Greek Books

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

Ingri D'Aulaire, Edgar Parin D'Aulaires

List Price: $18.95 By: Airplay Audio Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $9.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Folklore & Mythology
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 145 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A great look into ancient Greece. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

If and easy-to-read introduction into Greek Mythology is what you are seeking, then there is no need to look any longer. All the stories from Gaia and her children the Titans to the legendary gods atop Mt. Olympus and their children are explained in rich detail with fully colored illustrations, that alone are worthy of 5-stars. But the adventure doesn't stop there, all the minor and major events that are attributed to Greek Lore are presented in the same painstaking detail. This definitely a must for all lovers of Greek legend and even for those with minor interests.

Editor of the highly recommended Greek novel: Fates by Georgiou Tino.

Beautiful! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I got this book a long time ago when I was little, and even though some of the content was no doubt too old for me at the time, I still loved it and never grew tired of reading the book.

I use this as my guide to greek mythology still - the pictures are gorgeous, and the stories well done.

I'd recommend this for any Greek mythology lover.

Editorial Review:

The internationally renowned D'Aulaires offer a masterpiece for the entire family in this perfect retelling of Greek myths for children of all ages. 2 cassettes.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

James Strong

List Price: $31.99 By: Nelson Reference Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $6.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Greek
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Concordances
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Unlimited Possibilities 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Strong's Concordance provides a way to study words Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic -- the languages of the the Bible -- without knowing these languages. It was designed for people who need this kind of help.

It has other uses also. Sometimes I have a verse of scripture in mind, but I cannot remember all of it or the precise meaning. I want to recall the exact words. If I can think of a single word that is unusual, a word likely to be found in only a few specific passages, I can use the word to find the verse by looking in the concordance.

Then while I'm looking, I may want to find similar passages about the subject. All the passages are easy to find using the Strong's Concordance.

There are programs on the Internet, such as the one at Blue Letter Bible dot org, with the same capacity for locating verses; sometimes though the book is better. There are quiet study times away from the computer, and there are times when the computer screen is otherwise busy.

I have friends who never go online. The Strong's Concordance is perfect for them. A concordance is a lovely gift.

Editorial Review:

This re-typeset handi-size edition includes Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary for help in finding original words and the original meanings. It is easy to find a specific Bible verse or to research all the verses in the Bible on a specific word or topic. The Words of Christ are in bold type.

The Iliad (Classics on Cassette)

Homer

List Price: $34.95 By: Highbridge Audio Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $1.06

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( H ) -> Homer
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Poetry -> Single Authors -> Continental European
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Poetry -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 139 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A new perspective, a classic for the general reader 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great introduction by Bernard Knox. Very few introductions add anything important to what comes afterward, but this one is even delicious to read, the great subject matters of the Iliad are here explained in terms that reach any person who can read.

I hadn't read the Iliad since a lot younger, and I was happily surprised to see so many different aspects that I hadn't noticed before. The war-film impressions of a kid were gone, and now only the sadness of death, the rage of Achilles, no mercy to the enemies... Hector stood as my hero this time, clearly defined as the last man to stand up for true human, civilized values. The embodiment of civilization, the last bastion of a soon to die culture of life.

It really sounded to me as a warning to cultivated societies of today that peace, freedom, happiness, wealth, art, are not free. And if this is not realized the shorter lived they will be. Not necessarily to be interpreted as a call to arms, but rather as food for thought, in the sense that trying to bribe the enemy is not the solution in the long run. Every time a Trojan got caught his family, or himself, would try ransoming him at the same time revealing the wealth, treasures they had collected, and arousing the greed and resentment of the "bad guys". "Remember, my child, that it was my sweat and labor that put you through college", we could use that expression to describe it. But it's like calling on deaf ears, since no pampered kid will feel obliged to such parental cares, on the contrary, rebellion is the outcome. The child becomes arrogant, even perverted, reluctant to admit his debt to his illiterate parents. No more digressing.

