Difference between Ancient, Biblical, and Modern Greek?

Question

I have decided i want to study Classical Archaeology, and i know that knowing Greek and Latin will be required to accomplish this. I would like to get started learning these lauguages now so i will have a basic understanding by the time i start school. But i dont really know the difference between Ancient, Biblical, and Modern Greek or which one i should focus on for my studies. Any advice?

Answer 1

Ancient means before the Middle Ages which was dominated by the Catholic church. So, Ancient and Biblical should be the same thing. You would not want to take modern for it has outside influences not found in the classical.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/greec...

Here this should help you

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greek...

I take that back Biblical would be the time period before the Middle Ages and after the Ancient.

"A classical language,        

is a language with a literature that is "classical"—ie, "it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature."[1] (George L. Hart of UC Berkeley)"

Ancient Greek literature

refers to literature written in the Greek language until the 4th century AD...This period of Greek literature stretches from Homer until the 4th century BC and the rise of Alexander the Great....

By 338 BC all of the Greek city-states except Sparta had been conquered by Philip II of Macedon. Philip's son Alexander the Great extended his father's conquests greatly. In so doing he inaugurated what is called the......................

Hellenistic Ages....One of the most valuable contributions of the Hellenistic period was the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. The work was done at Alexandria and completed by the end of the 2nd century BC. The name Septuagint means "seventy," from the tradition that there were 72 scholars who did the work.

http://www.usawebdirectory.info/link_in_...

"Koine Greek (Greek: Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, IPA: [ciˈni eliniˈci], "common Greek", or ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, IPA: [i ciˈni ˈðialektos], "the common dialect") is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity (c.300 BC – AD 300), and marks the third period in the history of the Greek language.[1] Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek. Koine is important not only to the history of the Greeks for being their first common dialect and main ancestor of modern Greek, but also for its impact on Western culture as a lingua franca for the Mediterranean.[1] It was also the original language of the New Testament of the Christian Bible as well as the medium for the teaching and spreading of Christianity.[1] Koine Greek was unofficially the second language in the Roman Empire.....Koine (Κοινή), Greek for "common", "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Gr...

So, Ancient (before Medieval) is classical (which had ended with Alexander)and Koine (also Hellenistic) which is used in the writting of the Bible.

Good Luck, I suggest Latin, LOL

Answer 2

For Classical Archaeology you should start by learning Classical Greek and then learn Homeric Greek.

Biblical Greek is fairly close to Classical Attic!

If you want to do field work in Greece you should try to learn at least a little modern Greek so you can talk to the locals.

You should also try to do a Minor in Linguistics and Historical Linguistics.

Studying geology and geomorphology ie landforms would be useful and maybe physics if you're interested in the technical aspects of deep radar etc.

If your local library doesnt have any Greek or Latin books there are sites where you can download material online.

Ancient Greek inscriptions differ from the Greek you see in books. Look for books on ancient scripts too!