Bαsil Bαtrαkhos

αnd thε
Mystεry Lεttεr
CLASSICAL GREEK FOR 9 –12 YEAR OLDS
Bαsil Bαtrαkhos
αnd thε
Mystεry Lεttεr
Contεnts List
Chapter One 3

Chapter Two 11

Chapter Three 19

Chapter Four 25

Chapter Five 33

Chapter Six 41

Chapter Seven 49

Basil’s Word Bank (Dictionary of pronunciation

and meanings) 55

Illustrations 61

Crack the alphabet code practice page 64

© 2019 Classics for All

Consultant Advisor: Peter Jones

Editor: Charlie Andrew
(From original material by C.-M. Roxby)

Designer and typesetter: Stephany Ungless

Character illustrations by Graham Hodgson

Additional illustrations by Stephany Ungless
Photographs on pp. 9, 17, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 37, 42, 47 and 53
© Trustees of the British Museum

Set using Greek Keys polytonic fonts AttikaU and KadmosU;

Helvetica Neue and Baskerville.
 Chαptεr Onε

Hello there!
Allow me to introduce myself.
I am Basil Batrakhos from Taurica.

And I have travelled many a mile

across the sea and down this river
to the land of Greece, the home of
my ancestors.
My ancestors? Well, you see, you may
not have noticed this, but I have a
Greek surname.
It’s Batrakhos. Rather a grand name,
I think you’ll agree. I’m sure it means
something very special and probably
very heroic in Greek, but I’m not
sure what. Sadly I don’t speak Greek.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
3
 Chαptεr Onε

I am proud of my Greek ancestry, but I didn’t wonder

much about how my family ended up so far away in
Taurica until last week.
I was rummaging around in my attic, when I came across
an old box. Inside it was this ancient papyrus: a letter
written many years ago by my very famous Greek
ancestor Odysseus Batrakhos. It was he who somehow
ended up in Taurica! How exciting, I thought. I can find
out what happened to him. The only problem is that it was
written in Greek. Look, I’ve got it here.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
4
 Chαptεr Onε

So I decided to learn Greek in

order to understand the letter
and solve the mystery.
I’ve come all the way to Greece,
Μεγαµυς
but have had no luck so far. Megamus
Maybe these locals can
help me…
[Basil spots two mice having
a picnic]

Μικροµυς
Mikromus

Μυ Μ µ crαck thε αlphαbεt codε

The letter Μ (upper case) or µ (lower
case) is called mu and is pronounced
like our letter ‘m’.
Upsilon Υ υ Using paper and pencil or a whiteboard
Υ (upper case) or υ (lower case) is and marker, practise writing the letters.
called upsilon and sounds like our
letter ‘u’ in ‘put’.
Μ µ, Υ υ and Σ ς σ
Sigma Σ ς σ
Σ (upper case) or ς and σ (both lower
Μμ
case) is called sigma and sounds like
our letter ‘s’ in ‘soft’. ς looks rather
Υυ
similar to our ‘s’, but notice that the
top curve is bigger then the lower one.
Σςσ
It is used only at the ends of words
– like µυς – while σ is used at the
beginning or in the middle of words.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
5
 Chαptεr Onε
Basil: Hello, there.
I am Basil from Taurica. I want to
get to Athens to learn Greek. I
wonder if you can give me some
assistance.
Mikromus: Greetings stranger.
I’m Mikroµυς, the mikros µυς…
the small mouse.
μυς – mus
You have probably noticed that
our word ‘mouse’ is very similar to
the Greek word μυς. This is no
coincidence. Μυς is one of many
words that have travelled for
thousands of years to give us words
that we use in modern languages.
Our ‘mouse’ is from the same very
ancient family of words as μυς
which has sounded almost the
same for so long. The Latin for
‘mouse’ is also ‘mus’. Look at
the word ‘muscle’. Can you see
the mus in that? In Latin, the word
for ‘muscle’, ‘musculus’ meant ‘little
mouse’. Both Greeks and Romans must
have thought that muscles looked like
mice running under the skin!
Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •
η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
6
Megamus: And I’m Megaµυς, the
megas µυς… the big mouse. Look
at my huge µυς-cles.
Mikromus: Mega-stomach µυς,
more like!
So you’re Basil Batrakhos, Basil the
frog. I am a µυς…
[He draws the letters on the ground.]
Basil: Ah yes, I can see that looks
easy enough. µ υ ς – that must mean
mouse. My first Greek word is µυς.
Mikromus: Brilliant!
timε-trαvεl words
Part of the fun of learning Greek is
meeting some of these time-travel
words that have helped to form the
languages that we speak today.
μεγας – megas
μικρος – mikros
The Greek words megas and mikros
are added to the front of words to
mean ‘big’ and ‘small’. Here are
some examples. Do you know what
they mean?
megapixel  megaphone
megabyte megalithic microscope
microphone microbiology
microchip microwave
Can you think of any more?
Try inventing some.
 Chαptεr Onε

Basil: Dead easy, this Greek. Though

sadly my name turns out not to be
very grand after all.
Oh look, another friendly local has
come to help!
Mikromus: οἰµοι οἰµοι! It’s that
ferocious Jason! οἰµοι!
Megamus: Forget all this οἰμοι-ing!
Let’s get out of here!
[The mice start to run away before the dog
can catch them.]

οἰµοι! What do you think οἰμοι means?

Can you find the answer hidden
somewhere on this page.

Omicron O o
The letter O (upper case) or o crαck thε αlphαbεt codε
(lower case) is called omicron and is
pronounced like our letter ‘o’ in the
Breathings
word ‘hot’.
You may have noticed the little mark written above
O-micron means ‘o-little’ or ‘little-o’. the letter iota in οἰμοι. This mark is called a ‘breathing’.
Remember where you’ve seen , If the breathing mark is like a nine-shape, there is no extra
‘micro’ before?
sound, so ἰς would be pronounced ‘is’. This is called a
Iota Ι ι ‘smooth’ breathing.
Ι (upper case) or ι (lower case) is
οἰμοι ‘oy-moy’ = oh no!

called iota and can be pronounced ‘ The breathing like a six-shaped apostrophe add the ‘h’
sound, so ἱς would be pronounced ‘his’.This sign is called
like the ‘i’ in ‘hit’. Notice that it
a ‘rough’ breathing.
doesn’t have a dot like our letter ‘i’.
If a word begins with a single vowel, then that vowel must
Omicron and Iota οι
have a breathing above it. As we can see with οἰμοι, if
When you write the Greek letters ο
there are two vowels at the start of a word, sometimes the
and ι together they make the sound
breathing goes on the second. This happens when the two
‘oy’ like in the English word ‘boy’.
vowels form one sound, a dipthong (αι, αυ, ει, ευ, οι or ου).

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
7
 Chαptεr Onε

[Basil picks up a stick from the ground and

throws it in the river.]
Basil: Bad Jason! Leave me and my
friends alone. Go fetch!

Basil: What a naughty doggy! Hey, Mikromus: You want us to carry that?
μυς! Come back, you haven’t told οἰµοι!
me the way to Athens yet.
Megamus: Well, he did save us from
Mikromus: He said ‘Athens’. He must Jason.
want to go there. Well, maybe we
Mikromus: Jason! That miserable
can invite him to stay with us.
dog – a barbarian indeed! Why was
Megamus: Good idea! We he given such a heroic name? But
Athenians are famous for our you’re right: one good turn deserves
kindness to strangers. another.
[He turns to Basil.]
Megamus: Do you want to come with
us?
Basil: That’s very kind of you. My
luggage is there. It’s not very heavy.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
8
 Chαptεr Onε

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason the dog was named after the famous Greek hero, who
came from a place called Iolkos (‘Yol-koss’) in Greece where
his father had been king. But his uncle Pelias (‘Pea-lea-as’) had
seized the throne, which Jason did not like one bit.
Jason went to his uncle, asking for the throne to be handed
back to him, as he was the rightful heir. The cunning Pelias
agreed on one condition – Jason had to find and bring him the
legendary Golden Fleece. Of course, Pelias expected Jason to
die on this mission. The journey to Colchis (‘Kol-kiss’), where
King Aietes (‘Eye-ee-teas’) kept the Golden Fleece was long
and perilous and, in case any adventurers made it that far, the
fleece was guarded by a fierce, hundred-eyed dragon. After all,
the precious fleece had once been owned by Zeus himself.
Yet Jason loaded his ship, the Argo, with men and set sail for
Colchis. The journey, indeed, was not easy. The dangers faced
by Jason and his Argonauts (‘sailors on the Argo’) included an
island populated entirely by man-hating women who had all
murdered their husbands; a group of half-human, half-bird In the picture on this pot, Medea is
using her magic to help Jason.
killers called Harpies; and clashing rocks that smashed to
pieces every single ship that tried to sail between them.
Overcoming all of these challenges with the help of his men,
the brave Jason finally arrived in Colchis. But do you think
Aietes happily handed over his precious Golden Fleece? Not
likely. Just like Pelias, King Aietes set Jason a series of impossible
tasks designed to finish the hero off. To the amazement of all,
Jason gave these tasks a go: he yoked fire-breathing bulls; he
sowed dragons’ teeth; he defeated phantom warriors.
Little did King Aietes know that the hero was being helped by
his very own daughter, the sorceress Medea, who had fallen
in love with brave Jason. Finally, using a potion brewed by
Medea, Jason overpowered the dragon guarding the Golden
Fleece, stole his prize and stealthily sailed away, with Medea,
on the Argo.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
9
 Chαptεr Onε

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr onε

Μμ Mu is pronounced like our letter ‘m’.

Υυ Upsilon sounds like our letter ‘u’ in ‘put’.
Σςσ Sigma sounds like our letter ‘s’ in ‘soft’. ς is used
only at the ends of words.
Οο Omicron is pronounced like our letter ‘o’ in the
word ‘hot’.
Ιι Iota can be pronounced as the ‘i’ in hit. It doesn’t
have a dot like our letter ‘i’.
οι Omicron + iota Basil’s word bank
When you write the Greek letters ο and ι together μεγας ‘meg-ass’:
they make the sound ‘oy’ like in the English
large
word ‘boy’.
μικρος
‘rough’ breathing
‘ ‘mick-ross’:
This mark looks like a six-shaped apostrophe
makes the ‘h’ sound. small
μυς ‘muss’: mouse
’ ‘smooth’ breathing
This mark looks like a nine-shaped apostrophe οἰμοι ‘oy moy’:
and shows that there is no ‘h’ sound at the oh dear!
beginning of a word that starts with a vowel.

Exercise 1
Practise writing the Greek letters Μ µ Υυ Σ ς σ Ο o Ι ι and the two types of breathing.

