Greek language
Greek language1. Introduction
In the Classical period Greek was spoken in mainland Greece (including the Peloponnese), in the islands of the Aegean (including Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus), and in the Greek colonies in Asia, Africa, and Italy. It is the European (and Indo-European) language with the longest attested history; the first documents belong to the second half of the second millennium bc and there is no real break between ancient Greek and the modern language of Greece. Most of the evidence from the 8th cent. bc until now is written in the Greek alphabet, but at an early stage two syllabic scripts were also in use: Linear B in the second half of the second millennium rendered the Greek spoken by the exponents of Mycenaean civilization, while a distantly related script, syllabic Cyprian, was used for the local dialect of Cyprus from the end of the second millennium to the 3rd cent. bc. The language changed in time: conventionally we distinguish...[The entire page is 3827 words long]
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