Rating: 
Summary: Great for classroom use
Review: After reading previous reviews, I would like to point out the fact that an excellent instructor makes this book and its grammar descriptions sufficient. After going through both books in two semesters I was ready to read Biblical texts (with the aid of a dictionary because the vocabulary is very different from Attic) and I could read unaltered excerpts from the classics. Its explanations are a bit sparse, but that's where a good instructor comes in. Even after being out of that class for 2 years, I can refer to the Reference Grammar section to refresh my knowledge and continue my studies in Greek.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for learning vocabulary and syntax, weak on grammar
Review: I bought this book to help me learn Greek through self-study. I have worked through the first half so far. The focus of this book is to teach you to read classical (Attic) Greek. The book takes the inductive, learn-by-example approach to language learning. Grammar is also introduced along the way. I have learned a lot of vocabulary and syntax from this book. The main story you will be reading has been made up by the authors. I do agree with previous reviewers that this story is rather weak. As a narrative is not the greatest. But the story is set against the backdrop of Athens during one of it's most interesting times, and this made the historical setting come alive for me. The authors effectively use the story as a way to introduce aspects of Greek culture and history. Where else can you experience, in beginning Greek, what it was like to attend the festival of Dionysus in Athens, for example? There are also wonderful secondary reading passages from the classical period, based on Homer, Heroditus, etc. It was great fun to read stories about Odysseus and Theseus in Greek (albeit dumbed-down). Athenaze throws a lot of vocabulary at you, which is good, but I needed to re-read the lessons several times before I felt like everything was completely sinking in. While working through the readings, I often could not find a word in the vocabulary that is provided for that chapter, and I had to search the Greek-English lexicon at the back of the book. Sometimes I never found the word and had to consult other lexicons. The main weakness of this book is grammar. It may be hard to learn all the grammar you need from this book alone. I had previously learned some grammar from other books, so I found the grammar explanations in Athenaze sufficient during the first half of the book. Thankfully, only the present tense is used in the first half, to keep things manageable. It's hard enough to absorb all the new vocabulary, without having to juggle a lot of verb forms too. But when the aorist was finally introduced I found the explanation poor. If I had not learned about the aorist from other books, I would have been completely lost. And why they start with the second aorist is a mystery to me; the first aorist seems a simpler place to start. I notice that a second edition of this book will be published soon, so maybe that will do a better job. I have studied other books with a similar approach: the Reading Greek books by JACT and Beginning Greek: A Functional Approach by Stephen W. Paine. This learn-by-reading approach appeals to me. The best way to learn vocabulary and syntax is in the context of a narrative. It helps you remember and understand. And working through a grader reader is much more interesting than grammar drills, which is the traditional way. However, if you do not master the grammar along with the reading, eventually you will hit a wall where it becomes very difficult to proceed. Alas, there is no shortcut to learning Greek, or any other language. Sooner or later, you will need to dedicate yourself to serious study of grammar. As it is, I'm stopping the Athenaze series half way through this first book. I have recently bought the grammar text Introduction to Attic Greek by Donald J. Mastronarde, along with the separate Answer Key. The time has come for me to get serious about grammar. I'll come back to Athenaze when I've got a better grammatical foundation. I think this book would be good for classroom use, as long as your teacher doesn't skimp on grammar. Ideally, you would have a semester or two of basic grammar before this book, and then use this book to review grammar and focus on learning vocabulary and syntax. This book could be used for an absolute beginning class, but the pace would have to be slow, and ideally the teacher would supplement the text with extra grammar exercises. For self-study, this book may be steep climbing for beginners. I do recommend this book to all you autodidacts out there, but you may want to study some basic grammar first. There are no answers or self-correcting exercises in the book, although apparently the Teachers' Edition does have this. I also see that there is a Workbook that will be published soon, so maybe that will be useful too.
