Many people learn Ancient Greek to read Plato or the New Testament. Duolingo's list of courses has Greek and Latin but no Ancient Greek, and Rosetta Stone's Greek course teaches Modern Greek, so this page covers the apps, books and free sites that teach the older language.
Ancient Greek has two main forms. Attic Greek is the Greek of Athens and of Plato, and Koine Greek is the Greek of the New Testament. Orthodox churches read Koine too, with Modern Greek sounds. Bubblegum has a journey for each use: Classical, Biblical and Orthodox.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Ancient Greek. You learn from Ancient Greek you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Ancient Greek lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
Once you have picked Classical, Biblical or Orthodox, choose a goal.
- Pick Ancient Greek, then Classical, Biblical or Orthodox, and Poppy writes in that form of Greek.
- Poppy writes each lesson around your goal, such as Plato, Homer and myths, school Greek, the New Testament or the Divine Liturgy.
- Lessons have audio, and you can tap a word to see what it means, or ask Poppy to explain a whole line.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Learn every letter and its sound in the free Classical Greek Alphabet course.
- You can't turn your own Greek books into lessons. However, you can paste a page in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Mango Languages
Mango's Ancient Greek course is built on short conversations with grammar and culture notes. Its Koine course works the same way.
- Lessons are built from conversations, with audio.
- Grammar notes and color-coding point out how Greek sentences are put together.
- Mango lists both Greek (Ancient) and Greek (Koine) as courses.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (1)
- BiblingoTeaches Koine Greek for reading the New Testament from zero knowledge, and also lists Biblical Hebrew and Latin. It is free to download, with in-app purchases.
Other Apps We Looked At (3)
- AKRO: Ancient Greek & LatinOriginal texts with audio synced to the text, and a tap on any word for its meaning and forms. It also has guided lessons and flashcards, on iPhone and Android, and its menus come in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Short definitions are free, and Premium opens the full dictionary entries.
- Hoplite ChallengeA free verb game for learners who already know some Greek: it shows one verb form and asks you to turn it into another in 30 seconds or less.
- LogeionThe University of Chicago's free reference app looks a word up in many classical dictionaries at once, including Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon.
Preply
Preply has online Ancient Greek tutors for private lessons. Tell yours which texts you need, such as a Plato dialogue or the Gospel of John.
- Preply lists 129 Ancient Greek tutors from 21 countries.
- Book a 25- or 50-minute trial lesson, and if the first tutor isn't a match, you can try two more for free.
MobileWeb
A textbook can sit beside any app above.
Donald Mastronarde's Introduction to Attic Greek has 42 units with exercises, and readings from Xenophon, Lysias, Plato, Aristophanes and Thucydides. AtticGreek.org is its free companion site, with pronunciation audio, drills for verbs and nouns, and a vocabulary flashcard course on Memrise made by Helma Dik. Athenaze from Oxford University Press teaches through the story of an Attic farmer and his family at the start of the Peloponnesian War.
For Koine Greek, Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek has a free online class that goes through every chapter, with vocabulary audio and workbook exercises. The Biblical Language Center's Living Koine Greek is built around scenes and a continuing story, with audio and cartoons. The Polis Institute's online courses teach Koine as a spoken language, in classes held entirely in Greek.
Scaife Viewer is the reader for the Open Greek and Latin library, and the Perseus Digital Library from Tufts University points to its Greek works, which include Homer's Odyssey and Plato's Republic. Dickinson College Commentaries pairs Greek and Latin texts with notes, vocabulary and some audio.
Before you pay, open one lesson to see which language it explains the Greek in.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| Mango | 2 | Full list |
| AKRO | 5 | Full list |
| Biblingo | 1 | Full list |
| Hoplite Challenge | 1 | Full list |
| Logeion | 1 | Full list |
| Preply | 19 | Full list |
Which Ancient Greek app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Ancient Greek, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Mango if you like short conversations, or with a Mastronarde unit and the audio on AtticGreek.org if you like a textbook. The best way to learn Ancient Greek shows how to plan a week.
Does Duolingo teach Ancient Greek?
No. Duolingo's course list on the App Store names Greek and Latin but not Ancient Greek. Mango has Ancient and Koine Greek courses, and Bubblegum teaches Ancient Greek from Level 1, for learners who know a few words like λόγος (word) and eureka.
Should I learn Attic Greek or Koine Greek?
Choose by what you want to read. Attic is the Greek of Plato and the Athenian authors, and Koine is the Greek of the New Testament. The Polis Institute says the differences between the two are very few.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Bubblegum: Ancient Greek
- Duolingo on the App Store (courses and languages you can use it in; no Ancient Greek course)
- Rosetta Stone: Learn Greek (a Modern Greek course)
- Mango Languages: Greek (Ancient)
- Mango Languages: Greek (Koine)
- Mango Languages: available languages
- Mango Languages on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- AKRO: Ancient Greek & Latin on the App Store
- AKRO: Ancient Greek & Latin on Google Play
- Biblingo on the App Store (Koine Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Latin)
- Hoplite Challenge on the App Store (Ancient Greek verb game)
- Logeion on the App Store (University of Chicago)
- Preply: online Ancient Greek tutors
- Preply on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- University of California Press: Introduction to Attic Greek, 2nd edition (Donald J. Mastronarde)
- Oxford University Press: Athenaze, 3rd edition, by Maurice Balme (Books I and II)
- Bill Mounce: free online class for Basics of Biblical Greek
- Biblical Language Center: Living Koine Greek
- Pontifical University of the Holy Cross: Which kind of Greek is taught at Polis?
- Scaife Viewer, the Open Greek and Latin reader
- Perseus Digital Library
- Dickinson College Commentaries
- Wikipedia: Ancient Greek (the language of Homer and classical Athens)
