Ancient Greek Gen Knowledge Flashcards
(15 cards)
When was this Greek alphabet first used to WRiTE Greek?
750 BC
When/where was Linear B found?
C 1300 BC on clay tablets in various parts of Greece
What/when/where was Linear A?
C 1700 BC in Crete
Probably a pre-Greek language
It has never been deciphered
Who 1st deciphered Linear B and what did it say?
When?
Michael Ventris in 1952
Linear B tablets listed goods stored in fortress of at Mycenae
What period of history was Mycenaean Greece?
Bronze Age
When and who first excavated the fortress at Mycenae?
Whose HQ was it [traditionally] thought to be?
In 1870 Heinrich Schliemann, a German archaeologist
What helped in the deciphering of Linear B?
Many of the tablets had diagrams as well as words eg chariot wheels listed
Who deciphered Linear B in 1870s and afterwards?
No-one until Michael Ventris in 1952
What happened to Mycenaean civilisation eventually?
It declined c 1200 BC
Greece entered a Dark Age
The art of writing was forgotten
When did trade with Phoenicians ramp up and what impact on language?
Eastern Med trading C8 BC
Greeks “borrowed” Phoenician alphabet - a set of symbols:
Alph = ox
Bet = house
Origin of symbols pics of those?
Breathing for words beginning with vowel. What and how is:
/ ‘
Rough breathing
Pronounce with an h
Breathing for words beginning with vowel. What and how is:
\
Smooth, no h
What is iota subscript and when is it used?
Iota written in miniature
After long α ή ω
α η ω
‘ ‘ ‘
When did Homer live and why is this significant for literature
Oral tales prob existed for 400 years b4 Homer. He lived in C8 when alphabet was fixed.
He used the new alphabet to permanently record work of a master poet OR Homer elaborated using new alphabet = master poet
What is relationship between Ancient and modern Greek?
V similar
Fewer changes in 2500 years since Homer than English had since Chaucer
