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Greek is the most ancient continuously written language in human history. It securely dates, as a written language from ca. 800 BC as the language of Homer and continues continuously to the present day, as four to five different languages through time. Homeric Greek, or simply '''Homeric''' is the earliest literary language, a form of Attic-Ionic. There is late Archaic Greek, which follows Homeric, and culminates in Classical Greek, with Aeschylus and Sophocles, and then later Classical Greek, with Plato and Aristotle, into the strange plays of Euripides and the obscene plays of Aristophanes.  

'''Greek''' is the most ancient continuously written language in human history. It dates as a written language from 800 BC as the language of [[Homer]] and continues continuously to the present day, as four to five different languages through time.

The Greek spread by Alexander was literary. By the 1st century AD, and with the New Testament, it was ''koine'', 'common' Greek, the sort of Greek that can be compared to well-spoken illegal immigrants from Central American in the United States. Accented, using slang, etc.  

Homeric Greek, or simply ''Homeric'' is the earliest literary language, a form of Attic-Ionic. There is late Archaic Greek, which follows Homeric, and culminates in Classical Greek, with [[Aeschylus]] and [[Sophocles]], and then later Classical Greek, with [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]], into the plays of [[Euripides]] and [[Aristophanes]].  

Some centuries before, the Jews of Alexandria rendered a version of the Old Testament into Greek. This is is called the Septuagint, the [[LXX]], 'the seventy' (or 'seventy-two' according to some good sources). This version of the Old Testament differs from that used by most Protestants, but continues to be used by the Catholics (in Latin) and by the Greek Orthodox (untranslated). Most Protestants follow Luther in following the Jewish canon.  

 

Some centuries before, the Jews of Alexandria rendered a version of the [[Old Testament]] into Greek, the [[Septuagint]] (LXX), ('the seventy' or 'seventy-two' based on the number of translators). This version of the Old Testament differs from that used by most [[Protestants]] who use the [[Masoretic Hebrew]] text, but continues to be used by the [[Catholics]] (in [[Latin]]) and by the Greek [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] (untranslated).

 

The Greek language is divided up into three moods and three voices; the three moods being the indicative, subjunctive and optative, and the three voices being the active, passive and middle. Greek syntax and linguistic structure is similar to Latin, with several words sharing intrinsically profound links with one another (for example, the word "pater"). Ancient Greek is notorious for having a large proportion of irregular verbs; the scholar LA Wilding has calculated that most verbs show some degree of inconsistency.

The early Greek language no longer exists in a spoken form today, modern Greek being as different from Classical Greek as Old English is from current English.  

The early Greek language no longer exists in a spoken form today, modern Greek being as different from Classical Greek as Old English is from current English.