Exercise 2
Practise writing the following English words in Greek letters:
him oi! is mum his hi! hum

For extra writing practice, go to page 64.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
10
 Chαptεr Two
The mice, with their new friend Basil,
finally arrive back home. They’ve even been
kind enough to teach him some new Greek
words on the journey…
Βasil: ἰου ἰου! This house isn’t bad,
και my companions have stopped
ἰου ‘i-oo’: hooray!
saying οἰμοι too. I think I’ll enjoy
και ‘k-eye’: and
staying here μαλιστα. ἀλλα who else
μαλιστα
lives here? Perhaps I’d better ask my
‘ma-liss-ta’: very
two new friends.
much
ἀλλα ‘al-la’: but

Alpha Α α
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek
alphabet and it gives us the first part crαck thε αlphαbεt codε
of that word in English.
Kappa Κ κ
Kappa is quite an easy one as it looks
and sounds just like our letter ‘k’.
Lambda Λ λ is your first strange
letter. It sounds like our letter ‘l’ Using paper and pencil or a whiteboard
but doesn’t look very much like it. and marker, practise writing the letters
It might help to think of the letter Α α, Κ κ, Λ λ, Τ τ and the sound αι.
as a rather lazy ‘l’ leaning back on
Αα
a stick.
Κκ
Tau Τ τ is just like our letter ‘t’.
Λλ
Alpha + iota αι
When you write the Greek letters α Ττ
and ι together they make the sound αι
like in the English word ‘eye’.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
11
 Chαptεr Two

Βasil: οἰμοι! You mean you actually live

in the same οἰκος as this crazy brute? οἰκος ‘oy-koss’:
home, house

Megamus: He may be a βαρβαρος but βαρβαρος

he’s our βαρβαρος. Don’t wake him ‘bar-ba-ross’:
or else he’ll ‘βαυ βαυ’ all night. barbarian
βαυ βαυ ‘bow bow’:
a dog’s bark

Beta Β β
Beta looks very like our capital B
and is pronounced in the same way.
As you have probably worked out, it
forms the second part of our word
alphabet.
Rho Ρ ρ is the first really tricky letter
because it looks like English ‘p’. But
it appears in Μικρομυς and that will
help you recognise that it is ‘r’.
Practise drawing rho starting at the
bottom.
Alpha + upsilon αυ
αu is pronounced as English ‘now’.
Greek dogs go βαυ βαυ but they can
also go αὐ αὐ.
crαck thε αlphαbεt codε
;  You may have noticed that instead of a
question mark (?), Ancient Greek uses a
semi-colon (;)
Using paper and pencil or a whiteboard and
marker, practise writing the letters
Β β, Ρ ρ the sound αυ and the punctuation mark ; .
Ββ
Ρρ
αυ
;

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ  rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
12
 Chαptεr Two

Mikromus: Let’s meet the nicer

inhabitants of this fine house. They’re
more friendly than Jason. All you
need to do is ask each one, ‘τις εἰ;’
τις εἰ;
τις εἰ; ‘tiss eh?’:
who are you? Alexandros: εἰμι Alexandros. Ι’m just
8 years old and I’ll be the κυριος of
εἰμι ‘eh-mi’: I am
this οἰκος one day.
κυριος
τις εἰ;
‘koo-ree-oss’:
Sophia: Sophia εἰμι. I’m Alexandros’
master
sister. I love animals μαλιστα – frogs
οἰκος ‘oy-koss’:
και mice in particular – και I think
home, house
I am getting pretty good at spinning
και weaving.
τις εἰ;
μαμμια Hektor: μαμμια, μαμμια, μαμμια!
‘mam-ee-a’: Mikromus: That’s baby Hektor. In
Mummy! a few years he’ll be in the men’s
quarter of the house, ἀλλα for now
he spends most of his time with the
women. His interests? Well, he loves
a good story μαλιστα!

οἰκος timε-trαvεl words

This word meaning ‘house’ has given
us the words ‘economics’ and
‘economy’. How? Because οι- of οἰκος
in Greek became oe- (‘oeconomics’)
and then e- (‘economics’) in English.
The nom- part of ‘economics’ and
‘economy’ comes from a Greek μαμμια
word nom-os meaning ‘rule, law, Hektor’s cry is a sound that babies
management’. So ‘eco-nomics’ and make all over the world, which they
‘eco-nomy’ are to do with house rules then use as the word for their
or management. What do these other mother, like the English mummy,
‘-nomy’ words mean? French maman, Spanish mama, or
astronomy gastronomy taxonomy Italian mamma.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
13
 Chαptεr Two

Mikromus: But Hektor hates going to

bed. At the moment things are pretty
noisy as he is refusing to go to sleep.

Hektor: μαμμια, μαμμια, μαμμια,

μαμμια!

Sophia: Oh, μαμμια! It’s the same

every night. It’s funny, when I’m
μαλιστα tired, I fall asleep. Not
Hektor though. ἀλλα he’ll go to
sleep soon enough.
Hektor: μαμμια, μαμμια, μαμμια,
μαμμια!

δια τι; ‘dee-a ti’: Sophia: οἰμοι! δια τι are you crying?
why? ἀκουε Hektor, go to sleep!
ἀκουε ‘a-koo-ay’:
Hektor: μαμμια, μαμμια, μαμμια,
listen!
ΜΑΜΜΙΑ!

Sophia: ἀκουε, μαμμια is busy, so give

me a break!

Delta Δ δ
Δ δ looks and sounds like our letter
‘d’. If you have heard of river deltas crαck thε αlphαbεt codε
and are wondering why this looks
nothing like one, then that is
because they are named after the
Using paper and pencil or a whiteboard and
capital delta Δ!
marker, practise writing the letter
Epsilon Ε ε Δ δ, Ε ε and the sound ου.
It is not difficult to work out that this
is the same as our letter ‘e’,
Δδ
pronounced ‘eh’ like in ‘egg’.
Εε
Omicron + upsilon ου
ου makes the sound of the ου
English ‘do’.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
14
 Chαptεr Two

Hektor: μαμμια! μαμμια! μαμμια!

μαμμια! μαμμια!

Sophia: ἰδου Hektor! Who’s this? A ἰδου! ‘i-doo’: look!

frog? και some mice?
Hektor: ἰου ἰου! Want frog! Want frog!
Want frog!
Sophia: Here, batrakhos. Look! It’s
your friend Hektor. και look, Hektor,
here is μυς too.
Basil: οἰμοι! εἰμι μαλιστα in trouble
here!
Hektor: Nice batrakhos! Nice μυς!
Sophia: ἰου ἰου! Now you play nicely
with them και go to sleep!

grαmmαr notε

The imperative
Have you noticed that Sophia
gives her little brother Hektor lots
of commands, like

Look! ἀκουε!

Give me a break!

This ‘commanding’ form of the verb

is known as the imperative. You can
often recognise it in Greek by the ε at
the end of the verb.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
15
 Chαptεr Two

Maybe Hektor needs a bedtime story?

Hey, Hektor. If you promise you’ll
stop crying, I’ll tell you the tale of the
town mouse και country mouse…

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

A Town Mouse was visiting his friend in the country. Although
the Country Mouse was hospitable, offering his guest the best
food he had, the Town Mouse soon grew weary of the simple
meals and lack of comfort. ‘My dear Country Mouse!’ he
exclaimed. ‘Why do you suffer here in your simple but dull
life? If only you could experience city life – the excitement, the
comfort, the food. Come to the city and stay with me!’
Being a polite rodent, the Country Mouse agreed to his
friend’s plan. The two set off together. After a long journey
they arrived in the city and the home of the Town Mouse.
The Country Mouse marvelled at the size of the mansion,
the comfort of his Town friend’s hole, and the abundance of
delicious morsels of food that lay around for the taking.
After a sumptuous meal (which, the Country Mouse had
to admit, was the finest he had ever eaten), the two mice
lay down on a silk cushion and started to doze off. All of a
sudden, into the dining room burst two enormous, terrifying,
snarling dogs. They ran straight for the mice who, in turn, ran
for their lives. The mice jumped out of the delicately carved
windows; ran across the neatly manicured lawn; through
the elegantly designed flower beds; and out underneath the
magnificent and ornate iron gates.
As they lay exhausted by the roadside, the Country Mouse
exclaimed: ‘You’re right, Town Mouse. City life is definitely
more exciting…but it’s not for me. I’ll not swap my simple
food and peaceful life for any amount of luxury. Farewell!’
And off he scampered, back to his modest but peaceful
country home.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
16
 Chαptεr Two

culturαl notε
Aesop and his fables
The story of the Town Mouse and the
Country Mouse was originally written
by Aesop, who is thought to have lived
in the Mediterranean (possibly Greece
or Turkey) in roughly the 6th century
BCE.
He wrote many fables, such as The
Tortoise and The Hare and The Boy
Who Cried Wolf. A fable is a short
story that is designed to teach a moral
lesson about life. This mouse decorates the top of an old lamp.
Do you think he is a town or country mouse?
What do you think the fable of the
Town Mouse and Country Mouse is
teaching us?
Do you know any more of Aesop’s
fables? Can you research some less
well-known fables?
Can you create your own fable?

Languagε dεtεctivε Match the Greek words up to the right

definition and then try to think of an
English word that comes from it.
One has been done to show you how.

βιος μιμος μετρει συμβολος ταυρος

mimic

How the ancient A person who A sign (try and

Greeks say Bull, perhaps imitates In Greek, this see the ‘υ’
‘he measures’ a famous means life. as a ‘y’).
starry one?

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
17
 Chαptεr Two

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr two

Αα Alpha makes the ‘a’ sound in ‘cat’.

Κκ Kappa looks and sounds just like our letter ‘k’.
Λλ Lambda sounds like our letter ‘l’.
Ττ Tau sounds like our letter ‘t’.
Ββ Beta looks very like our capital B and is pronounced
in the same way.
Ρρ Rho is the letter ‘r’.
Δδ Delta looks and sounds like our letter ‘d’.
Εε Epsilon looks like our letter ‘e’ and sounds like ‘eh’.
αι ai is pronounced ‘eye’. Basil’s word bank
ου ou makes the sound of the English ‘do’. ἀκουε: listen!
αυ au is pronounced as English ‘now’. ἀλλα: but
; the semi-colon is used as a question mark. βαρβαρος:
barbarian
The imperative is used to give commands. You can
βαυ βαυ: a dog’s
often recognise it in Greek as a verb ending in ε.
bark
δια τι;: why?
Exercise 1 τις εἰ; εἰ: you are
Can you remember the names of these characters?
εἰμι: I am
ἰδου: look! See!
ἰου: hooray!
και: and
κυριος: master
μαλιστα: very
Exercise 2 much, a lot
Practise writing the following English words in Greek letters: Μικρομυς:
lab air bark ball bad drab Mikromus
οἰκος: household
τις εἰ;: who are
you?
For extra writing practice, go to page 64.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
18
 Chαptεr Thrεε
After his story, baby Hektor sleeps soundly
all night – and so do Basil and his friends.
The next morning, they wake up with
rumbling stomachs…
Mikromus: Wake up, Βασιλευ! ἀλλα if
you want breakfast νυν you’ll have
to be quick. There was quite a feast Βασιλευ
in ὁ ἀνδρων last night και my spies ‘Ba-sill-you’:
tell me there’s quite a bit left over. Hey Basil!
ἀλλα the maid will be clearing up νυν ‘noon’: now
soon. We’ll οὐν have to be quick! ὁ ‘ho’: the
Come on! ἀνδρων ‘and-roan’:
[τελος they enter ὁ ἀνδρων.] men’s quarters/
part of the house
Megamus: ἰου, ἰου! ἰδου! Look at this οὐν ‘oon’:
table – all my favourite foods therefore, so
including cheese και olives! τελος ‘tell-oss’:
finally, at last

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
19
 Chαptεr Thrεε

τι ἐστι; Basil: τι ἐστι in this one?

‘tee ess-tee’:
Mikromus: Something the μελισσα
what is?
made!
μελισσα
‘meh-liss-a’: Basil: μελισσα;
honey-bee
[Μικρομυς points at a bee]
...oh yes, I see – μελισσα is the
Greek word for a honey bee. ἰου
ἰου! This οὐν must be honey. A little
sweet for my taste. I think οὐν I’ll
ἀποβαινε stick to flies, or rather they seem
‘ap-o-bye-neh’: to be μαλιστα sticking to me νυν!
go away! ἀποβαινε, fly! Go away flies!

Honey and sesame cakes

culturαl notε
The Ancient Greek diet shared many
similarities with the food we eat today:
vegetables, fruit, fish, bread and
cheese were all staples.
However, unlike their modern
counterparts, Ancient Greek cooks
didn’t have sugar to sweeten their
dishes, but instead had to use honey.
In fact, this recipe for honey cakes
has survived through the ages – why
100g sesame seeds
60g flour
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp light olive oil
3 tbsp water
Toast the sesame seeds under the grill until golden.
Next, mix all the ingredients together until they form a
rough dough. Make the dough into a ball and chill for one
hour.
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Roll out the dough on a lightly-floured surface to about
a 5mm thickness. Cut out discs with a round cutter and
transfer to a greased and lined baking tray.

↩︎
not try making them?
Bake for ten minutes until golden. Cool and serve.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
20
 Chαptεr Thrεε

Mikromus: οἰμοι, it’s Jason. Watch out,

Βασιλευ!

Megamus: ἰδου! οἰμοι, Jason, mind

that vase!
Basil: ἰδου, the beautiful vase is broken!
Megamus: ἀλλα don’t worry,
Alexandros can fix that. We’ll take
it to the workshop και it’ll be as
good as new…at least, I hope it
will. That vase with Πεγασος on it Πεγασος
was very expensive…ἀλλα at least ‘Pe-ga-soss’:
Πεγασος got to fly for real at last! Pegasus
Basil: ἀλλα τι τουτο; What are the
mice laughing about νυν;

Gamma Γ γ
Have you heard of gamma rays? Well,
they are named after the letter gamma.
Τhe third letter of the Greek alphabet,
it pronounced like the hard ‘g’ in ‘get’
and never like the soft ‘g’ in ‘giraffe’.
When two gammas are written
together – γγ – they make the sound
‘ng’. So to make the sound ‘bang’ in
Greek, you would write: βαγγ. Here’s
a real Greek example: ἀγγελος, the
Greek word for messenger. Which
English word do we get from this?
crαck thε αlphαbεt codε
Nu Ν ν is a really mean one. As a capital it
looks and is pronounced exactly like our
capital N; but in the lower case it looks very much like our
letter ‘v’! Make sure that when you write it you make it
pointed at the base so you don’t confuse it with upsilon υ.
The word for ‘now’ in Greek has both of these letters: νυν.
It is pronounced with the u sound as in ‘put’.
Pi Π π is probably the most famous of the Greek letters.
You may have met it in maths where it is used in formulae
to measure circles. π is pronounced like our ‘p’.

