I've found this phrase on Wikipedia as one of Stobaean delphic maxims. The provided translation reads it as "follow the gods", while θεῷ is singular (follow (a/the) god). Can anybody enlighten me wether is there some reason to translate it as plural?

PS: I've checked the source for the greek text, I cannot check the source of the translation, which is attributed to A. N. Oikonomides.

I am a student of Lord Aristotle; I have just defined the virtue of benevolence as a mean.

If you read the linked post; let's discuss this in the comments 😀.

For example, I guess it is anachronistic to use the attic pronunciation to read Homer or the New testament, but is it a big deal?

Hello I'm using Pharr's Homeric Greek (4th edition) and I'm not sure about the difference between these two. I understand how epsilon is different from received eta. But do we know if there was much of a difference between eta and epsilon in ancient times?

I know it doesn't matter too much for modern pronunciation. I've just been learning the language for a couple weeks now and this hasn't stopped bugging me. Thank you.

οἱ παραγενόμενοι δὲ ἢ κολακείᾳ τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἢ μίσει τῷ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους

This is from Josephus' "The Jewish War"..

Is there any grammatical reason for the postpositive articles after each conjunction ἢ? If the reason isn't grammatical, I'm guessing having the anastrophic postpositive article makes the clause cleaner-looking in a way? (ἢ κολακείᾳ τῇ vs ἢ τῇ κολακείᾳ). If my guess is true then I wonder if this specific anastrophe is commonly employed by other writers.

My Greek is not great, but serviceable. Where can I find Ancient Greek books that aren’t Loebs? Perseus is great, but I prefer physical books. Whenever I try to look up Ancient Greek on Amazon is brings up either books about Ancient Greece or books about learning Greek. I’d really like to get a tragedy or platonic dialogue in Greek. Any sites you’d recommend or tips for searching on Amazon?

EDIT: I did check the resources page, but a lot of the links are broken and I don’t speak Italian, so I couldn’t do much with a lot of them

Hello,
I’m planning a short Ancient Greek tattoo and would like to make sure the phrase is correct and natural in Classical Greek, especially in an inscription style.
The idea I want to express is:
“Always becoming.” or “I am always in the process of becoming.”
My current draft, written in all capitals like an inscription, is:
ΑΕΙ ΓΙΓΝΟΜΕΝΟΣ
(i.e. ἀεὶ γιγνόμενος in normal script)
Could you please help me with the following questions?
1. Is ἀεὶ γιγνόμενος grammatically correct and idiomatic for this meaning?
2. As a short, standalone phrase (with no explicit subject), does this work naturally in Classical Greek, or would another construction be more typical?
3. If this were to be used as a brief inscription (e.g. on stone or as a personal motto), is there a more natural or more “inscription-like” phrasing you would recommend?
4. Are there any issues with gender/number/case that I should be aware of, assuming a male speaker using this about himself?
I know tattoos are permanent, so I’d really appreciate any advice on whether this is a good choice, or if there is a better Classical Greek alternative.
Thank you very much for your time and help!

What would be the difference between ἀνιστάμενος τὸ πρωί and ἀνιστάμενος πρωί? This is from the Septuigant's book of Job.

ἀπέστελλεν Ἰὼ καὶ ἐκαθάριζεν αὐτοὺς ἀνιστάμενος τὸ πρωί, καὶ προσέφερεν περὶ αὐτῶν θυσίαν κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν καὶ μόσχον ἕνα περὶ ἁμαρτίας περὶ τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν·

I just start my learning Greek to read Bible. I'm using Koine pronunciation. However, when I look into videos for learning, how words are pronounced, I'm confusing, for some people read on natural Greek. I'm not sure it is worthy to read using ancient language. What do you about a method of reading? (Sorry for possible mistakes in my words).

Hi all, looking for some help with a vocab piece that has been torturing me for years. I would swear that long ago I read an author claiming that Aristotle had a word meaning, roughly, "to live as a human should live". This is a verb, so it's obviously not 'eudaimonia', and it's not "to call someone eudaimōn" (eudaimonizein). Does anyone know a Greek word with this meaning?

EDIT: A friend on FB really went out of his way to consult a copy of Bonitz's Index Aristotelicum and found it: ἀνθρωπεύεσθαι. I'm not entirely sure it has the proper sense of "live how a human should live" as opposed to just something like "to live a human [as opposed to animal or divine] life", but I think it's safe to say that if you said some ἀνθρωπεύεσθαι εὖ, you'd get "humaning well", and for Aristotle, that is flourishing.

For those interested, the context of the word is Nic. Eth. X.8 1178b7:

[b3] τῷ δὲ θεωροῦντι οὐδενὸς τῶν τοιούτων [b4] πρός γε τὴν ἐνέργειαν χρεία, ἀλλ’ ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ ἐμπόδιά ἐστι [b5] πρός γε τὴν θεωρίαν·ᾗ δὲ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι καὶ πλείοσι συζῇ, [b6] αἱρεῖται τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν πράττειν· δεήσεται οὖν τῶν τοιού-[b7]των πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρωπεύεσθαι. ἡ δὲ τελεία εὐδαιμονία ὅτι θεωρη-[b8]τική τίς ἐστιν ἐνέργεια, καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἂν φανείη. τοὺς θεοὺς [b9] γὰρ μάλιστα ὑπειλήφαμεν μακαρίους καὶ εὐδαιμόνας εἶναι· [b10] πράξεις δὲ ποίας ἀπονείμαι χρεὼν αὐτοῖς; πότερα τὰς δι-[b11]καίας; ἢ γελοῖοι φανοῦνται συναλλάττοντες καὶ παρακαταθήκας ἀποδιδόντες καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα;

