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>> Q&A about Greek Language
 Subject: |
Ancient Greek dialects |
| Question: |
I am seeking information on the Ancient Greek dialects for a lecture I am preparing. Thanks! |
| Answer: |
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In the archaic and classical periods, there were three main dialects of the Greek language, Aeolic, Ionic, and Doric, corresponding to the three main tribes of the Greeks, the Aeolians (chiefly living in the islands of the Aegean), the Ionians (mostly settled in modern day Turkey), and the Dorians (primarily the Greeks of the Pelopennesus, such as the Spartans).
Homer's Illiad and Odyssey were written in a kind of literary Ionic with some loan words from the other dialects. Ionic, therefore, became the primary literary language of ancient Greece until the ascendancy of Athens in the late fifth century. Doric was standard for Greek lyric poetry, such as Pindar and the choral odes of the Greek tragedians. |
answer provided by volunteer expert: Ancient_Greece32 |
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