Write in Greek letters* the following
real Greek words: gamma, gamos
(Greek for ‘marriage’), megas (big),
megara (rooms), aigis (goatskin).
Omega Ω ω is our last letter in this chapter. This also
happens to be the last letter of the alphabet. It looks like
our ‘w’, but is a vowel and is pronounced ‘oh’. O-mega
means ‘ô-big’, or ‘big ô’, as we would say.
What was the Greek for ‘little-o’? And how is little-o
different from big-ô?
*Remember the breathings!

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
21
 Chαptεr Thrεε

timε-trαvεl words
ἀλλα ἰδου! τι τουτο; τις smashed
that vase?

Basil: That wretched Jason did it!

Do you think you can fix it?
τι τουτο;: what’s
this? Alexandros: I’ll give it a go. I hope I λογος is a word that we find forming
can make it look as good as new. part of many English words. It means
It’s my favourite vase after all. I ‘story, reason, account’, and gives
us the ending ‘-logy’ as in ‘biology’,
love that picture of Πεγασος. ‘geology’ and ‘meteorology’. Do you
Basil: Who is Πεγασος; know what they mean? If not, use a
dictionary to help you. Can you
ὁ λογος ‘ho Alexandros: Ah, let me tell you ὁ λογος discover any more words ending in
‘-logy’?
log-oss’: the about Πεγασος. μελισσα is a honey bee in Greek,
story and the French word ‘miel’ meaning
‘honey’ comes from this, as does the
girl’s name ‘Melissa’.
τι τουτο;: what’s We get our word ‘mildew’ from it too,
this? but it is certainly not something sweet
to spread on toast; ‘mildew’ is in fact
a type of fungus!
This bee brooch is
over 3,500 years old.

Languagε dεtεctivε Can you match the Greek words up to

the right clue and think of an English
word that comes from it? The first one
has been done to show you how.

παντομιμος σκελετος καττα κροκοδιλος παραδεισος

pantomime

In Greek this ‘All-imitating’, a He can be a

means ‘dried up’, A ‘garden’ in one person show, Not a friend bit snappy.
‘withered’ Greek, or a lovely with many different of μυς
place to be. characters.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
22

grαmmαr notε
The verb ‘To be’
You have already met some parts of
this verb: you know how to say ‘I am’
εἰμι and ‘you are’ or ‘are you?’ εἰ/εἰ;
If you are learning a modern foreign
language at the moment, you may see
verbs set out like this:
person singular (s.) plural (pl.)
1 I we
2 you you
3 he/she/it they
Greek verbs are set out in the same
way. Here is the full present tense of
the verb ‘to be’:
person singular (s.) plural (pl.)
1 εἰμι ἐσμεν
I am we are
2 εἰ ἐστε
you are you are
3 ἐστι(ν) εἰσι(ν)
(s)he/it is they are
Happy eNdings
Do you see there is a letter ν in
brackets at the end of ἐστι(ν) and
εἰσι(ν)? If the following word begins
with a vowel, you add the ν; if not,
then you leave it out. For example:
ἐστιν ἀνδρων ‘It’s the men’s
quarters’; but ἐστι Μικρομυς = ‘It’s
Mikromus’.
You also add ν if ἐστι or εἰσι ends a
sentence. So...
...Μικρομυς ἐστιν. = ‘It’s Mikromus.’
α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •
η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Chαptεr Thrεε
Pegasus and Bellerophon
Pegasus was a beautiful white flying horse. Although he was a
horse, his mother was Medusa, the Gorgon who had snakes
for hair. Zeus, the king of the gods, gave Pegasus a very
important job – he had to carry Zeus’ thunder and lightning
all the way down from the home of the gods on Mount
Olympus. But he wasn’t just a glorified work-horse. Pegasus
helped a hero called Bellerophon defeat one of the most
terrifying creatures of all time, the dreaded Chimera.
The Chimera was not a beast you’d want to meet on a dark
night. Its front end was a fearsome lion, then sprouting from
its back was a goat’s head, and at the rear end it had a snake
for a tail. And just in case that wasn’t enough to get the bravest
hero running for the hills, it also breathed fire.
Ordinarily, Pegasus would not have let anyone ride him, but
Bellerophon had divine help. After all, heroes wouldn’t be
heroes without the help of the gods. Some say it was the god
Poseidon, while others say it was Athene who helped him.
Either way, Bellerophon mounted Pegasus and flew off into the
sky in search of the Chimera. He soon found it, but couldn’t
kill it, as every time he flew near he was scorched by the fire
from the monster’s throat. Eventually he had an idea.
He put a block of lead on the
end of his spear and shoved
it down the Chimera’s
throat. When the
beast breathed fire
onto it the lead
melted and blocked
its throat, and so the
Chimera suffocated.
Bellerophon riding Pegasus.
Lεttεr
Guidε
23
 Chαptεr Thrεε

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr thrεε

Γγ Gamma makes the hard ‘g’ sound in ‘got’.

Νν Nu sounds just like our letter ‘n’ but watch out – in the
lower case it looks very much like our letter ‘v’!
Ππ Pi is pronounced like our ‘p’.
Basil’s word bank
Ωω Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. It looks like
our ‘w’ but is a vowel and is pronounced ‘oh’. ὁ ἀνδρων: the
men’s part of
Greek verbs work the same way as many other foreign languages: the house
person singular (s.) plural (pl.) ἀποβαινε:
go away!
1 I we
εἰμι: I am
2 you you
εἰ: you (s.) are
3 he/she/it they ἐστι(ν): he/she/
it is
ἐσμεν: we are
Exercise 1 – Translate ἐστε: you (pl) are
Can you translate the following sentences? (Turn back one page for help.) εἰσι(ν): they are
ὁ λογος: the story
εἰμι Μικρομυς μαλιστα: very
εἰ Μεγαμυς much
μελισσα:
ἐστιν Ἑκτωρ honey-bee
νυν: now
ἐστε Ἑκτωρ και Σοφια
ὁ: the
εἰσιν Ἑκτωρ και Βασιλ οὐν: therefore
Πεγασος:
ἐσμεν Μικρομυς και Μεγαμυς Pegasus
τελος: finally
τι ἐστι;:
what is it?
τι τουτο;: what’s
this?
For extra writing practice, go to page 64.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
24
 Chαptεr Four
Alexandros και the animals βαινουσιν εἰς Basil: How is that vase coming along, βαινουσιν
το workshop, clutching the bits of broken Alexandros? ‘b-eye-noo-seen’:
vase… they go
Alexandros: βραδεως. I γαρ just can’t
εἰς ‘ehss’: into
Basil: ἀλλα τι τουτο; Alexandros γαρ find the piece with το πλοιον on it.
το ‘to’: the
is νυν having a go at mending the οἰμοι. ἀλλα που ἐστι το πλοιον; που
βλεπει ‘blep-eh’:
broken vase. ἐστιν; ἰου ἰου! ἰδου, το πλοιον ἐστι
he sees, watches,
right here. εὐγε!
Mikromus [βλεπει Alexandros]: σιγα! looks at
If we’re quiet, we can watch him Basil: Hmm! It looks as if that could σιγα! ‘see-ga’:
mending τον vase. Watch out, take quite a while. Why don’t βλεπω be quiet!
though, ἰδου! τις ἐστιν over there? some of the finished pieces? τον ‘ton’: the
βλεπω τον κυνα! βλεπω ‘blep-oh’:
[βλεπει the other vases in the workshop.]
I see
[He points at Jason. ὁ κυων is by the door
τον κυνα ‘coo-na’:
ἀλλ’ οὐ βαινει εἰς τo workshop.]
the dog
ὁ κυων ‘coo-oh-n’:
the dog
οὐ ‘oo’: not
βαινει ‘b-eye-neh’:
he goes
βραδεως
‘brad-ee-oh-s’:
slowly
γαρ ‘gar’: for,
because
το πλοιον
‘ploy-on’: the
boat
που ‘poo’: where?
εὐγε! ‘ay-oo-geh’:
very good,
excellent!

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
25
 Chαptεr Four δελφις ‘del-fiss’:
a dolphin
ἡ θαλαττα ‘hair
Basil: These vases really are tha-latt-a’: the sea
something. ἰδου! There’s a δελφις on καταδυει
this one... ἰδου, βλεπω το πλοιον... ‘cat-a-doo-eh’:
ἰδου, ἡ θαλαττα. εὐγε! falls, sinks
I think I’ll hop up here and have a ἐλθε ‘el-theh’:
look inside one of these cups. ἰδου! come!
There’s even a picture inside one. Μεγαμυ: hey
εὐγε! Now that is μαλιστα clever. Megamus
Mikromus: What are you doing in τον: the
[He leans over και καταδυει into a cup.] there, Βασιλευ? ἀλλα τις ἐστιν in ἐθελω ‘eth-ell-oh’:
Mikromus: ἐλθε, Μεγαμυ! Have you there with you? οἰμοι! τι τουτο; ἡ I wish, want
Μεδουσα γαρ ἐστιν! ὁ βατραχος ‘ho
seen τον frog anywhere? I’ve had
enough of being in here. I’m [ὁ terrified Μικρομυς falls into τον cup too.] bat-ra-khos’: the
starving μαλιστα, και ἐθελω to go frog
back. ἀλλα we can’t leave without οἰμοι! δεινη ἐστι Μεδουσα. ἐλθε! βατραχε: hey frog
σωζε με! βοηθει, βοηθει! βοηθει!
him. ἀλλα που ἐστι νυν ὁ βατραχος?
‘bo-air-theh’:
Mikromus και Megamus: βατραχε, που εἰ; Βasil: Just looks like a picture to me. help!
But a μαλιστα δεινη one, I must say
Βasil: βοηθει! ἐλθε! σωζε με, σωζε με! σωζε με ‘sohs-deh
– all those snakes. ἀλλα τι νυν are
meh’: save me!
[Μικρομυς και Μεγαμυς τελος find the we going to do?
ἡ Μεδουσα ‘hair
cup.] Mikromus: Don’t worry, Μεγαμυς will Meh-doo-sa’: [the]
save us! Medusa
δεινη ‘deh-nair’:
crαck thε αlphαbεt codε terrible,
frightening
Eta (‘air-ta’) Η η looks like a letter ‘n’
with a long tail but it is a vowel. It
makes a ‘long’ e sound but more like Using paper and pencil or a whiteboard
‘eh’ or ‘air’ than ‘ee’. η is the long and marker, practise writing the letters
version of ε epsilon which, as you Η η, Θ θ, Ζ ζ and Χ χ.
know, is pronounced as in ‘egg’. Ηη
Theta Θ θ looks a little bit like an Easter egg. It is
pronounced like ‘th’ in ‘thirst’. Θθ
Zeta Ζ ζ is one of the stranger looking letters. It is Ζζ
pronounced like the ‘sd’ in the word ‘wisdom’.
Khi (‘k-eye’) Χ χ: hard breathy k sound like the ch in ‘chaos’. Χχ

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
26
 Chαptεr Four

σιγα! Someone γαρ is coming... σιγα, σιγα! I think I’d

better hop in with you. σιγα!

