Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek: Book I

Ok. 1st) i am writing this review to help potential purchasers. This is the text i used as a Classics Fellow (greek & latin) at BSU 1996-2001.

It may not be the best, but certainly the most enjoyable and easy to use texts on ancient Attic (Athenian) greek.

The title is pronounced "ahh-thin-ozz-day" and means "to Athens".

The authors have written a story about Dikaiopolis (a figure from Aristophanes) and the running serial introduces each chapter and the new grammar, leading one thru simplified readings from Herodotus to Thucydides and finally to Aristophanes.

Also there are readings (edited) from Homer & Herodotus, as well as essays about Greek history and culture.

For an overall view of ancient Greece, including the language, this is a great text. It does have a few problems, particularly with tbe vocabulary and some details of grammatical usage. (Hence only 4 stars). But the reference grammar is very good, and pay strict attention to p. 244, a list of irregular 2nd aorist verbs.

Do I recommend this text? Absolutely! But (and this is a big but), I also recommend to any serious student some supplemental texts, particularly Liddell & Scott's lexicon. (The abridged or intermediate edition is fine & much cheaper).

Although I disagree with the progression of the material (I taught the imperfect and future BEFORE the aorist), the easy readability and continuing "saga" of Dikaiopolis make this an excellent purchase.

Hope y'all find this useful & please see my review of Book II.