The translation is wonderful, very readable. A book never to become old. Also readable the essay on The Iliad by Simone Weil focusing on 'might'. Who are today yesterday's Argives and Troyans?

Editorial Review:

This masterful new verse translation of Homer's classic story of the Trojan War has been hailed by critics as "an astonishing performance" and "a remarkable tour de force." Robert Fagles, chairman of the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, brings the energy of contemporary language of this 2,700-year-old epic, while maintaining the drive and metric music of Homer's poetry, as well as the impact and nuance of Homer's mesmerizing repeated phrases.

As a scholar, Fagles praises Homer's directness and simplicity, the breadth of his imagination, and the power of his song. As a translator, he brilliantly captures these very qualities—which makes this Iliad not only a superb literary work, but a tremendous listening experience.

Nelson's Super Value Series: New Strong's Exhautive Concordance (Super Value Series)

James Strong

Amazon Price: $18.99 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Thomas Nelson Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $2.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Aramaic
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Greek
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Concordances

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Helpful, but within limits 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Strong's Concordance, like any concordance, is very helpful in finding verses or doing studies on how a particular English word is used in Scripture. It is based on the KJV.

But what makes this concordance unique is that it indicates the underlying Hebrew or Greek word for the English word. Every Hebrew or Greek word is also numbered. Other Hebrew and Greek reference works are available that are coded to these Strong's Concordance numbers. Also included in this Concordance is a short Hebrew and Greek lexicon. This enables the non-Hebrew or Non-Greek reader some access to the original languages.

But it should be noted, using such resources is NOT the same as actually learning Hebrew or Greek. And far too many people seem to think they know what a verse "really" means by looking up a word in this concordance, getting the number of the Hebrew or Greek word and checking the simple dictionary in the back. Far too many times, I have had people email me with some strange ideas derived in this manner.

The problem is, just looking up a word in a simple dictionary like the one included here is not what you would call an exhaustive word study. And to make matters worse, this dictionary was produced in the 1800s, but much about the Greek language has been discovered since then. So the definitions are not always reliable.

Moreover, once you actually learn Hebrew and Greek and work with the original language texts, you will realize there is much more to the meaning of a word than can be expressed in a simple dictionary. The various shades of meaning can only be discovered by the use of more exhaustive lexicons that discuss how the word is used throughout Scripture and in extra-biblical literature.

It was such much more exhaustive resources that I utilized in working on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT). I never bothered referring to a simple and less than reliable resource like this dictionary.

That said, this concordance does have value. Use it as an introduction to working with the original languages. But remember it is just that, an introduction. Don't think you are somehow studying the Hebrew or Greek because you can use a number to look up Hebrew or Greek word in a simple dictionary.

Also, if you use a version other than the KJV, it is helpful to also have a concordance based on that version. That is why I came out with a Complete Concordance to the Analytical-Literal Translation: Second Edition for users of my version.

Editorial Review:

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible has been the standard Bible concordance for pastors, scholars, and laypersons for over a century.

The Nelson's Super Value Series edition provides the classic Strong's features in a smaller, more convenient form. And unlike smaller-sized editions that call themselves "Strong's." this portable New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is truly exhaustive. It indexes every word of the King James Version, including articles, conjunctions, and prepositions. Not one word has been left out.

This handbook-sized edition of The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance gives you the in-depth reference information you want-wherever you need it: in class, at Bible study, or at home. Join the millions who regularly turn to Strong's to look up a verse or discover the Hebrew or Greek word behind an important bible term. The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance in a new size for extra value!

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

William D. Mounce

List Price: $41.99 By: Zondervan Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $9.92

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Greek
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Language Studies
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Best Grammar I have seen 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is the best grammar I have used in my 18 years in the ministry. I have tutored Greek students on occasion and have found this grammar to be the best grammar available. The "inductive" approach is very easy to follow. I highly recommend this grammar as a primary to anyone reviewing their Greek (or secondary grammar to any student) who wants a clear overview of Koine Greek. I use it as part of my daily reading and study.
After learning Dr. Mounce's noun and verb rules for recognizing the "roots," I no longer need to memorize so many paradigms. Once I learned the morphology of the language, the large amount of memorization other grammars require is greatly reduced. This grammar is a must study (or review) for any preacher or teacher working in the New Testament Greek text.