Μεδουσα: in the Greek stories, Medusa

timε-trαvεl words
was a frightening monster with
terrifying snakes for hair. She could
turn you to stone with one glance.
Today the French use her name
as their word for the jellyfish, ‘une
meduse’. It looks a bit like Medusa,
don’t you think, and it can be just as
deadly. Her story is on the next page.

grαmmαr notε

The vocative
You may have noticed that when a
character talks to another by name,
that name sometimes changes slightly
at the end. For example
δεινος: this meant ‘terrible, awesome’,
and it gives us the word ‘dinosaur’. Wake up, ἐλθε
σαυρος means ‘lizard’ so a dinosaur Βασιλευ! Μεγαμυ!
was really just a terrible lizard –
a δεινος σαυρος. in fact, many
Βατραχε, που εἰ;
dinosaurs’ names contain Greek.
Find out what these names mean. This changed noun ending is known
brontosaurus pterodactyl as the vocative, and is used when
addressing someone directly. The word
triceratops tyrannosaurus rex
‘vocative’ comes from the Latin verb
(there’s actually a bit of Latin in here, too!) ‘vocare’, ‘to call’.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
27
 Chαptεr Four

Megamus: While we’re stuck in here,

I’ll tell you τον story of your new
friend Medusa with the snakey hair-
do. δεινος ἐστιν ὁ λογος!

Medusa and Perseus

The story of Medusa is indeed a terrible tale. Medusa was
once a beautiful mortal, but she unwisely bragged of her
excellence. Now this is a very dangerous thing to do, as the
gods do not like mortals getting ideas above their station.
Especially annoyed by Medusa’s over-inflated opinion of
herself was Athena. The powerful goddess decided to teach
Medusa a lesson by turning her beautiful hair into hissing,
writhing snakes. In case such a hideous appearance wasn’t
enough to keep Medusa in solitude, Athena also cursed
Medusa with the power to turn anyone to stone simply by
looking at them. Medusa was truly now a monster.
Obviously, the world wanted Medusa dead and gone, but
that’s not so easy when your opponent can turn you to
stone through the sheer power of her gaze. Knowing the
In this picture you can see Perseus
difficulty of the task, the scheming King Polydectes sent the fleeing with Medusa’s head in his bag.
hero Perseus on a quest. ‘Fetch me the head of Medusa the
Gorgon!’ he commanded, in the hope that, with the young
man sent to his doom, he would finally be able to marry Time passed. The evil King Polydectes,
Perseus’ mother, Danaë. convinced that Perseus was long since
Now, how could Perseus slay and cut off the head of such a petrified and out of the picture, relaxed
fearsome creature? The answer as usual came from Olympus. and made plans for his upcoming
Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, woke Perseus one night marriage to the unwilling Danaë. Yet his
as he slept and presented him with a shining shield. ‘Use the plans never came to fruition as, on his
reflection in this shield to see your enemy,’ she counselled. return home, Perseus greeted Polydectes
‘That way, you can defeat Medusa without gazing directly on by holding up Medusa’s severed head
her.’ Perseus thanked Athena. The next day, with this clever to his gaze. With the unwanted suitor
plan in his head and renewed courage in his heart, he set off turned to stone, Perseus and his mother
to slay Medusa. jubilantly escaped to safety.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
28
 Chαptεr Four

culturαl notε
Pottery
We know a lot about Ancient Greek
culture today from decorative pictures
that survive on pottery. Pictures on
pottery were diverse, from everyday
scenes to representations of gods and
myths. The ‘black-figure’ style (see
right) was the first to emerge, and this
was then replaced in time by the ‘red-
figure’ style (far right). Painters could
become very famous for their skill, and
their pots could become very valuable
items and were traded all around the
Mediterranean area.

Can you match the Greek words up to

the right clue and think of an English
Languagε dεtεctivε
word that comes from it? The first one
has been done to show you how.

ῥινοκερως καμηλος θρονος λεων ὠκεανος

rhinoceros
An animal with Big cat that lives
Where a king or queen a horn (‘κερας’) on its in a group called
might sit A good place for nose (‘ῥινο-’). A creature adapted a ‘pride’.
swimming, sailing for survival in
and diving. the desert.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
29
 Chαptεr Four

grαmmαr notε
Regular verbs
In the last chapter you met the verb ‘to
be’, which is an irregular verb. Now it is
time to meet a regular verb. So far this
chapter you have met:
Βλεπω which means ‘I see’ That’s clever – the βλεπ- part stays
Βλεπομεν which means ‘we see’ the same, and the ending changes
Βλεπει which means ‘he/she or it sees’ depending on who is doing
Good spot, Basil. The first bit of the verb the seeing!
stays the same – it’s known as the ‘stem’.
However, the ending changes, depending
Exercise 1 – Translate to English
on who is doing the action of the verb.
What do these verbs mean in English?
Here is βλεπω with all the endings:
The first has been done for you.
1. βαινομεν We go
singular (s.) plural (pl.)
2. ἐθελουσι
1 Βλεπω Βλεπομεν 3. λεγετε
I see, we see, 4. σωζει
am seeing are seeing 5. ἀκουετε
6. βλεπομεν
2 Βλεπεις Βλεπετε
7. σωζομεν
you see, you see,
8. ἀγουσι
are seeing are seeing
9. ἐθελω
3 Βλεπει Βλεπουσι(ν) 10. ἀκουεις
he/she/it sees they see,
is seeing are seeing Exercise 2 – Translate to Greek
Can you translate the following into
There are more verbs you’ve met that Greek? Remember: get the stem by
work exactly like βλεπω, where the stem knocking off the –ω, and then add the
stays the same and the ending changes right ending.
depending on who is doing the action of 1. They hear ἀκουσι
the verb: 2. We save
3. They go
ἀκουω ‘I hear’ βαινω ‘I go’ 4. He wants
λεγω ‘I say, speak’ ἀγω ‘I lead’ 5. I say
6. You (pl.) lead
ἐθελω ‘I wish, want’ σωζω ‘I save’ 7. You (s.) wish
8. She goes

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
30
 Chαptεr Four

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr four

Ηη Eta makes a ‘long’ e sounds like ‘eh’ or ‘air’.

Θθ Theta, which looks a little bit like an Easter egg, is pronounced
like the ‘th’ in ‘thirst’.
Basil’s word bank
Ζζ Zeta is pronounced like the ‘sd’ in ‘wisdom’.
Χχ Khi is drawn as a cross and pronounced with a hard breathy k sound βαινω: I go
like the ch in ‘chaos’. Try to make it different to kappa k. βατραχος: frog
Regular verbs The stem (first bit) of a regular verb stays the same but the βλεπω: I see,
ending changes depending on who is doing the action of the verb. The watch, look at
endings are:
βοηθει!: help!
person singular (s.) plural (pl.)
βραδεως: slowly
1 -ω I -ομεν we γαρ: for, because
2 -εις you -ετε you (second word in
3 -ει he/she/it -ουσι(ν) they Greek, first in
English)
The vocative In Greek when someone is being addressed directly, the ending δεινη: terrible,
of their name changes. This form is called the vocative. Help Basil practise
frightening
this in the exercise on the next page.
ὁ δελφις, δελφιν-:
dolphin
Exercise 1 – Translate ἐθελω: I wish,
Translate these sentences into English.
want
1. νυν ἀκουω εἰς: into
ἐλθε!: come!
2. βαινουσιν
εὐγε: excellent!
3. Βασιλ λεγει και ἀκουει Very good!
4. τελος ὁ δελφις βαινει ἡ or την or το or
Μεγαμυ: Hey τον: the
5. λεγουσιν
Megamus ἡ θαλαττα: the sea
6. ἐθελεις οὐ: not, no καταδυει: he sinks
7. σωζετε πλοιον: boat ὁ κυων: the dog
που: where? με: me
8. ἀλλα τις ἀκουει;
σιγα: quiet ἡ Μεδουσα: the
9. Σοφια βλεπει και ἀκουει σωζε με: save me! Medusa
10. σωζει

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
31
 Chαptεr Four

Exercise 2 – match the animal

1. πανθηρ
2. τιγρις
✓ 3. λεων
4. καττα
5. κροκοδιλος
6. καμηλος 3
7.δελφις
8. ῥινοκερως

Exercise 3 – What is Basil saying to his friends?

Basil is using the vocative to call out to his friends, but whom
is he addressing in each picture? Join each speech bubble to
the right friend.

ἐλθε Μεγαμυ!
Μικρομυ! σωζε με!

ἰδου
Ἑκτoρ!

Can you now translate what Basil is saying to his friends?

For extra writing practice, go to page 64.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
32
 Chαptεr Fivε
All this excitement has been too much for γυναικων. I wouldn’t feel at all σωος
Basil, Mikromus and Megamus and they doing that.
have fallen fast asleep in their hiding place
Megamus: ἀλλα δια τι don’t we
in the cup. But Basil ἐξαιφνης wakes up… ἐξαιφνης
dress up as women and go into the
‘ex-eye-f-nay-ss:
Basil: ἰδου! Come and see what I can γυναικων; suddenly
see! τις ἡ βοη ‘tiss hair
Basil: Dress up as a woman? Upon
Mikromus and Megamus: τις ἡ βοη, my ψυχη! How undignified. We bo-air’: what [is]
the shout(ing)
Βασιλευ; τι ἐστιν; δια τι καλεις; frogs are far too sophisticated for
καλεις ‘cal-ehs’:
that sort of nonsense.
Basil: καλω διοτι βλεπω something You call out
exciting – ἡ γραφη of us ἐν the Mikromus: σιγα, Βασιλευ! Just hurry καλω ‘cal-oh’: I
γυναικων! up and put your dress on. Look! call out
We have a nice long, frog-coloured διοτι ‘dee-o-ti’:
Mikromus: τι λεγεις, Βασιλευ; because
women’s robe for you.
ἡ γραφη ‘hair
Basil: λεγω ὁτι βλεπω something – ἡ
graf-air’: the
γραφη of us! ἐλθε, ταχυ! picture, drawing
Mikromus: ἀλλα ἐσμεν male, Βασιλευ! ἐν: in
γυναικων
Males οὐ βαινουσιν into the
‘guh-n-eye-cone’:
women’s quarters
τι λεγεις ‘ti leg-ehs’:
what are you
saying?
ταχυ ‘tack-hu’:
quickly
λεγω ὁτι ‘leg-oh
hot-tee’: I say that
σωος ‘soh-oss’: safe
ψυχη ‘p-soo-k-air’:
life, soul, mind

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
33
 Chαptεr Fivε

μητηρ
‘mair-teh-r’:
mother
πλεω ‘pleh-oh’: I
Sophia: My μητηρ needs to see this. Sophia: ἀλλα δια τι φιλοι οὐκ εἰσιν,
sail
Μαμμια! ἐλθε! ἰδου! γραφη γαρ ἐστι Μαμμια; δια τι ὁ βατραχος οὐ φιλει
φιλοι ‘fill-oy’:
- βατραχος και μυς και πλοιον! ἰδου! τον μυν;
friends
και λογος ἐστιν!
μενει ‘men-eh’: he Mother: ὁ βατραχος οὐ φιλει τον μυν
waits, stays Basil: τις ὁ λογος; διοτι they live in different sorts of
καλος ‘cal-oss’: places. Now look at ὁ λογος on
Sophia: ἰδου! ὁ βατραχος πλει across
lovely, fine my picture! It is about ὁ κυων who
the θαλαττα και ἐξαιφνης meets
οὐκ ‘ook’: not ἐστι so selfish that, just διοτι he has
a μυς, και νυν εἰσι φιλοι, και ὁ
μωρος ‘moh-ross’: nothing to eat, he decides that no
βατραχος μενει ἐν the οἰκος of the
stupid one else is going to eat either. ἰδου!
μυς…
φιλει ‘fill-eh’: he He just sits in the horse’s hay και
loves Mother: ἐστι καλος ὁ λογος, Σοφια, καὶ spoils it. I thought your πατηρ would
τον μυν: the καλη ἡ γραφη, ἀλλα you know that like it as there is a ἱππος and a κυων
mouse would never happen. ὁ γαρ βατραχος in the picture. ἀλλα ὁ κυων ἐστι
πατηρ ‘pat-air’: και ὁ μυς οὐκ εἰσι φιλοι. μαλιστα unpleasant...
father
Basil: τι λεγει ἡ μητηρ; φιλοι γαρ
ἱππος ‘hip-oss’:
ἐσμεν! μωρα ἐστιν!
horse

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
34
 Chαptεr Fivε

grαmmαr notε
The definite article
The ‘definite article’ is a grand name for
a small word, the determiner. In English
is it ‘the’. Greek has a definite article,
too. In fact, it has several. Take a look
at the following sentences:
ὁ βατραχος ἐστι καλος ‘the frog is lovely’
ἡ γραφη ἐστι καλη ‘the picture is lovely’
το πλοιον ἐστι καλον ‘the ship is lovely’
Greek also often uses the definite
article in front of names (proper nouns):
ὁ Ἀλεξανδρος ἐστι καλος ‘(the) Alexander
is lovely’
ἡ Σοφια ἐστι καλη ‘(the) Sophia is lovely’
What do you notice about the words There are three
for ‘the’, Basil? different ones
Spot on! But why does Ancient Greek ὁ, ἡ and το.
need so many? First of all, think of
English. Why do we need the words
‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’? Well, ‘hes’ are boys, ‘shes’ are girls
and ‘its’ are things.
Well done again! The word we use to
distinguish males, females and things
is ‘gender’. Greek, like English, has Exercise 1 – Translate to English
three genders. ὁ is used with things Add the right form of ‘the’ to the following common nouns
that are masculine; ἡ with things that and proper nouns (names) and things. Remember to get the
are feminine; and το with things that correct gender.
are neuter, that is, neither masculine
ἱππος ποταμος θαλαττα
nor feminine.
(m. ‘horse’) (m. ‘river’) (f. ‘sea’)
Every single noun in Greek has a μηλον θεα καρδια
gender, and these genders can seem (n. ‘apple’) (f ‘goddess’) (f. ‘heart’)
strange to English-speaking ears, δελφις ποιημα Μεδουσα
like γραφη (feminine) and λογος (m. ‘dolphin’) (n. ‘poem’) (f. ‘Medusa’)
(masculine). θεος Βατραχος ἐργον
masculine m. feminine f. neuter n. (m. ‘god’) (m. ‘frog’) (n. ‘work’)
γη φιλος δουλος
ὁ ἡ το (f. ‘land’) (m. ‘friend’) (m. ‘slave’)

Can you spot any English words we get from these?

