This article is an overview of the history of Greek. Greek ( IPA: or IPA: — Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language in that language family. ... The Greek alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Greek language since about the 9th century BCE. It was the first alphabet in the narrow sense, that is, a writing system using a separate symbol for each vowel and consonant alike. ... The Proto-Greek language is the common ancestor of the Greek dialects, including the Mycenean language, the classical Greek dialects Attic-Ionic, Aeolic, Doric and North-Western Greek, and ultimately the Koine and Modern Greek. ... Mycenaean is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland and on Crete in the 16th to 11th centuries BC, before the Dorian invasion. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Aeolic Greek is a linguistic term used to describe a set of rather archaic Greek sub-dialects, spoken mainly in Boeotia (a region in Central Greece), in Lesbos (an island close to Asia Minor) and in other Greek colonies. ... Arcadocypriot was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia and Cyprus between ca. ... Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek language that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Pamphylian is a little-attested dialect of Ancient Greek which was spoken in Pamphylia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor. ... Homeric Greek is the form of Ancient Greek that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. ... Koine redirects here. ... Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Cappadocian, also known as Cappadocian Greek or Asia Minor Greek, is a dialect of the Greek language, formerly spoken in Cappadocia (Central Turkey). ... Cretan Greek (Cretan dialect, Greek: Κρητική διάλεκτος or Kritika Κρητικά) is a dialect of the Greek language, spoken by more than half a million people in Crete and several thousands in the diaspora. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a Modern Greek dialect which is spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region in southern Italy and Sicily, and it is otherwise known as the Grecanic language. ... Katharevousa (Greek Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: ) is a form of the Greek language, created during the early 19th century by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). ... Pontic Greek is a form of the Greek language originally spoken on the shores of the Black Sea, the Pontus, today mainly in Greece. ... Tsakonian (also Tsakonic) (Standard Greek Τσακωνική Διάλεκτος — Tsakonic language — is a dialect of, or language closely related to, Standard Modern Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. ... Yevanic, otherwise known as Yevanika, Romaniote and Judeo-Greek, was the language of the Romaniotes, the group of Greek Jews whose existence in Greece is documented since the 4th century BCE. Its linguistic lineage stems from Attic Greek and the Hellenistic Koine (Κοινή Ελ&#955...

Origins

Main article: Proto-Greek language

There are several theories about the origins of the Greek language. One theory suggests that it originated with a migration of proto-Greek speakers into the Greek peninsula, which is dated to any period between 2500 BC and 1700 BC. Another theory maintains that the migration into Greece occurred at a pre-proto-Greek (late PIE) stage, and the characteristic Greek sound-changes occurred later. The Proto-Greek language is the common ancestor of the Greek dialects, including the Mycenean language, the classical Greek dialects Attic-Ionic, Aeolic, Doric and North-Western Greek, and ultimately the Koine and Modern Greek. ... “Hellas” redirects here. ... (Redirected from 2500 BC) (26th century BC - 25th century BC - 24th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC -- Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period 2494 BC -- End of Fourth Dynasty, start of Fifth Dynasty in Egypt. ... (Redirected from 1700 BC) (18th century BC - 17th century BC - 16th century BC - other centuries) (1690s BC - 1680s BC - 1670s BC - 1660s BC - 1650s BC - 1640s BC - 1630s BC - 1620s BC - 1610s BC - 1600s BC - 1590s BC - other decades) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events 1700... This article is about the baked good, for other uses see Pie (disambiguation). ...

Linear B

The first known script for writing Greek was the Linear B syllabary, used for the archaic Mycenaean dialect. Linear B was not deciphered until 1953. After the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, there was a period of about five hundred years when writing was either not used or nothing has survived to the present day. Since early classical times, Greek has been written in the Greek alphabet. This article is about the ancient syllabary. ... A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. ... Mycenaean is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland and on Crete in the 16th to 11th centuries BC, before the Dorian invasion. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Cities are a major hallmark of human civilization. ... The Greek alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Greek language since about the 9th century BCE. It was the first alphabet in the narrow sense, that is, a writing system using a separate symbol for each vowel and consonant alike. ...

