Sparks Commentary: Why I am learning Ancient Greek

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

- The New Testament, "The Revelation of St. John the Divine," Chapter 22, Verse 13 (as translated by the King James Version of the Bible)

I've actually had the desire to learn Ancient Greek for a long time, but I didn't think I'd ever have the time or the opportunity to do it. I took an ethics class from NAU's philosophy department in May 2009 where we talked about the Greek philosopher Plato, and I posted on the 28th of that month that I "want[ed] to learn Ancient Greek."

Plato

But I never thought that I'd actually have the opportunity to do it. I thought: "I don't think I'll ever live near someplace where they offer a class in it. Only one university in Arizona has a Classics department, and that's U of A (which is 3 ½ hours away)."

But I recently realized that with a dead language, taking a class in the subject isn't as important, since I won't be needing to speak or listen to the language. If reading it is enough, I can learn it from a book. So it recently occurred to me to get a textbook about it, and start teaching myself Ancient Greek.

Greek helps to understand English

So why do I want to do this? Basically, I have two main reasons for wanting to learn Ancient Greek. One is that English has borrowed a lot of words from the language, and learning Ancient Greek will thus help me to understand a lot of English words ... and their origins. I already speak some French (a descendant of Latin), and so I already know a fair amount about English word origins; but this will add to my knowledge more.

The only additional language family that would help me more is the Germanic languages (the family of which English is a part). Thus, I would also like to eventually learn German, and learn something about the origins of our most common English words.

My introductory textbook about Ancient Greek

The New Testament was originally written in Greek

The other main reason for wanting to learn Ancient Greek is that the New Testament was originally written in this language. In the time of Christ, Greek was the international language (much like English is today) - rather than the Latin spoken by the Romans, who dominated much of the world (including Judea) at that time. As in centuries past, the international language was Greek, and so publishing the New Testament in this language was a way of reaching a wider audience.

Thus, learning the language will help me to understand one of the two most influential books in human history (the other being the Old Testament).

Greek New Testament

When and where was "Ancient Greek" spoken?

I knew when ordering this textbook about the language that its focus was on Attic Greek, the language spoken in the Attica region of Greece (which includes Athens) during the classical era (about 500-300 BC). This was the prestige dialect of its time, comparable to the Queen's English in our language today; and it is the standard language taught in classes called "Ancient Greek."

My favorite painting of Jesus Christ

The specific dialect of the New Testament

After this, I will focus on a later form of the language called Koine Greek, which was spoken around the time of Christ. This is the dialect in which the New Testament was originally written. I'd like to learn the Attic Greek stuff, too, since I think that's where most English words of Greek origin come from. (Not sure on that, but that's what I'm assuming.) Plus, I'm interested in the classical age of the country.

Polybius, who wrote in the Greek language about the Roman Republic

But my eventual goal will be to learn Koine Greek, so I can start studying important parts of the Bible in the original. This is the literature in the language that I am most interested in reading.

Herodotus, one of the founders of the discipline of history

Insights into Greek and Roman history

There will be some other benefits, too. This will help me to understand a lot about classical history, especially Ancient Greece, and give me some insight into the founders of Western Civilization. But my main two reasons are that I want to learn the origins of English words, and read the New Testament in the original.

The execution of Socrates (which was by drinking hemlock poison)

My reading of Greek philosophy (mainly Plato and Aristotle)

So these are my reasons for wanting to learn Ancient Greek. Maybe I'll even read some Plato along the way. Update, 2025: Since this post was first written, I have since used my Greek for reading some Plato and some Aristotle in the original. Thus, Greek philosophy has become a more important reason for my learning of the language, than it was for me before.

Aristotle, an influence upon our Founding Fathers

Insert, 2025: Our Founding Fathers were avid students of Ancient Greek

I might also mention that our Founding Fathers were avid students of Latin and Greek. For example, over the years, John Adams wrote a number of letters to his future-president son John Quincy Adams. In 1777, specifically, John Adams once told his son that “There is no history, perhaps, better adapted to this usefull purpose than that of Thucidides, an author, of whom I hope you will make yourself perfect master, in original language, which is Greek, the most perfect of all human languages.” (Source: Letter of 11 August 1777) And, in 1788, John Adams also told his son to “Preserve your Latin and Greek like the apple of your eye.” (Source: Letter of 23 January 1788) Thus, John Adams advised his son to “Preserve [his] Latin and Greek,” even referring to “Greek, the most perfect of all human languages” (as cited above). Thus, John Adams must have considered the study of the Ancient Greek language to be valuable. More about his reasons for studying the Latin language in a future blog post. And more about the Hebrew language in some of the blog posts listed below.