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
35
 Chαptεr Fivε

Using paper and pencil or a whiteboard crαck thε αlphαbεt codε

and marker, practise writing the letters In this chapter we have met the final three
Φ φ, Ψ ψ and Ξ ξ. letters of the Greek Alphabet.
Phi Φ φ looks like a circle with a vertical line
Φφ down the middle. It is pronounced like our ‘f’.
Psi Ψ ψ ‘ps-eye’ looks just like a trident that Ποσειδον might
Ψψ be holding. It is pronounced ‘ps’ as in ‘tips’.
Xi Ξ ξ is pronounced like our ‘x’. It does take some practice
Ξξ to get those curves drawn right: try writing a backwards ‘3’
and add a quiff at the top and a tail at the bottom.

ὁ ποταμος ‘ho
Sophia’s μητηρ goes out of the γυναικων.
pot-am-oss’: river
Catching sight of her animal friends, Sophia
γη ‘gair’: land
μελας ‘mell-as’: is keen to show off her work…
dark, black Sophia: ἰδου! I have made a picture
οὐρανος on my loom. I’ve made ὁ ποταμος
‘oo-ran-oss’: sky
flowing through a γη, and look,
χειμων
‘kh-eh-moan’: above it I’ve woven a μελας οὐρανος
storm – it looks like a χειμων is about to
καλλιστη break. εἰμι such a great weaver!
‘cal-iss-tair’: καλλιστη ἐστιν ἡ γραφη!
the best, most
Mikromus: καλλιστη ἐστι, Σοφια, ἀλλα
beautiful, (from
καλος)
[he looks around] you must be very
φοβερα careful and you mustn’t show off. Ιt
‘fob-eh-ra’ : is dangerous....
fearful, afraid
[ἡ Σοφια looks worried.]
ἐγω ‘egg-oh’: I
ἐμος ‘em-oss’: my Sophia: φοβερα εἰμι ἐγω. Why must I
Ἀραχνη not show off?
‘A-rack-neh’:
Mikromus: Listen to λογος ἐμος about
Arachne
μωρα ‘moh-ra’: a girl called Ἀραχνη, who was very
silly, stupid, clever ἀλλα μαλιστα μωρα. δεινος ὁ
foolish ἐμος λογος ἐστιν…

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
36
 Chαptεr Fivε

Arachne
There was once a very beautiful and talented girl called
Arachne, who was amazingly skilled at weaving – perhaps the
greatest weaver who had ever lived. Unfortunately, Arachne
knew she was good, and she wasn’t afraid to let people know
it. She even foolishly bragged that she was a better weaver
than Athena, the goddess of technology. Athena heard the
girl’s boast, grew very angry and decided that the girl must be
This pot, from around 430 BCE,
punished.
shows a detailed picture of a loom.
Athena challenged Arachne to a weaving contest, and
Arachne accepted the challenge. Both stood by their looms
and, at a given signal, both began to weave. Arachne unwisely timε-trαvεl words
chose to weave a picture of the bad behaviour of the gods,
Athena’s family – hardly tactful!
The goddess worked with supernatural speed and grace and
created a cloth fine enough even for Aphrodite, goddess of
beauty, to wear. Not to be outdone, Arachne used all her skill ψυχη is the Greek for ‘life’. It also
and produced a cloth like none other seen before in the mortal meant ‘soul’ or ‘mind’ and this is
world. how we still use it today in our words
‘psychology’ (ψυχη + λογος, ‘an
Realising that Arachne’s skill rivalled her own, Athena grew account of the mind’) and ‘psychiatry’
terribly, terribly angry. Picking up her spear, she struck (ψυχη + ἰατρος: ἰατρος meant ‘doctor’,
so it means ‘curing the mind’, which is
Arachne on the forehead, and in an instant the girl was dead.
what a ‘psychiatrist’ hopes to do).
She then suspended her by a thread from her loom so that
others would know not to dare offend a goddess. But just as
ἐγω This word meaning ‘I’ has given
us a word to mean your opinion of
she was about to leave, Athene began to feel pity in her heart. yourself. It has also given us the word
As the goddess in charge of technology, perhaps she ought to ‘egotist’ which is someone who has a
have been proud of Arachne. Smiling sadly at the foolish girl, very high opinion of themselves.
she brought her back to life as a spider, forever weaving her μητηρ, πατηρ: two more words that
silky web. have sounded almost the same across
many languages for thousands of
years. In Latin these words were
‘mater’,‘pater’, and have given us
‘maternal’ and ‘paternity’; in German
‘Mutter’ and ‘Vater’; French ‘mère’ and
‘père’; and English ‘mother’ and ‘father’.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
37
 Chαptεr Fivε

grαmmαr notε
You probably know that an adjective is Exercise 1 – Pick the correct form
a ‘describing word’, like καλος, ‘lovely’ After reading the grammar note, try and pick the correct
or φοβερος ‘fearful, terrifying’. gender form of the adjective to describe these nouns, then
translate. The first one has been done to show you how.
Just like the definite article (ὁ ἡ το)
matches (or ‘agrees’) with the gender,
1. ὁ βατραχος ἐστι (μωρος / μωρα / μωρον).
you may be unsurprised to discover
that Greek adjectives do just the The frog is foolish
same. Have a look at these sentences:
2. ἡ γραφη ἐστι (καλος / καλη / καλον).
ὁ βατραχος ἐστι καλος, ἀλλα φοβερος
‘The frog is lovely but terrifying.’
ἡ Σοφια ἐστι καλη, ἀλλα φοβερα 3. το πλοιον ἐστι (καλος / καλη / καλον).
‘Sophia is lovely but terrifying.’
το πλοιον ἐστι καλον, ἀλλα φοβερον
‘The ship is lovely but terrifying.’ 4. ἡ Μεδουσα ἐστι (φοβερος / φοβερα / φοβερον).
The adjective changes to agree in
gender with the thing it describes
whether masculine, feminine or neuter. 5. ὁ ἱππος ἐστι (μωρος / μωρα / μωρον).
So:
ὁ (masculine) goes with καλος and
φοβερος 6. ὁ λογος ἐστι (δεινος / δεινη / δεινον).
ἡ (feminine) goes with καλη and
φοβερα
το (neuter) goes with καλον and
φοβερον μωρος οὐκ εἰμι! μωρος: foolish
So we can now update our chart and καλος: lovely,
add adjectives to the definite article, beautiful,
as follows: handsome, fine
masculine m. feminine f. neuter n. φοβερος: fearful,
ὁ ἡ το terrifying
καλος καλη καλον δεινος: terrible,
amazing
φοβερος φοβερα φοβερον
Note the feminine forms: most
adjectives go like καλος, turning to
καλη in the feminine. But adjectives
ending in ‘-ρος’ like φοβερος turn into
φοβερα in the feminine.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
38
 Chαptεr Fivε

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr fivε

Φφ Phi is pronounced like our ‘f’.

Ψψ Psi is pronounced ‘ps’ as in ‘tips’.
Ξξ Xi sounds like our English ‘x’.

Basil’s word bank

The definite article (‘the’)
Greek often uses the definite article in front of common nouns and proper Ἀραχνη: Arachne
nouns, and has three different gender versions which must agree with the ἡ βοη: a shout
gender of the noun each is attached to:
ἡ γη: land
masculine m. feminine f. neuter n. ἡ γραφη: the
ὁ ἡ το picture, drawing
γυναικων:
Adjectives
The adjective changes to agree in gender with the thing it describes whether
women’s
masuline, feminine or neuter, with the endings as follows: quarters
διοτι: because
m. f. n. ἐγω: I
καλος καλη καλον ἐμος: my
φοβερος φοβερα φοβερον ἐν: in
ἐξαιφνης:
suddenly
For extra writing practice, go to page 64.
ὁ ἱππος: horse
ὁτι: that καλλιστη: the
οὐκ: not best, most
ὁ οὐρανος: sky beautiful, (from
ὁ πατηρ: father καλος)
πλεω: I sail καλος: lovely,
ὁ ποταμος: river beautiful,
σωος: safe handsome, fine
There are a lot of new words in ταχυ: quickly καλω: I call out
Basil’s word bank for this chapter. φιλοι: friends λεγω: I speak, say
Take a few minutes to go through φιλω: I love, like μελας: dark,
them before you move on. They φοβερος α ον: black
will all help Basil to understand his fearful; terrifying μενω: I wait, stay
ancestor’s letter. ὁ χειμων: storm ἡ μητηρ: mother
If you ever forget a word, turn to ἡ ψυχη:life, soul, μωρος, μωρα:
Basil’s Word Bank on pages 55 to 62. mind foolish

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
39
 Chαptεr Fivε

Can you match the Greek words

up to the right clue and think of
Languagε dεtεctivε
an English word that comes from
it? The first one has been done to
show you how.

βασιλευς νικη σχολη σπογγος φωνη

Basil
Means ‘voice’,
The Greek word
Translates as gives its name to
for ‘king’ that
‘leisure’ but you A famous a useful modern
You may have gives us the name
might not agree. sports brand that invention.
one in your of the herb.
bathroom. means ‘victory’ in
Greek.

Bow down before

Βασιλευς King Basil!
‘ba-sill-eh-us’:
king

So our intrepid
frog’s first name
means ‘king’.

Speedy pop quiz!