Rating:
Summary: Marvellous introduction to Attic Greek
Review: I found this book an excellent introduction to Attic Greek. People who want to become professors in the Classics might prefer other texts, but Athenaze is an admirable book for those who simply want to acquire some reading knowledge of ancient Greek. Athenaze succeeded well at that important task of making language learning interesting. I found that the reading selection was substantially more interesting than other introductory language books which I have used (albeit in other languages). Since I used this book for self study and not as part of a professor taught course, I felt that the engaging nature of the book was especially important. The grammatical explanations were lucid and well designed to build upon each other as the lessons progress. While these explanations might not give the full story, a beginner would get lost and discouraged if too much grammar is thrown his way.
Rating:
Summary: State of the Art for Ancient Greek
Review: I have used this book for several years with great enjoyment and success in a high school independent study I teach. The book is presented in a clean, clear, student-friendly format, and may even play a role in restoring Greek to its rightful place in the modern curriculum. The book is based on the very sound notion that students can begin to approach original Greek texts more easily if they begin their study of the language with lessons that feature passages of continuous, connected Greek sentences. This concept, for Greek studies at any rate, is quite radical. Other introductory Greek textbooks (old and new) that have dominated the field for the last century -- the only exception being the Cambridge "Reading Greek" course -- have formats that are strikingly different from Athenaze. Those hornbooks are long on detailed grammatical lessons, but woefully short on the presentation of reading passages of ancient Greek. In a manner similar to the Cambridge Latin Course and The Oxford Latin Course, this text presents a series of chapters where the same characters -- Dicaiopolis (loosely based on a character in the Acharnians of Aristophanes), his wife, his father, his two children, and his slave -- do familiar Greek things like farming, eating, sleeping, complaining, telling stories, attending festivals, etc. The ongoing plot line maintains student interest. Repetition of important words helps to develop a working vocabulary. New grammatical concepts and vocabulary are woven seamlessly into each new chapter. Few textbooks meet all needs; however, this one is a gem. I could not conceive of using another at the high school level and am sure it is equally effective as a university level text.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and clearly organized introduction to Attic Greek
Review: I learned Greek at university using the JACT "Reading Greek" text. When it came time to teach my elementary school-age son, it was clear that the JACT text was inadequate--starting with its forbidding small type and its unclear (or absent) explanations of many key concepts. Fortunately Athenaze has come along since I went to college! It is superior in every way. The English text is readable and clear (at least as clear as one can be explaining the arcana of Greek syntax). I can even say that, thanks to Athenaze, I myself finally understand, more or less, the rules for accents that somehow eluded me in four years of Greek at the university level. The Greek texts are well written, not overly pedantic, and do a good job of introducing vocabulary and forms gradually and thoroughly. The accompanying workbook is indispensable for giving beginners more chance to practice, and (another improvement over JACT as I remember it) balance Greek-to-English and English-to-Greek exercises.
No language textbook is a substitute for a teacher, but Athenaze is an outstanding resource.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly educational and enjoyable
Review: I studied Athenaze I and II in class, as my introduction to Ancient Greek. I realized that the progression of the book - how each chapter builds on the last - is very well planned, and leads to a very easy learning experience. I started the semester full of Latin, Spanish, and English Structural and Transformational-Generative Grammar, so I was itching to know "what about ablative," and "what on earth is the middle voice," and "why the noun delimiters on proper names?" As the class progressed, I discovered that I could just RELAX. I could just follow along, and Greek would flow in. Greek class was actually a rather relaxing class, partly because of this book. Of course, how the professor uses the book has a huge impact on the learning experience. I am indebted to my professor, Dr. Davis, for using Athenaze so well as a tool. I own several other books on Greek, such as Vine's "You Can Learn New Testament Greek," among others, but Athenaze is by far the best, even as a starting point for New Testament Greek.
Rating: 
Summary: Greek tutor does not recommend...