Ancient Greek dialects

Main articles: Greek dialects and Ancient Greek

In the archaic and classical periods, there were three main dialects of the Greek language: Aeolic, Ionic, and Doric, corresponding to the three main tribes of the Greeks, the Aeolians (chiefly living in the islands of the Aegean and the west coast of Asia Minor north of Smyrna), the Ionians (mostly settled in the west coast of Asia Minor, including Smyrna and the area to the south of it), and the Dorians (primarily the Greeks of the coast of the Pelopennesus, for example, of Sparta, Crete and the southernmost parts of the west coast of Asia Minor). Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were written in a kind of literary Ionic with some loan words from the other dialects. Ionic, therefore, became the primary literary language of ancient Greece until the ascendancy of Athens in the late fifth century. Doric was standard for Greek lyric poetry, such as Pindar and the choral odes of the Greek tragedians. Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Aeolic Greek is a linguistic term used to describe a set of rather archaic Greek sub-dialects, spoken mainly in Boeotia (a region in Central Greece), in Lesbos (an island close to Asia Minor) and in other Greek colonies. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Agora of Smyrna Smyrna (Greek: Σμύρνη) is an ancient city (today İzmir in Turkey) that was founded at a very early period at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. ... Homer (Greek: , ) was an early Greek poet and aoidos (rhapsode) traditionally credited with the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... It has been suggested that Deception of Zeus be merged into this article or section. ... Beginning of the Odyssey The Odyssey (Greek Οδύσσεια (Odússeia) ) is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to the Ionian poet Homer. ... Pindar (or Pindarus) (522 BC – 443 BC), perhaps the greatest of the nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, was born at Cynoscephalae, a village in Thebes. ...

Attic Greek

Attic Greek, a subdialect of Ionic, was for centuries the language of Athens. Most surviving classical Greek literature appears in Attic Greek, including the extant texts of Plato and Aristotle, which were passed down in written form from classical times. Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek language that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα - Athína) is the largest city and capital of Greece, located in the Attica periphery of central Greece. ... Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... // Main article: Ancient Greek literature Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in Ancient Greek from the oldest surviving written works in the Greek language until the 4th century and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Aristotle (Greek: Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ...

Hellenistic Greek — Koiné

Main article: Koine Greek

For centuries, the Greek language had existed in multiple dialects. As Greeks under Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) colonized from Asia Minor to Egypt to the Middle East, these dialects were combined to form the Koiné (Κοινή; "common"). Imposing a common Greek dialect allowed Alexander's combined army to communicate internally. The language was also learned by the inhabitants of the regions that Alexander conquered, turning Greek into a world language. The Greek language continued to thrive after Alexander, during the Hellenistic period (323 BC to 31 BC). During this period the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, appeared. Koine redirects here. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: ,[1] Megas Alexandros; July 356 BC–June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336–323 BC), was one of the most successful military commanders in history. ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC - 350s BC - 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 361 BC 360 BC 359 BC 358 BC 357 BC 356 BC 355 BC 354 BC 353... On his way from Ecbatana to Babylon, Alexander the Great fights and crushes the Cossaeans. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The term Hellenistic (derived from HéllÄ“n, the Greeks traditional self-described ethnic name) was established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to refer to the spreading of Greek culture over the non-Greek people that were conquered by Alexander the Great. ... On his way from Ecbatana to Babylon, Alexander the Great fights and crushes the Cossaeans. ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC - 30s BC - 20s BC 10s BC 0s 10s 20s Years: 36 BC 35 BC 34 BC 33 BC 32 BC 31 BC 30 BC 29 BC 28 BC 27 BC... The Septuagint: A page from Codex vaticanus, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brentons English translation. ... 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum This article is about the term Hebrew Bible. For the Hebrew Bible itself, see Tanakh (Jewish tradition) or Old Testament (Christian tradition). ...