Solid if not earthshattering... 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am not a Greek scholar. I am not a Greek grammar enthusiast. I am merely a seminary student plowing my way through beginning Greek grammar, and this was the textbook assigned to my first two classes. I have used no other Greek grammar resources, so I have no point of comparison.

My impressions of this textbook are mostly positive. Mounce seems to do his best to make the complexities of Greek grammar accessible to the beginning student, and he effectively uses non-technical language to that end. I was periodically irritated by his sometimes rather lame attempts at humor, but even those reflected his heart to connect with his readers. His passion for the Greek language and its potential for application in the lives of beginning Greek students is apparent.

The book is generally well organized and rather systematic, which is helpful for those of us who like process and order and repetition. One minor complaint is the amount of "optional" advanced information that is included in footnotes and appendices. Though some of this information was not essential, we regularly stumbled upon stuff in the footnotes that was seemingly vital to really understanding some of the material. It was difficult to determine which of the additional information was "skippable" and which was essential.

Overall, I think that this textbook did a commendable job of introducing me to the basics of Greek grammar. This process was not especially fun for me, but that is my own personal disconnect with language acquisition. In any case, I am happy to recommend Mounce's text as a good tool for beginning Greek students to use to begin to learn the language. If you do use this text, make sure to use the acccompanying workbook and vocabulary cards.

Editorial Review:

Basics is a first year Greek grammar, supported by a workbook and teacher aids. It now comes with a CD ROM.

The Greek New Testament With Greek-english Dictionary

Amazon Price: $34.62 List Price: $54.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: United Bible Societies Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $30.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Greek
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Bibles -> Greek
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Language Studies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

While the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece is designed for scholarly research, the Greek New Testament, 4th Revised Edition is designed for translators and students.

Like NA27, this is the leading edition of the original text of the New Testament. It contains the same Greek text as NA27, differing only in some details of punctuation and paragraphing. The format of UBS4 is in several respects more user-friendly for students and translators than NA27. It has a more spacious appearance and a larger font. English sub-headings assist in navigating the text for those who may be less familiar with Greek. Old Testament quotations appear in easily recognizable bold font. Synoptic parallels are clearly listed under English headings.

The critical apparatus includes exegetically significant variants (fewer than NA27) but adds extensive manuscript evidence (more than NA27) for each variant, thereby offering in-depth instruction for students on how variants and the evidence for them work together.

An introduction in English is included and an optional Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament by Barclay Newman is available.

Basics of Biblical Greek Workbook

William D. Mounce

List Price: $21.99 By: Zondervan Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $8.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Greek
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Language Studies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Goes great with the textbook! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great product. The corresponding book is also great. Even if you are looking into Greek for reasons other than religion, I would recommend this series. It moves quick, but is easy to understand. At the end of each chapter of the book you do a few pages, and after chapter 2 you are already translating easy greek! The book and workbook are just great products and William Mounce is a great teacher

The Best in Class 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The entire study package of Basics of Biblical Greek which includes the textbook, the study guide, the vocabulary cards, the summary sheet, and the lecture CD's is a blessed fruit of a long, thoughtful, meticulous, and high-tech labor of one of the world's best New Testament Greek scholars. I have to admit I have not studied Greek from other professors, but after studying Mounce, I simply can not imagine a better way to teach students an introduction to Biblical Greek than the one Prof. Mounce implements in this study packet. The structure and methodology are so impressively organized that I believe, without trying to diminish the role of an instructor, one can study by himself or herself without taking the class at a seminary. From start to finish, Prof. Mounce designs the lessons with solid exegesis skills as the goal in mind. He wastes no time but immediately exposes students with translation exercises using real Scripture passages in the study guide, even early in the first few chapters when he barely starts with nouns.

