A historical Greek reader: Mycenaean to the Koiné

326 Pages·2007·1.229 MB·English, Greek

by  Stephen Colvin

A HISTORICAL GREEK READER
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A Historical
Greek Reader
Mycenaean to the Koiné
STEPHEN COLVIN
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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Preface
Archaeology of the book
This book was originally commissioned from James Hooker (1931–
91), then Reader in Classics at University College London. A parallel
Reader in Latin was commissioned from Patrick Considine and is
in preparation. At the time of his death Hooker had prepared the
first draft of a manuscript, which the distinguished linguist and
phonetician Katrina Hayward (1951–2001) agreed to take forward to
publication; Hayward was then in the Department of Linguistics at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Hooker’s early
death was by sad coincidence to be shared by Hayward. In the last
months of her illness she spent time annotating the manuscript;
when her friend and colleague Patrick Considine suggested that I take
over the commission after her death in 2001 I was honoured to do so
(Hayward, a student of Anna Morpurgo Davies, had been my doctoral
examiner at Oxford in the early 1990s). I inherited Hooker’s original
draft, with Hayward’s (always useful and perceptive) comments. After
some hesitation I decided it would be impossible to bring it out in its
original form, since it was well over a decade old, and its original
author had not intended the draft for publication in the form in
which it survived. Nor was it clear that, if I made the substantial
additions that were necessary, either of the two earlier scholars would
have wanted to take responsibility for my views. I therefore retained
the structure of the book, but rewrote it almost from scratch within
that framework. Some of the passages reflect Hooker’s original selec-
tion, and in those instances I mostly retained his elegant translations.
I referred constantly to his commentary, of course, in preparing my
own, and made use of Hayward’s remarks on the texts wherever
possible. For the most part, however, I take full responsibility for the
book, and any errors in judgement or execution are mine.
Notes on use
The book is intended as an introduction to the history of the ancient
Greek language for university-level students. It includes a selection of
vi Preface
epigraphic and literary texts from the Mycenaean period (roughly
the fourteenth century bc) to the koiné (the latest text dates to the
second century ad). In the epigraphic section I wanted to balance a
selection of well-known epigraphic texts with recent discoveries
which may not be easily available elsewhere. I have linked commen-
tary to an outline reference grammar, and have tried to provide a
basic amount of up-to-date bibliography so that advanced students
and others can pursue linguistic issues at greater depth where neces-
sary. The reference grammar is not a comprehensive historical
grammar: it is an outline which is meant to provide a general histor-
ical context, and to explain features which occur in the texts in a
more orderly way than is possible in the commentary. A general aim
has been to provide an overview of recent linguistic thinking,
especially in areas such as dialectology and the koiné, where excellent
work by international scholars in the last couple of decades has not
yet become easily accessible.
In the literary section the choice of passages was difficult to make,
especially as the book is not intended as a chrestomathy of Greek
literature. I chose passages which would illustrate the general lines
of the linguistic development of Greek as economically as possible.
I was not thinking primarily of the stylistic development of the
language, though the two are often difficult to untangle. I ended
the selection with the koiné in line with the original conception of
the book: and indeed for obvious cultural and sociolinguistic reasons
a detailed study of the development of Greek after the Hellenistic
period would have to be a very different enterprise, given the
diglossia which adds an extra level of complication to the analysis of
written texts after the disappearance of the dialects.
The book may also serve as a practical introduction to historical
linguistics and linguistic method as applied to a corpus language. No
prior experience of Indo-European or theoretical linguistics is
assumed, though in fact anyone who has mastered the ancient Greek
language will have developed a range of practical linguistic skills that
theoreticians might well envy. There is a glossary of linguistic terms
at the back; beginners may have to do some basic homework such as
familiarizing themselves with a small range of characters from the
International Phonetic Alphabet.
Preface vii
Texts and transliterations
Since the book is linguistic in design, direct transliterations from
Greek have in general been used rather than the Latinized version
(thus Sotairos rather than Sotaerus). The usual cultural exceptions
have been made in the case of familiar literary and historical names
(Thucydides, Lucian, etc.); but thematic (second declension) names
in -osare not changed to -us.
In epigraphic and papyrological texts dotted letters have been kept
to a minimum, especially where there is a well-established modern
text whose readings are widely accepted. The best or most recent
edition available has served as the basis for the extracts, supple-
mented by any recent commentary or revision. The use of diacritics
varies from editor to editor (for example, some use rough breathings
in inscriptions from psilotic areas in line with the conventions of a
modern printed text, and likewise iota subscript). In this book the
notation of breathings in inscriptions reflects what is known of the
local phonology (sometimes this is doubtful); iota subscript is not
used; and makrons are printed on vowels in Greek texts as an aid to
the reader (and in some cases they indicate an editorial judgement).
Standard Attic accentuation is printed except in the case of eastern
Aeolic (§23.10). In the case of literary texts with a continuous trans-
mission I have indicated the edition used and noted significant
departures. In the case of fragments (surviving in quotation, papyri,
etc.) I have referred to a standard modern collection. The use of an
apparatus has been kept to an absolute minimum.
Acknowledgements
My debts to scholars in the field will be obvious to anyone who
has worked on the history of Greek. I have relied so heavily on the
ideas of Albio Cassio, Anna Morpurgo Davies, and Cornelius Ruijgh
that citation became an almost superfluous exercise. There are many
others, in particular a generation of post-war Spanish and French
scholars and their students, who shaped the discipline after the
appearance of the great German handbooks of the early part of
the twentieth century. I have tried to rein in the list of citations, given
the intended readership, and I hope that the absence of a reference to
an important piece of work will not be taken as a slight. Buck’sGreek
Dialects has been a near-constant companion for over two decades;
viii Preface
the nature of the present book and considerations of space ruled out
any attempt at a grammar of the Greek dialects on the same scale.
It remains to thank friends and colleagues who have read versions
of the present work. Patrick Considine read a draft of the epigraphic
commentary and saved me from numerous mistakes and omissions.
Philomen Probert and Eleanor Dickey read an entire draft with
customary acumen and patience, and I am deeply indebted to their
kind suggestions. Alan Griffiths and Donna Shalev also read sections
of the literary commentary: the resulting text benefited greatly
from their expert advice. The list of scholars who have endured
importuning on specific issues, and made courteous and helpful
suggestions, includes Victor Bers, Ann Hanson, Simon Hornblower,
Stephen Instone, Bentley Layton, Herwig Maehler, Craig Melchert,
Andrew Sihler, Elizabeth Tucker, Michael Weiss, and Jula Wildberger.
Much of the work was completed while on research leave at Yale
University, and completed at University College London. It is a
pleasure to record thanks to both of these institutions.
SCC
London
September 2006