Why a comic book in ancient Greek?

That makes two questions ...

1- Why ancient Greek?

To be interested, even in a very superficial way, in ancient Greek makes it possible to understand the strange spelling, the meaning and the origin of many words (like "athlet-ism", "phrase", "techn-ique", "rhythm", "philo-sophy", "psycho-logy" etc….) which can be found in English or in many other languages. On a website like "wiktionary" you will have access to the original word in Greek characters; knowing how to read it proves then useful.

But where does this curious international vocabulary come from, which has spread to all areas of human activity (science, medicine, architecture, techniques, sport, arts, philosophy, politics, etc.)?

The ancient Greek language, since the emergence of Athens and the conquests of Alexander the great, held in classical antiquity (in Europe, in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East) the same place as English in our contemporary world. Almost all of the science, culture, history, myths, thought of ancient times have been transmitted to us through this language. Even in the days when Rome dominated the Mediterranean, it remained the language of trade and culture. Some Roman emperors wrote in Greek rather than Latin. These numerous Greek texts were then translated into Arabic and Latin in the Middle Ages. The civilization of the West and the Middle East, which subsequently internationalized, therefore derives very largely from Greek culture and has inherited a significant part of its vocabulary.

Greek culture is the basis of the main myths that have inspired novelists and artists for centuries and still inspire our imagination (gods and heroes, monsters, mysteries, tragedies, extraordinary journeys into space, apprentice sorcerers ...) From where come the words "dragon", "magic", "phantom", "lycanthropy", "galaxy"? What is narcissism, the Oedipus complex? ...

Note that the Greek language is still spoken today in Greece and on the island of Cyprus, in a different form, but much less changed than Italian, Spanish or French compared to Latin! (If you are going on vacation there, review the alphabet, it will be useful for reading some signs ...)

2- Why a comic?

The goal is to give as many people as possible access to ancient texts in a fun way.

Approaching ancient texts through comics makes them much more familiar to us. You can read comics without knowing anything about ancient Greek: You just have to read the translation and then locate the beginning of the text in Greek and the corresponding bubble in the image (the Greek alphabet is shown on each page to help you).

For those who are interested in the language, comics are also a way to learn and "practice" it.

It is more difficult to learn a so-called "dead" language than a living language because there is less opportunity to practice it: no TV series, no language partner or linguistic trip ... You may only read it, and most young people read very few books… but they read comics willingly!

Learning the basics of a language through a comic book allows you to quickly associate a short text with an illustrated situation and therefore to understand it better. This is what a baby does when learning to speak; he associates what he hears with what he sees and it all happens naturally. It's also a much more fun and pleasant way to learn than reading a grammar or lexicon.

The plan in "Book 1" is based on the conversation aids found in travel guides. That is to say that it gives the keys to be able to express oneself quickly (“how to say?”) And the grammar rules are explained very gradually, as one progresses in the reading of the various small stories.

The other comics are adaptations of texts by ancient authors (of course, for lack of space, only a few key sentences are extracted). They cover a variety of fields: history, geography, science, theater, medicine, fantasy... All are accompanied by a translation and an explanation of each word of the texts in the bubbles. They can be read by a neophyte who has made the effort to relearn the Greek alphabet (we all have learned it during our schooling for math and science). Having read at least the first 15 pages of "book 1" (= first 7 comic strips) makes it easier to read these other comics.

Through these short extracts, it is a tiny glimpse of this ancient world which gave birth to ours, an open door for any curious person who can then deepen his knowledge on the Internet or by reading translated or bilingual works …

Have a good space-time trip