Greek Language & Literature
There are many contributions in language and literature from Ancient Greece that affect us today. The word alphabet comes from the first two letters in the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. Our words comes from many of the words from Ancient Greece. Many of our words have Greek roots. The word telephone is made up from the Greek words for “far off” (tel) and “voice” (phone). The way we write sentences comes from the Greek language. Our grammar, punctuation, and paragraphing are based on Greek writing. The Greeks invented drama which includes tragedy and comedy. They also wrote about historic events. Modern historians are following the basis of writing from historical writers. Two famous Greek writers were Herodotus and Thucydides. Herodotus is known as the “father of history”. Thucydides wrote about the wars between Athens and Sparta. He is considered one of the greatest historians of Ancient Greece. A writer of the name Homer wrote two amazing and very historical epics. These epics were called the Iliad and the Odyssey. There are tragedy plays written by Aeschylus (500 B.C), Sophocles (around 450 B.C), and Euripides (around 425 B.C). Some of the greatest comedy play writers are Aristophanes (around 425 B.C), and Menander (350 B.C)