Language; both descends of Attic and Koine. Its optimum presence is in short mythical stories. Kala biblion, kai fantastikos mithos!
April 28, 2013
If you've never done Greek before this is a flawed at best project. If you happen to have taken Lingua Latina or some other language, this textbook is terrific. These folks don't hold your hand all the way through, and don't keep you away from grammar you haven't learned yet. I feel respected.
September 30, 2013
My biggest complaint is the lack of Xanthius in later chapters. It's alright for teaching grammar but I believe the only reason we still use it at my university is because they teach the cases as N G D A V, whereas other books switch it up. I literally think that is the case.
April 10, 2007
This was one of the textbooks for New Testament Greek at Covenant. If you want to teach yourself Greek, this is the place to start.
March 23, 2014
Excellent book--fun to read. It has an excellent storyline to translate, as well as many historical passages.
While resting your mind from Greek, read about the Greek culture between units.
While resting your mind from Greek, read about the Greek culture between units.
April 27, 2013
Speaking as a non-expert, it seemed competent/capable. Not as much fun as Lingua Latina, but one can only expect so much I suppose...
October 3, 2014
Possibly the most hilariously dull introduction to any language ever. Pure genius.
October 11, 2015
I'm used to Hardy and Quinn so this is a major change, but I think it's quite an effective approach to elementary Greek. It doesn't have the encyclopedic quality of H&Q but it is more approachable.
July 4, 2023
Almost twice as much Greek text as is in the UK version of Athenaze. Sometimes the additions are notably more difficult, especially towards the end, but still a fantastic source of extensive reading.
September 6, 2025
Being a big fan of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, I was happy to find a similar approach to ancient Greek. What I was looking for was copious amounts of graded reading material with sufficient aids (some of them translations, unlike in LLPSI), and I got that. The last few chapters were a harder slog, though, as the vocabulary piles up, you have not yet memorised all of it (so you are constantly referring to the glossary at the end, or, in my case, to the very incomplete trilingual Latin/ Greek/ French dictionary Lexicon), and the aorists are not always easy to identify.
I did not read the whole volume, as I have never studied Italian, so I skipped the cultural/ historical passages at the ends of chapters, and I also did not do the exercises, except for reading the sentences and short stories in Greek. I did read the grammatical explanations, though, Italian being sufficiently transparent for me to understand most of them.
I hope I will have enough courage to continue on with volume 2 (I never did get through Roma Aeterna), but for the moment, I have started volume 1 of the Ephodion, which is supposed to be legible after this.
I did not read the whole volume, as I have never studied Italian, so I skipped the cultural/ historical passages at the ends of chapters, and I also did not do the exercises, except for reading the sentences and short stories in Greek. I did read the grammatical explanations, though, Italian being sufficiently transparent for me to understand most of them.
I hope I will have enough courage to continue on with volume 2 (I never did get through Roma Aeterna), but for the moment, I have started volume 1 of the Ephodion, which is supposed to be legible after this.
September 22, 2025
4.5 I am absolutely and unreasonably invested in Δικαιοπολις και Φίλιππος…
this is kind of the Harry Potter of Ancient Greek in the sense that it’s a readable amalgamation of cultural and literary bits structured around a fun and really rollicking story. it’s very cool reading this after Crito and Lysias, because you see iconic lines from those texts (something like εισιν φιλοι εμοι ετοιμοι δανειζειν αργυριον (hype)) as well as Homer. I also loved the Peloponnesian War chapter, although I do fear Thucydides. The glosses are in Italian. All in all, a fun and strangely addicting read!
this is kind of the Harry Potter of Ancient Greek in the sense that it’s a readable amalgamation of cultural and literary bits structured around a fun and really rollicking story. it’s very cool reading this after Crito and Lysias, because you see iconic lines from those texts (something like εισιν φιλοι εμοι ετοιμοι δανειζειν αργυριον (hype)) as well as Homer. I also loved the Peloponnesian War chapter, although I do fear Thucydides. The glosses are in Italian. All in all, a fun and strangely addicting read!
September 24, 2020
woke up at 3am and couldnt get back to sleep so i powered through the last chapter! next is either Xenophon or the Apology. probably the apology because its shorter.
overall a good ancient greek textbook, but its difficult for self study since there isnt an english translation to check against. If on your own i reccomend using this after going through a more traditional course.
overall a good ancient greek textbook, but its difficult for self study since there isnt an english translation to check against. If on your own i reccomend using this after going through a more traditional course.
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