Intensive Ancient Greek Summer School 2024

About the courses

We offer an Intensive Course in Ancient Greek. These courses offer students who have not previously had the opportunity to study Ancient Greek intensive training designed to bring them from complete beginners to a point where they are able to read simple texts in Ancient Greek. 

These courses are six weeks long, with the option to study either the first three week block (for absolute beginners) or the second three week block (for students at intermediate level).

Dates

• Session 1: Beginner’s Ancient Greek: Monday 1 July to Friday 19 July
• Session 2: Intermediate Ancient Greek: Monday 22 July to Friday 9 August

They are ideal for students who intend to study for a Masters or Doctoral degree to get ahead during the summer, thus acquiring an essential skill for their future research. They are also appropriate for Y12 and Y13 school pupils, teachers, undergraduates, mature students and anyone with an interest in the Hellenic or Roman world.

Students work through the JACT Reading Greek or JACT Reading Greek course in daily language classes and are expected to put in a number of hours of private study to consolidate class work and to complete homework assignments. Staff are on hand to offer private tutorials and surgery hours, as required. Assessment is by three in-class tests.

Lectures & Visits

However, as well as being highly intensive, the courses offer a friendly and supportive environment. There are workshops by guest lecturers offering an introduction to skills such as epigraphy, and we also hope to offer guided tours or behind-the-scenes sessions at the British Museum.

Fees:

• students taking the examination: £1,150
• students who do not wish to take the examination: £900

Session 1: Beginner’s Ancient Greek: Monday 1 July to Friday 19 July

Week One

• Part One Grammar
• Definite article
• Introduction to adjectives and adverbs
• Present tense
• Middle verbs
• 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd declension & some irregular nouns
• Prepositions, particles
• Some common irregular verbs
• Personal pronouns

Part One Texts: Athens at Sea

Week Two

• Part Two Grammar
• Present Participles and Infinitives
• Imperfect, future and aorist tenses
• Indefinite and interrogative words
• Indirect speech
• Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs
• Pronouns

Part Two Texts: Moral Decay?

Week Three

• Part Three Grammar
• Genitive and Dative cases
• Optative
• Time phrases
• Root aorists
• Relatives

Part Three Texts: Athens through the comic poet’s eyes

Extracts from Aristophanes’ Birds, Wasps, Lysistrata, Akharnians

Session 2: Intermediate Ancient Greek: Monday 22 July to Friday 9 August

Week One

• Part Four Grammar
• The passive
• Genitive absolute
• Conditions
• Wishes
• Gerunds
• Sequence of tenses
• The subjunctive
• Indefinite constructions
• Scanning Greek verse

Part Four Texts: Women in Athenian Society

Extracts from Demosthenes, The Prosecution of Neaira and Euripdes, Alkestis

Week Two

• Part Five Grammar
• Pluperfect
• Verbs of fearing
• Accusative absolute
• Purpose clauses
• Jussive subjunctive
• Result clauses
• Deliberatives
• Duals

Part Five Texts: Athenian Views of Justice

Extracts from Demosthenes, Against Mnesiboulos and Euergos and Plato, Phaidros and Protagoras

Week Three

• Parts Six & Seven Grammar
• Herodotus’ dialect
• Accusative of respect
• Homeric dialect & hexameters

Part Six Texts: God, Fate and Man

Extracts from Herodotus

Part Seven Texts: Homeric hero and heroine

Extracts from Homer, Odyssey

Syllabus

You will be following the JACT Reading Greek  course books (CUP second edition). You will be provided with a copy of the textbooks for the duration of the course, but if you would like to buy your own copy to keep, then these are available to buy through Amazon.

This Ancient Greek summer school is an intensive language learning courses.  It offers students who have not previously had the opportunity to study Ancient Greek intensive training designed to bring them from complete beginners to a point where they are able to read simple texts.

Assessment is by three in-class tests.

You will be following the JACT Reading Greek course books (CUP second edition). You will be provided with a copy of the textbooks for the duration of the course, but if you would like to buy your own copy to keep, then these are available to buy through Amazon.