The lessons are divided into three major parts; nouns, adjectives and verbs. Each chapter begins with exegetical insights related to the topic being taught in that particular chapter. He then moves on by explaining the English and Greek forms. The nouns and adjectives are not too bad. They are usually divided into three types of declensions. While the nouns usually take on one of the three declensions, the most common configuration of adjectives is either 3-1-3 or 2-1-2 where the first, second and third numbers indicate the declension type for masculine, feminine and neuter genders, respectively. There are some discussions on special-case nouns having slightly abnormal endings; pant and ent, for examples. Now verbs are considerably more challenging because they not only have more numerous categories and rules, but the biggest obstacles are the tense stems and when they form the real verbs through a combination of augments, tense-formatives, connecting vowels, and personal endings. The trouble can be illustrated by comparing it to having to memorize the English present, past and perfect tenses of irregular and regular verbs which the Greek version has six; present, future active, aorist active and passive, perfect active and passive, instead of three in English. And each of these six stems has different forms not only depending on the person and number, but also on the voices; active, middle, and passive. On top of these, there is another parameter, called aspect, where these verbs take on other forms, the indicative covered in the early chapters of the verbs, subjunctive, infinitive and imperative. Some are similar if not the same as the indicatives, which make them even harder to distinguish which one is which. Here Prof. Mounce reminds students to always watch for the contexts. Context is your best friend when it comes to translation. There is no easy way of getting around this issue completely except in my view, to get the Greek Morphology text, also by Mounce. At the end of some chapters, there is coverage on extended materials that deal with special cases, additional rules in translation, contraction and morphology.

The summary sheet consists of all important rules involving word formation, verb-ending charts, and all the forms of frequently used verbs. It serves as a handy guide for students when doing the translation so they don't have to flip through the pages of the textbook. Some flipping of pages is inevitable, though, because the last few pages of the textbook has the list of major lexicons.

There are two types of drills in the study guide. The first is chapter-by-chapter review where students are asked to parse ten words in a table having the forms that have been covered up to that chapter. Next, there is a warm-up translation section consisting of seven short phrases or sentences to be translated before the real translation exercise begins with twenty sentences; some are long ones. From my experience, I sometimes had a headache after completing the translation work due to the intensity it involves in figuring out not only what the words mean, but also their forms, and how to restructure the sentence in English format that both are understandable and make sense. The second type of drill is the exam-type where the test materials are combined every five chapters. The tasks include parsing, grammar rules, and translations usually from a New Testament passage.

As in any other languages, learning Greek requires extra memory power, but not brute-force memorization of every single word indiscriminately. Prof. Mounce always warns students only to memorize special-case words and rules such as endings and contractions, instead of every single word with all its garden variety of forms. Excellent advise.

Needless to say, I delightfully endorse Prof. Mounce as your virtual Greek instructor. If you decide to homeschool yourself, you can purchase the complete combo set at teknia dot com. I don't think Amazon sell the lecture CD set. But even if you are taking the class at the seminary, I don't see any harm for you to buy the combo set anyway, though you probably won't need the lecture CD's provided you have an excellent instructor.

Editorial Review:

This workbook is complete with exercises and readings for Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar.

Biblical Greek (Zondervan Get an A! Study Guides)

William D. Mounce

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Zondervan Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $3.19

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Greek
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not a must have 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

It is a handy tool for reviewing, but you don't have to buy it. As he/she make progress through the first year of Greek class, one can make his own review or cheat sheets, more through than this one, focusing on the issues he/she need to learn better. Not to mention the reviewing and the systematizing work itself that can provide a great help in order to organize the Greek grammar knowledge in one's mind (using different colors and highlights, tips and tricks, and so on).

You can spend your money more wisely by buying Mounce's BBG vocabulary cards, which are really helpful (unless you decide to make your own cards...)

Nice to have... 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have found this little cheat sheet very helpful. As one reviewer mentioned, its not a must have, but it is certainly nice to have. Wile learning another language, it is nice to have a quick reference guide readily available instead of thumbing through your textbook. If you are just learning Greek, you could certainly live without this chart, but its cheep and personally has helped me.