Review: I was a Greek tutor for a student using this book, although I learned myself 3 years ago from a different textbook. I don't recommend this one because it has a very confusing format. The book jumps around too much. It introduces difficult concepts (like middle voice) very quickly to beginners while they are still struggling with the basic noun and verb endings. The Greek paragraphs don't come with translations, and the trivia about culture and mythology buries the important information. It's very easy to overlook important concepts hidden in the middle of a busy page. Also, the book never presents helpful charts for quick-reference... instead students have to rift through the pages every time they need an ending. I ended up copying tons of material from my old Greek textbook for my tutoree because she couldn't find what she needed in the Athenaze book. My student isn't alone in having trouble with the book; her professor has decided to switch texts for next semester because Athenaze doesn't give students what they need to be proficient. This book appears to be a fun way to learn ancient Greek, but it's too disorganized for a serious student who actually wants to learn the language.
I recommend L.A. Wilding's "Greek for Beginners" (edited by C.W. Shelmerdine) instead because of its clear format that presents information up front, its Greek-to-English and English-to-Greek sentences, the interesting end-of-chapter longer readings, and (especially) the amazing charts at the end of the book that I am STILL using 3 years later because they are so quick and easy to reference.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, thorough introduction to Attic Greek
Review: I'm a huge fan of greek lyric poetry and the plays of Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Aristophanes. However, much of the beauty of the language is lost in the translation of these works into English. Athenaze is a highly superior text book for beginning students in ancient Greek, especially those interested in reading the classics in the original language. The text uses characters and excerpts from Aristophanes' play "Acharnians" throughout, and gently introduces first-time readers of Greek into the language. References to other texts and resources are included, as well as a reference grammar and a brief greek-english-greek dictionary. I should point out that I did not take a class in ancient greek... I picked up this book and the accompanying teacher's manual and studied it myself. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who is not a highly motivated learner, but due to the low-cost of the book and the excellent job the author's did at introducing greek, this is a perfect book for self-study as well as classroom study. I teach computer science, not Greek, yet I would highly recommend Athenaze to any Greek instructor or student.
Rating:
Summary: State of the Art for Ancient Greek
Review: Learning any language is difficult but learning Greek can really strain the patience of anyone. Athenaze is a fairly good introduction to Attic GREEK structure and forms ONLY; but, if you are looking for English examples juxtaposed with Greek, don't look towards this book. This book does a poor job in relating Greek to other languages even though it is part of the Indo-European language family and even found in the English language. It almost treats Greek like some language completely unknown us when it's not true. With this Book 1, it really helps if you have a strong understanding of the use of the English language [i.e. the syntax and grammar] especially if you are teaching yourself but also in an academic setting. But, if your English grammar is sufficient or you have had experience in other lanuages, Athenaze is a good bet in teaching or learning Greek. It begins with the Introduction which describes speaking, writing, reading and pronunciation of Greek. Each chapter has a part A & B, which includes:
---a Vocabulary list (divided into verbs, nounds, adj, adv, etc)
---an adapted Greek story created by the authors to test and reinforce current vocabulary and grammar with glossed words not found in the back of the book or forthcoming words
---Word Study or Word Building which attempts to show you the relationship of English derivates from Greek. They give you an English work and you have to find the Greek stems--it may or may not help you...