Can you remember what these words mean?
φοβερος
ἡ μητηρ
ἐξαιφνης
πλεω
ἐγω

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
40
 Chαptεr Six
Basil, Megamus and Mikromus have βλεπω τον Παρθενωνα, temple of the την ἀγοραν
decided to go exploring, and have hitched a goddess Ἀθηνη! ‘tairn agg-or-an’:
lift on a cart going to town… the agora,
Basil: τι τουτο; [he points to a temple.]
market-place
Basil: που ἐσμεν, Μεγαμυ;
Mikromus: That’s ὁ ναος of the god ἐκει ‘eck-eh’:
Megamus: Don’t ask me, Βασιλευ. I’m Ἡφαιστος, και ἐκει ἐστιν ὁ altar there
just a country mouse. Ask clever- of Ζευς, και ἐκει βλεπεις τον ναον τον Παρθενωνα
clogs here. of Ἀρης, και ἐκει βλεπεις τον ναον ‘tonn
of Ἀπολλων, και ἐκει βλεπεις all Par-then-oh-na’:
Basil: που ἐσμεν, Μικρομυ; τι βλεπω; the Parthenon
the shops και market stalls και το
Ἀθηνη
Mikromus: βλεπεις την ἀγοραν. ἐκει ἐμποριον, where the traders borrow ‘Ath-air-nair’:
γαρ ἐσμεν, Βασιλευ. [ἐξαιφνης] ἰδου! money. It’s very busy here. Let’s try Athene
not to get trodden on! ὁ ναος ‘ho na-oss’:
the temple
Ἡφαιστος
‘Hair-fy-stoss’:
Hephaestus
Ζευς ‘Ze-yoos’:
Zeus
τον ναον ‘ton
na-on’: the
temple
Ἀρης ‘A-rairs’:
Ares
Ἀπολλων
‘App-oll-oh-n’:
Apollo
ἐμποριον
‘em-po-ree-on’:
money-lender’s
stall

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u • Guidε
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
41
 Chαptεr Six
power/
goddess in charge of symbol
Ἡρα women, marriage peacock
culturαl notε Hera (queen)
Ἀθηνη wisdom, battle olive tree, owl
The Ancient Greeks worshipped twelve Athena strategy, handicraft
main gods, called the Olympians after
Ἀρτεμις hunting bow and arrow,
their home on Mount Olympus. They
Artemis moon
each had special powers and symbols.
Ἀφροδιτη love, beauty swan, dove
Aphrodite
Δημητηρ crops wheat ears,
Demeter
torch

power/
god in charge of symbol
Ζευς sky, weather, la thunderbolt,
Zeus eagle
Ἀρης war, violence shield, spear
Ares
Ἀπολλων music, medicine laurel wreath,
Apollo prophecy lyre, sun
Ἑρμης messengers, winged sandals,
Hermes thieves staff

Ἁιδης the dead, the three-headed

This pot is painted with scenes from Hades underworld dog, staff
Mount Olympus. See if you can find
out which god is which. The most Ποσειδων seas, earthquakes, trident
important god is sitting down in the Poseidon horses
image above. The three images below Ἡφαιστος fire, craftsmen hammer, tongs,
show you round the rest of the pot. Hephaistos anvil

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
42
 Chαptεr Six

grαmmαr notε
Nominative and accusative articles
We saw in the last chapter that there
are three different words for ‘the’ in
Greek: ὁ (masculine), ἡ (feminine) and
το (neuter). But did you notice that
some more versions of ‘the’ have now
crept into our story?
οἰμοι! Nooooo! Why!!!!
Βλεπω τον Παρθενωνα ‘I see the
Parthenon’
Βλεπεις την ἀγοραν
‘You see the marketplace.’
Calm down Basil! It is for a very logical
reason. Let’s take a look at one of
those sentences again.
Βλεπω τον Παρθενωνα ‘I see the
Parthenon’
Answer me this question, Basil. Is the
Parthenon the subject of the sentence, Well, I am doing the action,
doing the action? Or is it the object, so the Parthenon must be
receiving the action? receiving the action…so it’s
Spot on! So in Greek, we change the the object!
definite article not just depending on
the gender of the noun following, but Exercise – Nominitive or Accusative
depending on whether the noun is the
Tick the boxes to show whether the article underlined is in
subject or the object of the sentence.
the nominative (subject) or accusative (object) case. The first
And if you want to be really fancy, we one has been done to show you how.
can call the subject the nominative
nominative accusative
case and the object the accusative
case.
1. Basil can see την ἀγοραν. ✓
m. f. n. 2. ἡ ἀγορα is very busy.

nominative 3. ὁ βατραχος likes honey.

(subject) ὁ ἡ το 4. Megamus helps τον βατραχον.
accusative 5. Sophia saw το ἐμποριον.*
(object) τον την το 6. το ἐμποριον contains gold.*
*The last two are tricky – the neuter article is the same in both nominative
and accusative cases. Check the meaning and context to find the answer.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
43
 Chαptεr Six

Ἐξαιφνης, the animals in ἡ ἀγορα see

Σοφια rushing toward them carrying a
crying Ἑκτωρ.
Sophia: Shhh, Ἑκτωρ. Let’s just get
across την ἀγοραν. ἰδου, Ἑκτωρ – ἐστι
βατραχος! Βλεπεις τον βατραχον;
Hector: ἰδου! βλεπω τον βατραχον!
βατραχε, ἐλθε! τον βατραχον φιλω!
το παιδιον [το παιδιον stops crying, hugs τον
‘to pie-dee-on’: βατραχον, and falls asleep.]
the small child Basil: What are you doing here in
town, Sophia?
Sophia: I’ve come to look for my
brother. I’m in trouble if οὐχ
οὐχ εὑρισκω εὑρισκω το δωρον for our πατηρ.
‘ookh It’s his birthday tomorrow και οὐκ
he-you-risk-oh’: ἐχομεν τον δωρον.
I do not find Basil: But how are we going to find
δωρον ‘doh-ron’: τον Ἀλεξανδρον. ἡ ἀγορα is very
present, gift busy. It’ll take ages to search την
οὐκ ἐχομεν ‘ook ἀγοραν for him.
ekh-oh-men’: we
do not have Megamus: He’ll be with his teacher.
Ηe’ll οὐ be sad for us to rescue him
from his lessons!
Sophia: Good idea, Μεγαμυς. But it
is οὐκ a good idea for me to move
and wake το παιδιον up. You’re γαρ
μικρος and can easily slip through
the crowds and cross την ἀγοραν,
so how about you go and fetch τον
Ἀλεχανδρον and bring him here.
Megamus: Well, we’ve οὐ got anything
better to do. Come on Μικρομυ,
come on Βασιλευ!
[Τhe friends set off…]
grαmmαr notε
Negatives
In Greek we can make a phrase or
sentence negative, just like in English:
οὐ βλεπει – you don’t see
οὐκ ἐχομεν – we do not have
οὐχ εὑρισκω – I don’t find
Three different ways of writing the
Greek word for ‘not’ are necessary: οὐ
is used if the next word starts with a
consonant; οὐκ if the next word starts
with a vowel and smooth breathing (’)
and οὐχ if the next word starts with a
vowel and a rough breathing (‘).
timε-trαvεl words
κυων: You have met the Greek for
‘dog’ – κυων - and the Greek for ‘dog-
like’ is κυνικος. That word gives us
the English ‘cynic’, or ‘cynical’. This
means someone who sneers or mocks
at anyone who tries to do good. Is that
a fair thing to say about dogs?
ἀγορα: agora in Greek meant ‘market
place’. In English we have the word
‘agoraphobia’ which means fear of
crowded places. φοβος in Greek
meant ‘fear’. Do you know what fears
these following ‘-phobia’ (‘fear’) words
refer to? The answers are on p. 48.
claustrophobia arachnophobia
hydrophobia xenophobia

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
44
 Chαptεr Six

grαmmαr notε
Nominative and accusative nouns.
The keen-eyed among you may have
spotted that something other than the
article changes when it becomes the
object of the sentence:
Basil can see την ἀγοραν.
ἡ ἀγορα is very busy.
ὁ βατραχος likes honey.
Megamus helps τον βατραχον.
Yes! The endings of the nouns
Can you see what is going on here, change when they’re the object of the
Basil? sentence – ἀγορα to ἀγοραν and
Here is how it works: βατραχος to βατραχον…
Looking at the endings of nouns is a masculine feminine neuter
particularly important rule in Greek.
Take the following sentence: nominative ὁ ἡ το
Batrakhos sees Sophia. (subject) βατραχος ἀγορα ἐμποριον
In English, we know Batrakhos is the accusative τον την το
subject, Sophia the object because (object) βατραχον ἀγοραν ἐμποριον
of the word order. In English, the
subject comes before the verb and
the object after.
In Greek the word order doesn’t Exercise – Sort and translate
matter. You can say ‘Batrakhos Sophia
None of these sentences comes in the usual English
sees’, ‘Sophia Batrakhos sees’, ‘sees
word order. Sort them out, identifying the nominative and
Sophia Batrakhos’, ‘sees Batrakhos
accusative and translate. Again, be careful with the neuter!
Sophia’, ‘Batrakhos sees Sophia’,
‘Sophia sees Batrakhos’, and as long e.g. τον βατραχον βλεπει ἡ Σοφια → ἡ Σοφια βλεπει τoν
as you know which one is ὁ or ἡ and βατραχον → [the] Sophia sees the frog.
which one is τoν or την, you know 1.την Σοφιαν ἀγει ὁ πατηρ.
who is subject, who the object.
2. βλεπει ὁ δελφις την γην.
Rule: the case of the words will tell 3. τoν Μικρομυν σωζει ἡ Εὐνομια.
you which is the subject, which is the
4. ἡ Εὐγενεια τον βατραχον βλεπει.
object, NOT the order of the words.
5. τον ἱππον ὁ Ἀλεξανδρος και ἡ Σοφια ἀγουσιν.

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
45
 Chαptεr Six

Basil and the mice arrive at Alexandros’

school. There they find him and his teacher
in the middle of a writing lesson…
Alexandros [writing]: …οἰμοι! Ξ ξ Ksi
οὐκ ἐστιν easy, in fact it’s μαλιστα
γραφω ‘graf-oh’: I fiddly! Χχ khi – γραφω this one more
write easily. ἐστι γαρ like a cross. ἰδου!
Teacher: Very good. Now, can you tell
me any words with a khi in them?
χαιρε Alexandros: βατραχος! χαιρε!
‘kh-eye-reh’:
Teacher: Quite right!
hello! (to one
person) Alexandros: No, ἰδου! [points at Basil]
Here is Basil ὁ βατραχος I was telling
you about! And his φιλοι Μεγαμυς
και Μικρομυς.

Teacher: Ah! τον γαρ βατραχον βλεπω!

χαιρετε ‘kh-eye- χαιρετε! To what do we owe the
reh-teh’: hello! pleasure?
(to more than
Basil: We’ve come to get Alexandros
one person)
for… [he pauses]. εἰ a teacher?
Teacher: I am, Βασιλευ.
Basil: And you can read all kinds of
Greek words?
Teacher: Of course, Βασιλευ!
Basil [very excited]: Ha! The gods
smile on me at last. Sir, you could
be just the person to help me with a
mystery.
Teacher: Ah, if we’re talking about
mysteries, do you all know the story
of the Sphinx and its fiendish riddle?

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
46
 Chαptεr Six

The Riddle of the Sphinx

Originally from Egypt, the mysterious Sphinx was a wise but
terrible monster, with the head and torso of a woman, and the
rest of her body a lion. She guarded the entrance to the Greek
city of Thebes. After failing to answer the Sphinx’s riddle,
many people were devoured by the dreadful beast.
However, Creon, the king of Thebes, finally determined to
use every effort to rid the country of so terrible a scourge. On
consulting the oracle of Delphi, he was informed that the only
way to destroy the Sphinx was to solve one of her riddles, at Oedipus meeting the Sphinx.
which point she would immediately throw herself to her death
from the rock on which she was seated.
Oedipus gave his answer: it must be a
So Creon made a public declaration – whoever could solve man, who in infancy crawls on all fours,
the Sphinx’s riddle would be given Creon’s crown and his then walks upright on two legs, and then,
sister Jocasta in marriage. A brave young man named Oedipus in old age, uses a stick to help him walk.
put himself forward, and proceeding to the spot where the
The Sphinx no sooner heard this correct
terrible monster sat, received from her the following riddle for
solution to her riddle, than she flung
solution: ‘What creature goes in the morning on four legs, at
herself off her high rock, and perished in
noon on two, and in the evening on three?’
the abyss below.

Capital letters crαck thε αlphαbεt codε

You have now seen all 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. You’ll have noticed that
there’s an upper case and a lower case version for each letter like in English.

