Echoes of Alexander 1- The Greek Language

Welcome to what I hope will be the first episode of a mini-series that will pop up every so often in your feed. In the ‘Echoes of Alexander’ mini-series, we’re going to explore some of the impacts that the life of Alexander the Great had, to do a bit more justice to the man who’s death was really the start of our story. This week, we turn our attention to the Greek language before Alexander arrived, and the seismic shift that his life and reign caused…

Sources for this episode: 1) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Greek language (online) [Accessed 07/03/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Hellen (online) [Accessed 07/03/2021]. 3) Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (online) [Accessed 07/03/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Koine Greek (online) [Accessed 07/03/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Alexander the Great (online) [Accessed 07/03/2021]. 6) For a statement that the Greeks saw themselves as divided into four main groups, see the Wikipedia page for any of the four groups described.

Areas which spoke Greek during the period from 323 BCE to 31 BCE. Areas in dark were majority Greek-speaking areas, while lighter areas were Hellenised. By Davius – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27583358
A map of the distribution of Greek dialects in Magna Graecia, or the Greek colonies in Italy. By Future Perfect at Sunrise – Own workDialect areas according to: Roger D. Woodard (2008), “Greek dialects”, in: The Ancient Languages of Europe, ed. Roger D. Woodard, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.51. (= partial re-published version of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ancient Languages, 2004). Positions of cities after various on-wiki sources., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4734088
A 5th century BCE inscription from the Law Code of Gortyn. By Jastrow (2006), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=549112

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