---a Grammar Section (the Very Important Part though lacks explanation of the examples and why/how they work; the translating in the homework doesn't follow the examples in the Grammer section, so it can get confusing)
---Exercises involving translations from GreekEnglish and vice versa (Athenaze does make it easy to translate all the forms and it is fairly straightforward)
---Each chapter will either have a compressed short history of different aspects of Greek Society from farming to warfare or adaptations of the Bible in Greek. If you are like me, you need lots of examples, both in English and Greek. It helps make the connections stronger and quicker. Since Athenaze lacks this, you may feel a bit lost and it can be easy to confuse things. For Book 1, I would suggest getting a grammar book for Greek students, such as Introduction to Attic Greek by Donald. J. Mastronarde, an EXCELLENT description of the Greek Langue and its relation to other languages like English, Latin and French. Mind you, this book does not give any hints or aids in learning Greek; all you learn are the forms and all the different constructions of verbs, nouns, and adjectives in Book 1. The book expects you to already know how to use & to know what it means by `verbal agreement' or what a `reflexive pronoun' is and lacks examples or explanations. The back of the book includes a comprehensive synopsis of all the forms you'll need on hand all the time. There is an index of Language and Grammar to help you find what page something was on, a very good English to Greek and Greek to Latin Dictionary and finally, a General Index of everything else from featured classical authors to mythical names. There are no ways to practice using Greek in writing and site translations on your own, so if you do any of the homework or the readings, you're on your own. Again, not the best book for those just learning Greek with a poor English grammar background, like I was, haven't had expereince in other lanaguages or teaching yourself. The Greek language is incredible and well worth the work it will take for anyone but aware that there are other books that are better than Athenaze and... Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Beginners Beware...!
Review: Learning any language is difficult but learning Greek can really strain the patience of anyone. Athenaze is a fairly good introduction to Attic GREEK structure and forms ONLY; but, if you are looking for English examples juxtaposed with Greek, don't look towards this book. This book does a poor job in relating Greek to other languages even though it is part of the Indo-European language family and even found in the English language. It almost treats Greek like some language completely unknown us when it's not true. With this Book 1, it really helps if you have a strong understanding of the use of the English language [i.e. the syntax and grammar] especially if you are teaching yourself but also in an academic setting. But, if your English grammar is sufficient or you have had experience in other lanuages, Athenaze is a good bet in teaching or learning Greek. It begins with the Introduction which describes speaking, writing, reading and pronunciation of Greek. Each chapter has a part A & B, which includes:
---a Vocabulary list (divided into verbs, nounds, adj, adv, etc)
---an adapted Greek story created by the authors to test and reinforce current vocabulary and grammar with glossed words not found in the back of the book or forthcoming words
---Word Study or Word Building which attempts to show you the relationship of English derivates from Greek. They give you an English work and you have to find the Greek stems--it may or may not help you...
---a Grammar Section (the Very Important Part though lacks explanation of the examples and why/how they work; the translating in the homework doesn't follow the examples in the Grammer section, so it can get confusing)
---Exercises involving translations from GreekEnglish and vice versa (Athenaze does make it easy to translate all the forms and it is fairly straightforward)
---Each chapter will either have a compressed short history of different aspects of Greek Society from farming to warfare or adaptations of the Bible in Greek. If you are like me, you need lots of examples, both in English and Greek. It helps make the connections stronger and quicker. Since Athenaze lacks this, you may feel a bit lost and it can be easy to confuse things. For Book 1, I would suggest getting a grammar book for Greek students, such as Introduction to Attic Greek by Donald. J. Mastronarde, an EXCELLENT description of the Greek Langue and its relation to other languages like English, Latin and French. Mind you, this book does not give any hints or aids in learning Greek; all you learn are the forms and all the different constructions of verbs, nouns, and adjectives in Book 1. The book expects you to already know how to use & to know what it means by 'verbal agreement' or what a 'reflexive pronoun' is and lacks examples or explanations. The back of the book includes a comprehensive synopsis of all the forms you'll need on hand all the time. There is an index of Language and Grammar to help you find what page something was on, a very good English to Greek and Greek to Latin Dictionary and finally, a General Index of everything else from featured classical authors to mythical names. There are no ways to practice using Greek in writing and site translations on your own, so if you do any of the homework or the readings, you're on your own. Again, not the best book for those just learning Greek with a poor English grammar background, like I was, haven't had expereince in other lanaguages or teaching yourself. The Greek language is incredible and well worth the work it will take for anyone but aware that there are other books that are better than Athenaze and... Good luck!
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