Lingua Graeca / Ἑλληνικὴ Γλῶττα

χαίρετε, ὦ μαθηταί! Hello, students!!

We may call ourselves the Gubernatoris LATINA Academia, but Latin won't be the only language you see in Ashland. Get ready to dive in to Ancient Greek! Practically all of Latin literature has its roots in Ancient Greek, so it will be the focus of our class together. What a Roman thing it is to learn Greek!

The alphabet will be our first step to master: it may seem like a daunting hurdle, but I assure you that after our first class you’ll be reading Greek words like a pro - and you *might* have a new alphabet song stuck in your head. Okay, you definitely will. :)

From there on out, we'll be focusing on stories from Athenian tragedy - the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. We'll look at Iphigenia and the fallout from her death - and a (surprisingly) happy alternate ending to her tale. We'll visit Hecuba and see the Greeks through a "Trojan" eye. We'll watch Oedipus as he learns the truly *unique* situation of his family. And we couldn't miss Medea as she looks to take revenge on her husband Jason.

Through these stories - you might call them "dramas" or even "myths" - we will learn the fundamentals of the Ancient Greek language. We'll master pronouncing Greek names like Ἰφιγένεια and Ἀγαμέμνων or Οἰδίπους and Μήδεια. We'll practice talking  in Ancient Greek (how cool!) about ourselves and about pictures of our tragic friends. We'll read their stories and retell them together - and learn a bit about Athenian drama along the way!

Nervous about not knowing any Greek yet? Is the only Greek you know part of a formula in math class? Never fear! Most students have not read Ancient Greek before coming to Academy, and it is by no means an expectation. (If you do know some Greek, you'll have fun anyway!) So we'll be learning Greek together, starting at square one!

Διδάσκαλος ᾽Ιέπφερσον / Mr. Jefferson