Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (c. 1400–1200 BC), Dark Ages (c. 1200–800 BC), the Archaic period (c. 800–500 BC), and the Classical period (c. 500–300 BC).[1]
Ancient GreekἙλληνική
Hellēnikḗ
Inscription about the construction of the statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon, 440/439 BCRegioneastern MediterraneanLanguage familyIndo-European
Ancient Greek
Greek alphabetLanguage codesISO 639-2grcISO 639-3grc (includes all pre-modern stages)Glottologanci1242
Map of Ancient (Homeric) GreeceThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language.
From the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BC) Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek, which is regarded as a separate historical stage, although its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek, of which Attic Greek developed into Koine.
Dialects
Phonology
Morphology
Writing system
Sample texts
Modern use
See also
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Further reading
External links
Last edited 4 days ago by Bender the Bot
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