Forms of Greek used from around the 16th century BC to the 4th century BC
This article is about the language. For ancient Greek population groups, see List of ancient Greek tribes.
"Classical Greek" redirects here. For the culture, see Classical Greece.
For other uses, see Greek (disambiguation).
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Ancient Greek
Ἑλληνική Hellēnikḗ
An inscription about the construction of the statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Region
eastern Mediterranean
Language family
Indo-European
Hellenic
Ancient Greek
Early form
Proto-Greek
Writing system
Greek alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2
grc
ISO 639-3
grc (includes all pre-modern stages)
Glottolog
anci1242
Map of Ancient (Homeric) Greece
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (c. 1400–1200 BC), Dark Ages (c. 1200–800 BC), the Archaic or Epic period (c. 800–500 BC), and the Classical period (c. 500–300 BC).[1]
Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek.
From the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BC), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek, which is regarded as a separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek, and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine.
^Ralli, Angela (2012). "Greek". Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire. 90 (3): 964. doi:10.3406/rbph.2012.8269. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
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