Preface

I teach Classics at Bowling Green State University and remain passionate about helping students learn how to read ancient Greek. I hope this elementary text assists them. This text owes a part of its existence to a CURS grant, which funded a collaboration between myself and Adam Lewton, who read through the manuscript and suggested many improvements.

I thank the team at Open Book Publishers for their amazing work, Alessandra Tosi, Lucy Barnes, Anna Gatti, and Luca Baffa; Evan Hayes, Stephen Nimis, and Geoffrey Steadman, to whose running vocabulary texts my second- and third-year Greek students responded so very well that their reading ability improved significantly and quickly;1 James Keenan for all he has been and done; the guest contributors: Amy R. Cohen, Joe Goodkin, Stefan Hagel, Tom Holland, Diane Rayor; and Roshan Samtani for creating a musical translation of Anakreon’s Thrakian Filly poem.

I also thank the founding members of OMEGA, a consortium for the teaching of ancient Greek: E. Del Chrol, Christian Franzen, Jennifer Larson, Deborah Lyons, and William Owens. E. Del Chrol’s knack for storytelling and teaching is on display in his Etymology Corner. Deborah Lyons and William Owens carefully read the text, fixed errors, and suggested revisions. As a result of their efforts, input, intellects, and keen eyes, this text has been substantially improved. Their conviviality and general good will make me blush with appreciation and gratitude. My son Zachary Peek read a good portion of the manuscript and amazed me by his ability to improve the text in a myriad of ways. Also of great value were the suggestions of my students Jada McDowell and Thomas Ziegler. I thank the anonymous reader of OPB for challenging me to improve and to reimagine the text in all ways and the perspicacious Hilary Goy for her excellent suggestions. I credit and thank Wilfred Major for making me rethink sequencing, particularly in regard to third-declension nouns. Finally, I thank the Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (CURS) at BGSU for a 2015 grant supporting this project in its initial phases, my colleagues Nicholas Dee and James Pfundstein, and the many ancient Greek students I’ve taught over the years, including Brad Corfman, Dan English, Jordan Kilpatrick, Adam Lewton, Ethan Zaborowski, and the Fall 2021 Consortium students. Any mistakes remain mine.

Finally I thank my parents, my wife Elaine, and my children Zachary, Brandon, and Madeline for all they were, are, and will be.