We have previously issued invitations to join peer-supported study groups aimed at beginners of ancient Greek, with opportunities to connect with tutors.
But some of you already know some Greek and might like to read and discuss ancient Greek texts with other community members. Here are a couple of ways you might like to do that:
Digital Philology Euripides Project
This group, led by community member Jack Vaughan, has been running for several months now, with the aim of gaining a closer understanding of Euripides’ dramas, and of compiling a glossary of frequent or important terms. The group has been working through Medea, and is just starting on Helen so this would be a good time to join!
Each member of the group selects concepts to work on, and we use Perseus or similar digital tools to search for instances of those words to explore them in context and write up a brief report to share. We also add the instances into a master spreadsheet.
We meet on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. EST, when we close read a passage together in ancient Greek, paying attention to the meter and discussing any words or themes of interest. We have just started with the opening lines of the play.
You don’t have to be an expert in Greek, but you would need to be able to read the alphabet, have some understanding of the concepts of grammar, and be able to use the search tools. If you would like some help to get started with Perseus, you can find help here or post in the forum thread Using online word study tools here.
If you are interested in joining this project, or have further questions, please post in this thread.
Translation Reading Group: Iliad
Some of us are working through Iliad together, and are currently on Scroll 9. We meet on Mondays at 3pm EST. Before the meeting, we prepare our own translations of a section, using the online tools available on Perseus to look up words or forms with which we are unfamiliar. Then during our hour-long hangout we take it in turns to read the Greek out loud, to practice the meter, and share and compare our translations. We go over any tricky sections together and see if we can figure things out, and we take time to discuss anything we notice that is of interest—for example, the differences between different speakers, alliteration, use of particular words. It makes for very interesting close reading, and is most enjoyable!
These informal sessions are open to anyone with an interest. If you are able to have a go at preparing even a few lines ahead of the session you will get more out of it, but if you prefer to join and listen in to start with, then that’s fine too.
And the sessions are ongoing, so you can dip in and out as you wish. The only limit is on the number of slots available in a Google+ Hangout session (10)!
We will post in this forum thread each week, noting where we have got up to. If you are interested, or have any questions, please post in the thread.
If there is sufficient demand, we may start another session, perhaps to look at Attic Greek texts.
Useful Resources
You might find it useful to refer to the Learning page section Go Beyond Reading a Translation—this includes guides to using Perseus, decoding Ancient Greek Dictionary entries, and more!