For many centuries Greek was the lingua franca of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. It was during Roman times that the Greek New Testament appeared, and Koiné Greek is also called "New Testament Greek" after its most famous work of literature. Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire. ... John 21:1 Jesus Appears to His Disciples--Alessandro Mantovani: the Vatican, Rome. ... John 21:1 Jesus Appears to His Disciples--Alessandro Mantovani: the Vatican, Rome. ...

Medieval and Modern Greek

Main articles: Medieval Greek and Modern Greek

Greek was the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire) until Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453. The decline of literacy among Greek speakers during the Ottoman Empire's domination of much of the Mediterranean restricted the language's evolution to the scattered Greek educated circles, such as the aristocrats of the Ionian islands and the Phanariotes of Constantinople. Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered around its capital in Constantinople. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ... Map of Constantinople. ... The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto El Muzaffer Daima The Ever Victorious (as written in tugra) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople/Asitane/Konstantiniyye ) Sovereigns Sultans of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 12+ million km² Establishment 1299 Dissolution October 29... April 2 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Ä°stanbul). ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: Ionioi Nisoi, Ιόνιοι Νήσοι; Ancient Greek: Ionioi Nesoi, Ιόνιοι Νήσοι) are a group of islands in Greece. ... An image of the extravagance attributed to Phanariotes in Wallachia: Nicholas Mavrogenes riding through Bucharest in a deer-drawn carriage (late 1780s) Phanariotes, Phanariots, or Phanariote Greeks (Greek: Φαναριώτες, Romanian: FanarioÅ£i) were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar[1] (Φανάρι, modern Fener),[2] the chief Greek quarter of... Map of Constantinople. ...

After the establishment of Greece as an independent state in 1829, the Katharévusa (Καθαρεύουσα) form—Greek for "purified language"—was sanctioned as the official language of the state and the only acceptable form of Greek in Greece. Katharévusa was a form of the language used by the Greek Orthodox Church since the Byzantine era (the Byzantine Empire used also two different Greek dialects), an attempt at language purification. The attempt was politically motivated, as the government was trying to capitalize on the cultural heritage of ancient Greece and the sympathy many Western intellectuals of the time had for the Greek fight for independence (such as Lord Byron). The whole attempt led to a linguistic war and the creation of literary factions: the Dhimotikistés (Δημοτικιστές), who supported the common (Demotic) dialect, and the Lóyii (Λόγιοι), or Katharevusyáni (Καθαρευουσιάνοι), who supported the "purified dialect". Up to that point, use of Dhimotikí in state affairs was generally frowned upon. The state doctrine stated that use of Katharévusa exaggerated the idea that there was a linear continuation in the speech and thought of the ancient Greeks, all the way from Pericles's ancient Athens to today's modern Athens. Use of the Demotic dialect in state speech and paperwork was forbidden. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Katharevousa (Greek Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: ) is a form of the Greek language, created during the early 19th century by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). ... The Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian body that views itself as: the historical continuation of the original Christian community established by Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles, having maintained unbroken the link between its clergy and the Apostles by means of Apostolic Succession. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ... The Temple to Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around three thousand years. ... Lord Byron, English poet Lord Byron (1803), as painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. ... Pericles or Perikles (c. ... A view of the Acropolis of Athens during the Ottoman period, showing the buildings which were removed at the time of independence The history of Athens is the longest of any city in Europe: Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. ... For other uses, see Athens (disambiguation). ...

The fall of the Junta of 1974 and the end of the era of Metapolítefsi 1974–76 brought the acceptance of the Demotic dialect as both the de facto and de jure forms of the language for use by the Greek government. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

References

Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers (Longman Linguistics Library). Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 0-582-30709-0

See also

• History of the Latin language

The History of the Latin language The Duenos inscription, from the 6th century BC, is the second-earliest known Latin text. ...

External links

• A short biography of Karkavitsas
• A Brief History of the Greek Language