Appropriate Ancient Spelling for Hephaistion...

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agesilaos
Strategos (general)
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Re: Appropriate Ancient Spelling for Hephaistion...

Post by agesilaos »

Oh the joy of 'motion towards'! i don't think Greek has changed as much vis-a-vis structure or vocabulary from the koine and the modern day as much as a more hybrid language like English has from Elizabethan to the present. I too remember a bus journey where I wanted to go to Thebes in Boeotia which is Thiva now but I was saying Thivai, or vice versa and had to resort to 'Ho polis Kadmou' which everyone suddenly understood and good job too, the other place was about twenty miles away from where i thought I wanted to be, great museum, not a great town, IMHO.

One of the lecturers at my Uni was an expert in spoken Ancient Greek, as far as anyone can be, and I remember him basically singing a passage of Thukydides with all the pitch changes; I think that a rhapsode only accompanied himself with his kithaidra or whatever, rather than singing along to a melody as in a modern song despite poets always talking of 'singing' but I am morethan willing to be set straight on that if there is any evidence; I imagine their performances more like William Shatner than Carole Carpenter and nthing like Ronnie James Dio, blessed be his name.
When you think about, it free-choice is the only possible option.
system1988
Hetairos (companion)
Posts: 740
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:20 am
Location: Athens, Greece

Re: Appropriate Ancient Spelling for Hephaistion...

Post by system1988 »

Naturally Thebes isnt a great city, after being destroyed by Alexander 2000 years ago,- the city never recovered !
Just Kidding.
Regarding the accent etc ( Lysis )There is a french music band, named KERYLOS " FROM THE STONE TO SOUND' Annie Bellis) which has been set to music and sing, -in ancient greek- after great great serious historical recearch the following 1.EURIPIDE, ORESTE, 2 EURIPIDE, IPHIGENIE A AULIS,3. HYMNE DELFIQUE A APOLLON NO 1, THE SAME NO 2, 4 .ANONYME DE BELLERMANN,6. ESCHYLE? PLAINTE DE TECMESSA,7.FRAGMENTS INSTRUMENTAUX DE CONTRPOLLINOPOLIS,8. CHANSON DE SEIKILOS , 9.PRELUDE A UNE MUSE,10.PRELUDE A CALLIOPE ET A APOLLON,11. HYMNE AU SOLEIL, 12. HYMNE A NEMESIS,13 HYMNE CHRETIENNE D OXYRHYNCHUS.
It made me remember the fact , that Aeschilos Sofocles Euripides Agathon etc composed their own music for their tragedies... If you listen to the music of Orestes is superb.(IMO)
Pauline
Just google " Annie Bellis- LA MUSIQUE GREQUE ANCIENNE " and listen to the music
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hiphys
Pezhetairos (foot soldier)
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:59 am

Re: Appropriate Ancient Spelling for Hephaistion...

Post by hiphys »

Yes Thebes has a very interesting museum, but more interesting (for me) are the Linear B tablets, found only twenty years ago, with a mention of MA GA (ie. 'Mother Earth') that was deciphered comparing this form with a similar form in Aeschylus!
As for th ancient Greek music, it's lovely to heard the modern reproduction of the few remaining fragments; nevertheless we often forget ancient music changed from Homeric times to archaic and classical ones. Even ancient Greek poetry wasn't always chanted in the same way: it seems it was important for ancient Greeks to renew the musical arrangement of a poem, but to mantain unaltered the very words of the same poem.
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