Can you match the upper case letter to its lower case version?
υ Ρ
ψ σ/ς
λ ζ Ε γ Ν Α
Ξ Τ Δ Μ
Κ ξ Π
η Η Λ ι Ω ν Ι
Υ χ δ ο
Ο φ
π τ
Σ β Ζ Θ Φ Β Χ
α ε Γ Ψ κ μ
θ ρ
ω

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
47
 Chαptεr Six

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr six

Nominative and accusative
Greek shows the subject and object of a sentence by changing the ending
of nouns, and not by word order, as we do in English. The subject ending is
called the nominative case, and the object ending is called the accusative
case. Definite articles (‘the’) also change depending on sentence meaning.
Basil’s word bank
masculine feminine neuter
nominative ὁ ἡ το ἡ ἀγορα: the
(subject) βατραχος ἀγορα ἐμποριον agora,
accusative τον την το market-place
(object) βατραχον ἀγοραν ἐμποριον Ἀθηνη: Athene
Ἀπολλων: Apollo
Word order Ἀρης: Ares
We learned that word order is not important in Greek, but the case of a word γραφω: I write
is. By looking at the ending of a Greek word, you can work out the correct δωρον: present,
English translation. gift
Negatives ἐκει: there
To make a verb negative, just add οὐ (followed by a consonant) or οὐκ ἐμποριον: money-
(folllowed by a vowel with a soft breathing) or οὐχ (followed by a vowel with lender’s stall
a rough breathing). E.g. οὐ βλεπω ‘I do not see’, οὐκ ἐθελω ‘I do not want’,
εὑρισκω: I find
οὐχ εὑρισκω ‘I don’t find’.
ἐχω I have
Ζευς: Zeus
Exercise – Translate
Ἡφαιστος:
Translate the following sentences from Greek into English. Hephaestus
Use the Word List at the back of the book to help you if you need to. ὁ ναος: the
1. ὁ Παρθενων ἐστι καλος. temple
2. ἐξαιφνης την ἀγοραν βλεπομεν. οὐκ: not
3. μωρος οὐκ εἰμι! σοφος γαρ εἰμι. τον Παρθενωνα:
4. ἡ Σοφια φιλει τον βατραχον. the Parthenon
5. τις ἡ βοη; δια τι καλεις; χαιρε: hello! (to
one person)
6. οἰμοι! δεινος ὁ κυων ἐστιν!
χαιρετε: hello! (to
7. Μικρομυς και Μεγαμυς φιλοι μαλιστα εἰσιν.
more than one
8. την γραφην οὐ φιλω. person)
9. βοηθει! πανθηρ με βλεπει!

Answers for p. 44: ‘claustrophobia’ is a fear of being shut up in a small space; ‘arachnophobia’ is
a fear of spiders; ‘hydrophobia’ is a fear of water; ‘xenophobia’ is a fear of foreigners.

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
48

Basil is delighted. Finally he has found
someone to help him solve the mystery letter.
He opens his trunk to get it out and hands it
to Alexandros’ teacher…
Chαptεr Sεvεn
these parts many, many years ago.
I thought, if I could learn Greek, I
could finally read the mystery
letter that has intrigued us all.

Teacher: So, τι τουτο; ἐπιστολη γαρ Teacher: Well, let me take a look and ἐπιστολη: a letter
ἐστιν. Where did you get this? see if we can work out λογον [reads
the letter] τι τουτο; νεον οικον…
Basil: I found it in my attic but οὐδεις οὐδεις: no-one
θαλαττα…Hmmm… χειμων… oh,
in my family could ever make sense
that’s bad… ἀλλα τι τουτο; δελφις!
of it. It was written by my μεγιστος μεγιστος
Oh, very good!
ancestor Odysseus Batrakhos, who ‘meg-is-toss’:
went to a νεα γη, Taurica, from Basil [bursting with curiosity]: Tell me, greatest, biggest
tell me! τι λεγεις; νεα ‘neh-a’: new
(νεος)

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
49
 Chαptεr Sεvεn

ὀυ μανθανεις: you Teacher: You tell me οὐ μανθανεις, but Alexandros: εὐγε, βατραχε, you’ve got it!
don’t understand I think that is οὐκ ὀρθον. I think you
Basil: ‘ἐξαιφνης δε φοβερος εἰμι ἐγω’…
ὀρθος: right, true must have already learned quite a lot
Hmm, ἐγω is ‘I’ and εἰμι is ‘am’, so ‘I
of Greek on your journey.
am…’ φοβερος! ‘I am scared!’
Basil: I’ve learned some words, it’s
Sophia: You’ve missed some words out,
true. But I’m οὐ good enough
Basil.
to translate the letter. Often οὐχ
εὑρισκω what words mean. Basil: Oh, yes. ἐξαιφνης – ‘suddenly’.
‘Suddenly I am scared.’ But I don’t
Teacher: Oh, I don’t know about that,
think I’ve seen μεν and δε before?
Basil. Why don’t we sit down and
look at it together. Alexandros, Teacher: Ah, those two little words crop
Sophia, will you help? up everywhere. μεν means ‘on the
one hand’, while δε means ‘on the
Megamus and Mikromus: And us!
other hand.’ They make a sentence
[Everyone gathers round…] balance beautifully.

σοφος: wise, Teacher: Hmm… A very clever man
clever called Plato told me once that
‘παντες ἀνθρωποι του εἰδεναι
ὀρεγονται φυσει’ - ‘all people by
nature are after knowledge’. Basil,
you want to know what’s written on
this scroll but I think you’re more
than capable of working it out.
Look at the letter, about five lines
down:
Micromus: Like, ‘Μικρομυς μεν σοφος
ἐστι, Μεγαμυς δε μωρος!’ [sniggers]
Basil: Hey! That’s not very kind!
Teacher: What do you mean, Basil?
Basil: ‘On the one hand, Micromus is
clever and on the other Megamus is
stupid.’ You two are supposed to be
φιλοι!

‘το μεν πλοιον πλει, ἐξαιφνης δε Alexandros: You see Basil, you do know
φοβερος εἰμι ἐγω.’ Greek!

συ: you Could you have a go at working out Teacher: σοφος γαρ εἰ συ! So how about
what’s going on? you give this mysterious letter a go?
We’ll all be here to help you if you
Basil: Well, I remember from Sophia’s
get stuck.
weaving that το πλοιον is a boat…
and πλει means ‘is sailing’… so ‘the
boat is sailing’, right?

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
50
 Chαptεr Sεvεn

The Letter

Can you help Basil translate the letter? Use Basil’s Word Bank on pages 55 to
62 if you get stuck on any of the words. Search through the green Grammar
Note sections for untangling the sentences (the last one you need is on the
next page, so make sure you look there first).

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
51
 Chαptεr Sεvεn

Teacher: Well, well, Basil! The mystery

is revealed. Odysseus Batrakhos
sailed from Greece to Taurica and
sent this letter to his parents. They
must have then joined him in his
νεος οἰκος in Taurica. That’s how
your Greek ancestors became your
Taurican ancestors. A true odyssey
indeed! That reminds me of a
similar λογος, the one that gives its
name to the word ‘odyssey’…
grαmmαr notε
μεν and δε
Two little words pop up as a pair in
Greek all the time: they are μεν and δε.
μεν means ‘on the one hand’, (it is
always the second word in a phrase)
δε means ‘on the other hand’ (also
always second word)

Greeks loved drawing strong contrasts

in this way:

Greeks μεν are brilliant, barbarians δε

culturαl notε are stupid;

we μεν are right, you δε are wrong;

Greek philosophers
Philosophy means loving (‘φιλος’)
wisdom (‘σοφια’). Many very important
philosophers lived in Ancient Greece,
and their ideas still affect how we think
today.
Plato lived in Athens in the 5th–4th
Centuries BCE, and was the student of
the great philosopher Socrates.
Using his teacher as a character in
many of his books, Plato explored
various ideas, such as how to govern;
how we know what is real; and why
people behave in certain ways. Plato’s
student Aristotle also had a great
impact on the history of thinking,
continuing to explore many of Plato’s
questions and coming up with many
original scientific ideas.
I μεν am brave, he δε is a coward.
Languagε notε
Wily Odysseus
The word for ‘Nobody’ in Greek
is ‘Οὐτις’ which sounds a bit like
‘Odysseus’. So the ancient hero really
is being very clever in this story (on
the next page). Homer, who told the
tale of Odysseus’ long journey home in
The Odyssey, often called him ‘μητις’
which means ‘cunning intelligence’.
Once you have read the story
opposite, do you think Odysseus has
earnt this adjective?

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
52
 Chαptεr Sεvεn

Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus

The story of Odysseus starts at the end of the Trojan War.
Some of the victorious Greek warriors got home easily; others
did not. Odysseus, inventor of the Trojan Horse, was one of the
unlucky ones. Thanks to Zeus, king of the gods, his journey
back home to Ithaca was long and full of adventure. He met
some of the most terrifying creatures known to mythology.
One-eyed Polyphemus, the Cyclops, was one such monster.
Odysseus landed his ship on an unfamiliar shore to look for
food. He couldn’t believe his luck when he and his men found
a cave filled with cheese and wine. They loaded up their bags
with the food, then went to leave. But the cave’s owner, a
ferocious (if dim-witted) Cyclops called Polyphemus, returned
and caught them stealing his things. Polyphemus herded his
sheep into his cave and rolled a stone boulder to cover the
entrance and stop Odysseus and the sheep from escaping. The
giant then reached out, seized some of Odysseus’ men, and,
with a terrible crunching of bones, gobbled them up.
Odysseus escaping from the cyclops.
Stuck inside the cave with a man-eating Cyclops, Odysseus
knew he had to come up with a plan, and a good one. The
next morning, after Polyphemus had left the cave (not
forgetting to roll the large boulder back to block the doorway), Odysseus had tricked Polyphemus.
Odysseus and his men found the giant’s walking stick and set However, they still needed to escape.
about sharpening one end of it. That night, when Polyphemus Of course, now Polyphemus was blind
returned to the cave, Odysseus used all his skill and wit to start in his one, big eye, that should be easier.
up a conversation with the Cyclops. Although Polyphemus The next morning, Polyphemus let his
was still intent on munching all the humans, he chatted with sheep out to graze, but felt with his giant
Odysseus, who persuaded the giant to have a drink. hands for any of the Greeks trying to
Polyphemus became a little drunk and asked Odysseus what make a getaway. Odysseus instructed
his name was. The cunning Odysseus replied, ‘My name is his men to cling on to the bellies of
Nobody’. Then he and his men took the sharpened stick and the sheep, hanging underneath each
drove it into Polyphemus’ eye. The giant’s cries of agony were animal as it left the cave. So Odysseus
so loud that they brought all his Cyclops neighbours running outwitted Polyphemus again. When he
to his door. ‘Who is doing this to you?’ they shouted from found out that Odysseus and all his men
beyond the boulder. ‘It’s Nobody!’ roared the injured Cyclops. had escaped, Polyphemus exploded with
‘Nobody is killing me!’ So the neighbours shrugged their rage and cried to his father Poseidon for
shoulders, and went away. divine vengeance.
α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •
η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
53
 Chαptεr Sεvεn

whαt wε lεαrnεd in chαptεr sεvεn

μεν and δε
These two words were used by ancient Greeks all the
time to contrast one thing with another. Do the translation
exercise below to practise how it works.
Basil’s word bank

ἐπιστολη: letter
Translate into English:
1. ἐγω μεν σοφος εἰμι, ὁ δε βατραχος μωρος. ὲυρισκω: I find
μεν…δε: on the
2. ὁ πατηρ μεν οὐν εἰς το πλοιον βαινει, ἡ δε μητηρ μενει. one hand… on
the other
3. ὁ μεν Βασιλ λεγει τον λογον, ὁ δε Μικρομυς οὐκ ακουει. μανθανω: I
understand
4. ἡ μεν Σοφια εἰς τον οἰκον ἀποβαινει, ὁ δε Βασιλ προς τον ποταμον. μεγιστος:
5. ἐγω μεν οὐ μανθανω, συ δε ταχυ μανθανεις.
greatest, biggest
νεα: new
(νεος)
ὀρθος: right, true
First match up the definitions of οὐδεις: no-one
these English words. Then find Languagε dεtεctivε σοφος: wise,
the Greek word or words that give
clever
us the English words and write
them out carefully in Greek. συ: you
The first has been done for you.

orthography epistle graph acoustic emporium

The rules of A drawn

Relating to writing and representation
spelling The word for of information
sound or A large shop ‘letter’ used in
hearing selling many the Bible
things.