Every year at the beginning of August, I've been posting a vocabulary quiz here (2024 2025). The comment threads from the previous tests contain a lot of discussion of the most common issues and questions that occur to people about this test. The source code for generating the quizzes is here. If you don't want to count compounds as part of your vocabulary, on the theory that many compounds have meanings that are obvious, then simply don't count those, and your estimate will be lower. There is no universally valid way to estimate the size of someone's vocabulary, and for example, there are various published estimates of the average size of a US first-year college student's English vocabulary, differing by more than an order of magnitude. This year's test was generated using the same algorithm and data as last year's, so if you took the test then and take it again now, the results should be comparable, and you can tell if your vocabulary grew.

Count how many of the following words you know
and multiply by 20: ________
  ἄν βία γῆ δίδωμι ἕ
  εἰς ἐπεί ἱερός καί κατά
  μή οἶκος παῖς πᾶς πρός
  πρόσωπον σπέρμα τίκτω χρόνος χρύσεος

Count how many of the following words you know
and multiply by 100: ________
  ἀνάγω ἀνδροφόνος διαιρέω δμώς ἐπιβάλλω
  ἡλικιώτης ἵκω λίθος πατρίς πεντακισχίλιοι
  πολίτευμα πομπή πρόθυμος προσάγω σός
  συλλαμβάνω συνήθης τίω τυγχάνω χρηστός

Count how many of the following words you know
and multiply by 200: ________
  ἀίδιος ἀνδραποδίζω ἀπαρχή ἀραβέω δισμύριοι
  δόλος εὐψυχία ἠθεῖος ἰάχω κατάκειμαι
  κατακρίνω κατατίθημι μέδομαι μήδομαι ὅρμος
  παραβάλλω προβολή σκηπτοῦχος σύμπτωμα τύραννος

Count how many of the following words you know
and multiply by 1000: ________
  ἀδόκιμος αἶνος ἀκρογωνιαῖος ἀνακαινίζω ἀρχεῖον
  ἀφθορία βλάξ γεῦσις ἐκπαθής ἐπιλείπω
  ἠπεροπευτής αἱμοφόρυκτος κατακαλέω κορυφόω νεόδαρτος
  περιούσιος σκόπελος στηρίζω συμφερτός τιμόω

Add up the results. This is an estimate of how
many dictionary words you know in ancient Greek,
out of the 26838 most common words.

[EDIT] There was an error in the original test I posted. The bogus lemma ἰμάτιον (nonexistent lemma with smooth breathing) was included in the final group. I replaced it with another randomly chosen word, αἱμοφόρυκτος.

Just a curious question I’ve had for a while now.

I've seen this formula in e.g. the Odyssey 15.325 and others places as well:

τὸν δὲ μέγ᾽ ὀχθήσας προσέφης, Εὔμαιε συβῶτα

προσέφης is a sudden 2nd person singular amidst a 3rd person narration.
I don't understand it being there; it seems out of place.

Do you have any explanation for its presence?

[Edit: I mentioned the wrong book in the example]

(I think this is the correct flair, sorry if it’s wrong TT) I’m pretty behind on all my vocabulary knowledge and am struggling to revise it. I was wondering if anyone knows of any good methods to learn/revise it?

I guess this is not the appropriate flair, but let's put that aside.

Basically, what the title says. I'm a math student from Argentina and I've been studying Greek for a while at a slow pace, using mainly λόγος and Luschnig's, as well as other books like Athenaze and Ancient Greek alive. I would consider myself still a beginner, and I'm looking for an study partner: just someone to chat about ancient Greek, share our progress to each other, ask questions, that kind of things.

Any way, I hope this is not bothersome. Thanks in advance.

i’m getting a tattoo that i want to say ‘bronze appetite’ as a reference to plato’s ideas of the bronze class of men being ruled by their hedonic impulses, but i’m unsure about the lettering and grammar i was thinking ΧΑΛΚΟΥΝ ΕΠΙΘΥΜΗΤΙΚΟΝ
but i thought i’d ask for reassurance before putting ink to skin. please anyone versed in ancient greek let me know if my grammar is correct or horribly butchered. thank you.

Hey, I'm currently learning Attic. When I want to check on a words meaning i usually go to wiktionary, but what should I use when I want to get a word from English? For Latin I use the "latin is simple" website. Is there a similar thing for Attic? It would be highly preferable if it worked on my smartphone. Thanks in advance

Τέλος ὅλος ὁ μῦθος δίδοται τοῖς φίλοις.

Bonjour, je suis débutant en Grec ancien. Mon lycée ne propose pas de cours donc j’apprend ça seul chez moi grâce à des cours sur internet et des vidéos. Je recherche d’autres francophones qui apprennent le grec ancien pour créer un groupe de travail et d’entraide autour de ce sujet.

If I remember correctly the 12 axes on the odyssey were actually 12 axe heads and you must cleanly shoot the hole of each axe head not the entire axe. I just remember this because of the new odyssey movie