Editorial Review:

This series of laminated sheets enables students and pastors to see critical material at a glance and serves them well as they review for tests, for comprehensive exams, and for later on in life.

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (Hinges of History)

Thomas Cahill

List Price: $25.95 By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $4.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Early Civilization
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Greece
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> Greece -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the fourth volume of the acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill brings his characteristic wit and style to a fascinating tour of ancient Greece.
The Greeks invented everything from Western warfare to mystical prayer, from logic to statecraft. Many of their achievements, particularly in art and philosophy, are widely celebrated; other important innovations and accomplishments, however, are unknown or underappreciated. In Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Thomas Cahill explores the legacy, good and bad, of the ancient Greeks. From the origins of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European tribes into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, to the formation of the city-states, to the birth of Western literature, poetry, drama, philosophy, art, and architecture, Cahill makes the distant past relevant to the present.
Greek society is one of the two primeval influences on the Western world: While Jews gave us our value system, the Greeks set the foundation and framework for our intellectual lives. They are responsible for our vocabulary, our logic, and our entire system of categorization. They provided the intellectual tools we bring to bear on problems in philosophy, mathematics, medicine, physics, and the other sciences. Their modes of thinking, considered in classical times to be the pinnacle of human achievement, are largely responsible for the shape that the Christian religion took. But, as Cahill points out, the Greeks left a less appealing bequest as well. They created Western militarism and, in making the warrior the ultimate ideal, perpetrated the assumption that only males could be entrusted with the duties of citizenship. The consequences of their exclusion of women from the political sphere and the social segregation of the sexes continue to reverberate today. Full of surprising, often controversial, insights, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea is a remarkable intellectual adventure—conducted by the most companionable guide imaginable. Cahill’s knowledge of his sources is so intimate that he has made his own fresh translations of the Greek lyric poets for this volume.

The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey

Rosemary Sutcliff, Homer

List Price: $18.95 By: Cover to Cover Cassettes Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $59.97

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> General AAS
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Superb! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this to my 12 and 13 year old niece and nephew who hardly ever read on their own and hardly ever agree on anything. We started with the author's Iliad, which they both thoroughly enjoyed. The kids both agree that this is one sequel that is as good or better than the first book. Honestly, they ask (beg, actually) to hear just one more chapter. I personally like the way the author kept qualities of the descriptive language particular to the original epic. The language is just exotic enough that it helps for me to read it out loud, so they can hear it with the emphasis in places that help make it clear. We stop periodically to "re-cap", and re-read particularly lovely passages or phrases.

A Very Good Choice for 6th-8th Graders, Especially Boys 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I teach seventeen 6th-8th graders at a Christian Montessori school in northern Indiana. We have a classical education bent.

This version of the book The Wanderings of Odysseus, which we read over the course of 3 1/2 weeks (approximately a chapter each day), was a big hit with my class. The majority were very enthusiastic readers; nearly all the boys were reading ahead of schedule. They understood the plot, could retell each chapter, and could identify nearly all the characters.

The reading level was just right for the purpose I had in mind for my middle schoolers. (NOTE: my purpose was to move quickly and happily through a retelling of classic Greek/Roman literature, rather than to challenge the class with demanding literature.)

This book is entertaining without being sensationalized and accessible without being condescending. The illustrations of the larger, more expensive hardback version are splendid, but we did well enough without them.

Furthermore, Rosemary Sutcliff's faithfulness to the details and the tone of Homer's Odyssey is commendable.

I believe my students now have a solid albeit basic foundation for further reading in Homer, or for handling The Odyssey.

I highly recommend this paperback retelling (as well as the magnificently illustrated hardback retelling) of the Odyssey to advanced 4th/5th graders, to all 6th-8th graders, and also to older students and adults who are still unacquainted with classical Greek literature.

Editorial Review:

A master storyteller and an award-winning illustrator evoke the golden age of mythical Greece in this spirited retelling of The Odyssey.