Reading Greek: Text

by Joint Association of Classical Teachers’ Greek Course

The JACT Reading Greek Course has been written for beginners in the upper school, at university and in adult education. It aims to enable students to read fifth- and fourth-century Attic Greek, Homer and Herodotus, with some fluency and intelligence in one to two years. The main medium of learning is a continuous, graded Greek text, adapted from original sources.

Genres: Language, Reference, Nonfiction, Classics, Linguistics

182 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 1978

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the text volume that goes along with the Grammar and Vocabulary volume -- they could very well be incorporated into one volume, and perhaps they should be. (Both volumes, and the Independent Study Guide, are essential.)

But the texts are the key to Reading Greek, so maybe there is a pedagogical reason (obviously unknown to me) for presenting them in a separate volume.

The early readings are heavily adapted for the beginning student, but they are rooted in the original texts, which makes this approach far more rewarding than translating sample exercises. From the start you're looking at Demosthenes, Plato, and Aristophanes -- and by the middle of the course you have enough Greek to get the jokes in Aristophanes that are nearly untranslatable into English. That is worth the price of admission alone.

As I mentioned in my comments on the Grammar and Vocab volume, this is not the easiest way to learn Ancient Greek, and is probably not for the absolute beginner. But it is great fun if you have the foundation in place.

[Victor Whitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the companion reader to the Cambridge first-year Greek textbook. Basically, the strategy is to get you reading right away. It moves from made-up Greek all the way up to unabridged Homer (the Odyssey). You get a tour of classical comedy (Aristophanes) and tragedy (Euripides), rhetoric (Demosthenes), history (Herodotus) and philosophy (Plato). It is pretty challenging, even with all the vocabulary there. I wouldn't attempt this until I worked through a traditional textbook. It also does a good job of introducing each section with short essays.

[Constantine]

2 copies

[Drianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the selections chosen for this book. They're really well done, and even the invented Greek at the beginning does an awesome job of incorporating real things. But the learning curve is *so steep*, and I cannot imagine how anyone learns Greek from this -- review, yes; learn, no.

I would never adopt this as the sole text for a first Greek class.

(Also, it took me like six months to get through it.)

[Meg]

Bought this in a very old edition for £2 in Durham City Oxfam to supplement my learning. It has lots of passages for practice Greek translation.
It is admittedly nice to know this is the undergraduate first year textbook of choice, which I saw in the academic bookshop. (Much bigger and glossier than mine!) Now that would be a dream come true: studying classical studies/ancient history at Durham University, with a focus on ancient medical history!
From my first look, not for complete beginners. My 1978 edition doesn't have vocab lists, but I have a good app. Also bought the companion independent study guide though, which gives the translation answers for checking.