About the courses
We offer an Intensive Course in Ancient Greek. These courses offer students who have not previously had the opportunity to study Ancient Greek intensive training designed to bring them from complete beginners to a point where they are able to read simple texts in Ancient Greek.
These courses are six weeks long, with the option to study either the first three week block (for absolute beginners) or the second three week block (for students at intermediate level).
Dates
- Session 1: Beginner’s Ancient Greek: Monday 30 June - Friday 18 July 2025
- Session 2: Intermediate Ancient Greek: Monday 21 July - Friday 8 August 2025
They are ideal for students who intend to study for a Masters or Doctoral degree to get ahead during the summer, thus acquiring an essential skill for their future research. They are also appropriate for Y12 and Y13 school pupils, teachers, undergraduates, mature students and anyone with an interest in the Hellenic world.
Students work through the JACT Reading Greek course in daily language classes and are expected to put in a number of hours of private study to consolidate class work and to complete homework assignments. Staff are on hand to offer private tutorials and surgery hours, as required. Assessment is by three in-class tests.
Lectures & Visits
However, as well as being highly intensive, the courses offer a friendly and supportive environment. There are workshops by guest lecturers offering an introduction to skills such as epigraphy, and we also hope to offer guided tours or behind-the-scenes sessions at the British Museum.
Session 1: Beginner’s Ancient Greek (Monday 30 June - Friday 18 July 2025)
Week One
Part One Grammar:
- Definite article
- Introduction to adjectives and adverbs
- Present tense
- Middle verbs
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd declension & some irregular nouns
- Prepositions, particles
- Some common irregular verbs
- Personal pronouns
Part One Texts: Athens at Sea
Week Two
Part Two Grammar:
- Present Participles and Infinitives
- Imperfect, future and aorist tenses
- Indefinite and interrogative words
- Indirect speech
- Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs
- Pronouns
Part Two Texts: Moral Decay?
Week Three
Part Three Grammar:
- Genitive and Dative cases
- Optative
- Time phrases
- Root aorists
- Relatives
Part Three Texts: Athens through the comic poet’s eyes
Extracts from Aristophanes’ Birds, Wasps, Lysistrata, Akharnians
Session 2: Intermediate Ancient Greek (Monday 21 July - Friday 8 August 2025)
Week One
Part Four Grammar:
- The passive
- Genitive absolute
- Conditions
- Wishes
- Gerunds
- Sequence of tenses
- The subjunctive
- Indefinite constructions
- Scanning Greek verse
Part Four Texts: Women in Athenian Society
Extracts from Demosthenes, The Prosecution of Neaira and Euripdes, Alkestis
Week Two
Part Five Grammar:
- Pluperfect
- Verbs of fearing
- Accusative absolute
- Purpose clauses
- Jussive subjunctive
- Result clauses
- Deliberatives
- Duals
Part Five Texts: Athenian Views of Justice
Extracts from Demosthenes, Against Mnesiboulos and Euergos and Plato, Phaidros and Protagoras
Week Three
Parts Six & Seven Grammar:
- Herodotus’ dialect
- Accusative of respect
- Homeric dialect & hexameters
Part Six Texts: God, Fate and Man
Extracts from Herodotus
Part Seven Texts: Homeric hero and heroine
Extracts from Homer, Odyssey
It is important to attend all classes. Please tell your tutor in advance if you know that you will be absent, and please get in touch as soon as you can if you are ill or if you have to miss a class for any other reason. Your tutor will keep an attendance register and the Summer School requires an attendance rate of 80%.
If you have opted to take the Examination Route, or if you are a BA Classics Access Pathway student, please read the following notes:
- There will be 2 half-hour tests at the end of the weeks 1 and 2 of each 3-week Session. These tests will be worth 10% each.
- At the end of the 3rd and final week of each Session, there will be a 1-hour test. This test is worth 80% of the final mark.
- The tests will be marked by your tutor and also by the course director. The results are passed by a College examination board which includes an external examiner.
Your tutors will give you plenty of advice about these tests and plenty of practice in advance. If you are worried about them, then please ask for extra help: your tutor will be available for one-to-one tutorial tuition in the afternoons. It is essential that you seek extra help as soon as you think you need it. If you find the work difficult in the first week, your tutor will recommend that you attend the afternoon sessions. If you do not achieve the passmark of 40% in the first test, it will be compulsory to attend extra sessions online in the second week, or to discuss the options with your tutor and agree a suitable plan of study.
Learning a new language or improving your language skills can be great fun. However, it is also hard work and as these courses cover a huge amount of material and are very intensive, there will doubtless be times when you may struggle a little! Please don’t worry1about this. Your tutors are there to help you, so please ask them for extra help; they can arrange individual tuition for you. But also do ask questions in the group sessions if you are not sure: if you don’t understand something, it is likely that your fellow students have not understood it either and they will be pleased that you have asked!
Apart from the classes, you should also be aware that there will be a substantial amount of homework to do. Try to make sure that you keep up with this; again tell your tutor if you are having problems.
It is much easier to get to grips with Greek and Latin if you have a good grasp of English grammar. If you have not studied English grammar formally before, you may find it helpful to have a look at a grammar book in advance so you are familiar with the terminology. The Chambers English Grammar is a useful one to start with.
If you have any further questions, please email the Ancient Languages Co-Ordinator, Fiona Haarer (fiona.haarer@kcl.ac.uk).