ὀρθος γραφη

Lεttεr α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n •
Guidε ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
54
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk
Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

ἀγορα agg-or-a agora or market- 6 noun, fem (ἡ)

place
ἀγω agg-oh I lead, I take 4 verb

Ἀθηνη A-thair-nair Athene 6 noun, fem (ἡ)

Ἁιδης Hay-dairs Hades 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

ἀκουε! a-koo-ay listen! 2 verb,

imperative
ἀκουω a-koo-oh I listen 4 verb

ἀλλα al-la but 2 conjunction

ἀνδρων and-roan men’s part of the 3 noun, masc

house
ἀποβαινω ap-o-bye-noh I go away 3 verb

Ἀπολλων App-oll-oh-n Apollo 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

Ἀραχνη A-rack-neh Arachne 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

Ἀρης A-rairs Ares 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

Ἀρτεμις Art-e-miss Artemis 6 noun, fem (ἡ)

βαινει b-eye-neh (he/she/it) goes 4 verb

βαινουσιν b-eye-noo-see(n) (they) go 4 verb

βαινω b-eye-noh I go 4 verb

βαρβαρος bar-ba-ross foreigner 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

βασιλευς ba-sill-eh-us king 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

α alpha a • β beta b • γ gamma g • δ delta d • ε epsilon e • ζ zeta sd(z) •

η ēta ē • θ theta th • ι iota i • κ kappa k • λ lambda l • µ mu m • ν nu n • Lεttεr
ξ xi x • ο omicron o • π pi p • ρ rho r • σ/ς sigma s • τ tau t • υ upsilon u •
φ phi ph • χ khi ch/kh • ψ psi ps • ω omega ō
Guidε
55
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

βατραχος bat-ra-khos frog 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

βιος be-oss life 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

βλεπει blep-eh (he/she/it) sees 4 verb

βλεπω blep-oh I see 4 verb

βοη bo-air a shout 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

βοηθει! bo-air-theh help! 4 verb, impera-

tive
βραδεως brad-ee-oh-s slowly 4 adverb

γαρ gar for, because (sec- 4 conjunction

ond word)
γη gair land, country 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

γραφη graf-air picture 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

γραφω graf-oh I write 6 verb

γυναικων guh-n-eye-cone women’s part of 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

house
δε de see μεν…δε 7 particle

δεινος/δεινη deh-noss/ terrible, 4 adjective

deh-nair frightening
δελφις del-fiss dolphin 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

δια τι; dee-a ti why? 2 interrogative

διοτι dee-o-ti because 5 conjunction

δουλος doo-loss slave 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

δωρον doh-ron present, gift 6 noun, neuter

(το)
ἐγω egg-oh I 5 pronoun

ἐθελω eth-ell-oh I want 4 verb

εἰ eh you (s) are 2 verb

56
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

εἰμι eh-mi I am 2 verb

εἰς ehss to, into, toward 4 preposition

εἰσι(ν) eh-si(n) (they) are 3 verb

ἐκει eck-eh there 5 preposition

ἐλθε! el-th-eh come! 4 verb,

imperative
ἐμος em-oss my 5 adjective

ἐμποριον em-po-ree-on money-lender’s 6 noun, neuter

stall (το)
ἐν en in, into 5 preposition

ἐπιστολη eh-pee-stoll-air letter 7 noun, fem (ἡ)

ἐξαιφνης ex-eye-f-nay-ss suddenly 5 adverb

ἐργον er-gone work 5 noun, neuter

(το)
Ἑρμης Her-mairs Hermes 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

ἐσμεν es-men we are 3 verb

ἐστε es-teh you (pl) are 3 verb

ἐστι(ν) es-ti (he/she/it) is 3 verb

εὐγε ay-oo-geh hooray! 4 exclamation

εὑρισκω he-yoo-risk-oh I find 6 verb

ἐχω ekh-oh I have 6 verb

Ζευς Ze-yoos Zeus, king of the 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

gods
ἡ hair the 4 article, fem

Ἡρα Hair-a Hera 6 noun, fem (ἡ)

Ἡφαιστος Hair-fy-stoss Hephaistos 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

57
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

θαλαττα tha-latt-a sea 4 noun, fem (ἡ)

θεα they-a goddess 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

θεος they-oss god 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

θρονος th-ron-oss throne 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

ἰδου! i-doo look! 2 exclamation

ἰου! i-oo hooray! 2 exclamation

ἱππος hip-oss horse 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

και k-eye and, also, too 2 conjunction

καλλιστη/ cal-iss-tair, best, most lovely 5 adjective

καλλιστος cal-iss-toss,
καλος cal-oss good, lovely 5 adjective

καλω cal-oh I call 5 verb

καμηλος ca-mair-loss camel 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

καρδια car-di-a heart 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

καταδυω cat-a-doo-oh I sink 4 verb

καττα catt-a cat 3 noun, fem (ἡ)

κροκοδιλος crock-o-dill-oss crocodile 3 noun, masc (ὁ)

κυριος koo-ree-oss master 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

κυων (κυνα) coo-oh-n dog 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

(coo-na)
λεγω leg-oh I say 4 verb

λεων le-oh-n lion 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

λογος log-oss word, story 3 noun, masc (ὁ)

μαλιστα ma-liss-ta very, very much, 2 adverb

greatly

58
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

μαμμια mam-ee-a mummy 2 noun, fem (ἡ)

μανθανω man-tha-noh I understand 7 verb

με meh me 4 pronoun

Μεγαμυς meh-ga-muss Megamus 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

μεγας meg-as big, great 1 adjective

μεγιστος meg-iss-toss biggest, greatest 7 adjective

Μεδουσα meh-doo-sa Medusa 4 noun, fem (ἡ)

μελας mell-as dark, black 5 adjective

μελισσα meh-liss-a honey bee 3 noun, fem (ἡ)

μεν…δε men… deh (balances two 7 particle

parts of a
sentence)
μενω men-oh I stay, remain 5 verb

μετρω met-roh I measure 2 verb

μηλον mair-lon apple 5 noun, neuter

(το)
μητηρ mair-teh-r mother 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

Μικρομυς mick-ro-muss Mikromus 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

μικρος mick-ross small, llittle 1 adjective

μιμος mi-moss mimic 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

μυς (μυν) muss (mun) mouse 1 noun, masc (ὁ)

μωρος, μωρα moh-ross, silly, stupid 5 adjective

moh-ra
ναος na-oss temple 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

νεος, νεα neh-oss, neh-a new 7 adjective

59
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

νικη nick-air victory 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

νυν noon now 3 adverb

ὁ ho the 3 article, masc

οἰκος oy-koss house 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

οἰμοι oy-moy oh no!, oh dear! 1 exclamation

ὀρθος or-thoss true, correct 7 adjective

ὁτι hott-ee that 5 conjunction

οὐ(κ/χ) oo/ook/ookh not, no 4 negative

οὐδεις ood-ehs no-one 7 pronoun

οὐν oon therefore, so 3 conjunction

οὐρανος oo-ran-oss sky, heavens 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

Οὐτις Oo-tiss Nobody, Noman 7 noun, masc (ὁ)

παιδιον pie-dee-on small child 6 noun, neuter

(το)
πανθηρ pan-th-air panther 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

παντομιμος pan-toh-mi-moss pantomime 3 noun, masc (ὁ)

παραδεισος par-a-deh-soss park, garden 3 noun, masc (ὁ)

Παρθενων(α) Par-then-oh-n(a) the Parthenon 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

(temple of
Athena)
πατηρ pat-air father 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

Πεγασος pe-ga-soss Pegasus 3 noun, masc (ὁ)

(mythical winged
horse)
πλεω pleh-oh I sail 5 verb

πλοιον ploy-on boat 4 noun, neuter

(το)

60
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

ποιημα poy-air-mah poem 5 noun, neuter

(το)
Ποσειδων Poss-eh-doh-n Poseidon 6 noun, masc (ὁ)

ποταμος pot-am-oss river 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

που poo where 4 interrogative

ῥινοκερως rhy-no-care-rose rhinoceros 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

σαυρος s-ow-ross lizard 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

σιγα! see-ga! silence! be quiet! 4 exclamation

σκελετος skell-e-toss dried up, withered 3 adjective

σχολη s-khol-air spare time, 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

leisure
σοφος soff-oss clever, wise 7 adjective

σπογγος spong-oss a sponge 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

συ soo you (s) 7 pronoun

συμβολος soom-bol-oss symbol, sign 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

σωος soh-oss safe 5 adjective

σωζε (με)! sohs-deh (meh) save me! 4 verb,

imperative
σωζω sohs-doh I save 4 verb

ταυρος t-ow-ross bull 2 noun, masc (ὁ)

ταχυ tack-hu quickly 5 adverb

τελος tell-oss at last, finally 3 preposition

την tairn the 4 article, fem

τιγρις tig-riss tiger 4 noun, fem (ἡ)

τι ἐστι; tee ess-tee what is it? 3 phrase

τις tiss who 2 pronoun

61
 Bαsil’s Word Bαnk

Word Pronunciation Meaning Chapter first seen Word type

τις ἡ βοη; tiss hair bo-air what’s that noise? 5 phrase

τι τουτο; tee too-to what’s this? 3 phrase

το (τον) to (tonn) the 4 article (neuter)

φιλος/φιλη fill-oss/fill-air dear, friend 5 noun (singular)

φιλοι fill-oy friends 5 noun (plural)

φιλω fill-oh I love 5 verb

φοβερος/φοβερα fob-eh-ross/ fearful, afraid 5 adjective

fob-eh-ra
φωνη foe-nair a sound 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

χαιρε/χαιρετε kh-eye-reh/ hello (to one per- 6 verb,

kh-eye-reh-teh son/to more than imperative
one person)
χειμων kh-eh-moan storm 5 noun, masc (ὁ)

ψυχη p-soo-k-air soul 5 noun, fem (ἡ)

ὠκεανος oh-keh-an-oss ocean 4 noun, masc (ὁ)

62
 Illustrαtions

Location Item type Details Date

(approximate)
Chapter 1 p.9 Red-figured Medea using magic to renew 480 BCE–
(1843,1103.76) pitcher with three Jason’s youth 470 BCE
handles (hydria)
Chapter 2 p.17 Bronze lamp Mouse decoration on a lamp 2nd century
(1926,0415.54) BCE
Chapter 3 p.22 Gold ornament Bee (less than 2 cm long) 1700 BCE–
(1875,0406.2) 1600 BCE
Chapter 3 p.23 Black-figured Bellerophon riding Pegasus 520 BCE–
(1863,0728.102) shallow bowl on 500 BCE
long stem (kylix)
Chapter 4 p.27 Gold finger ring Medusa’s head 350 BCE–
(1917,0501.94) 330 BCE
Chapter 4 p.28 Red-figured water Perseus fleeing with the head of 460 BCE
(1873,0820.352) pitcher (hydria) Medusa in a bag
Chapter 4 p.29 Black-figured two- Warriors heading off to battle 530 BCE–
(1836,0224.183) handled storage 510 BCE
jar
(amphora)
Chapter 4 p.29 Red-figured oil Owl perched on an olive branch 470 BCE–
(1863,0728.18) storage jar 460 BCE
(lekythos)
Chapter 5 p.37 Black-figured Loom (this cup depicts 450 BCE–
(1893,0303.1) two-handled deep Odysseus meeting Circe on his 420 BCE
wine cup journey home after the Trojan War)
(skyphos)
Chapter 6 p.42 Red-figured Gods on Mount Olympus: Main 490 BCE–
(1836,0224.8) storage jar image: Zeus seated, Hebe(?), 460 BCE
(stamnos) Hermes. Round the jar, the smaller
images show, from left to right:
Hebe(?), Hermes, Demeter/Hestia
(with torches), Dionysus, Nike
(winged), Apollo with his kithara
and Hera.
Chapter 6 p.47 Covered wine cup Oedipus telling the Sphinx the 440 BCE–
(1867,0508.1132) (kantharos) answer to her riddle 430 BCE
Chapter 7 p.53 Black-figured wine Odysseus escaping from 500 BCE–
(1864,1007.228) jug Polyphemus by hiding under 490 BCE
(oinochoe) a sheep

All these items are owned by the British Museum. More information can be found in their online
collection: https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx
To help your search, each item’s museum identification number has been given in the Location
column in brackets.
63
 crαck thε αlphαbεt codε
Practice page

Alpha Α α Αα Αα

Beta Β β Ββ Ββ

Gamma Γ γ Γγ Γγ

Delta Δ δ Δδ Δδ

Epsilon Ε ε Εε Εε

Zeta Ζ ζ Ζζ Ζζ

Eta Η η Ηη Ηη

Theta Θ θ Θθ Θθ

Iota Ι ι Ιι Ιι

Kappa Κ κ Κκ Κκ

Lambda Λ λ Λλ Λλ

Mu Μ μ Μμ Μμ

Nu Ν ν Νν Νν

Xi Ξ ξ Ξξ Ξξ

Omicron Ο ο Οο Οο

Pi Π π Ππ Ππ

Rho Ρ ρ Ρρ Ρρ

Sigma Σ σ/ς Σ σ/ς Σ σ/ς

Tau Τ τ Ττ Ττ

Upsilon Υ υ Υυ Υυ

Phi Φ φ Φφ Φφ

Khi Χ χ Χχ Χχ

Psi Ψ ψ Ψψ Ψψ

Omega Ω ω Ωω Ωω

64