How to pronounce the Modern Greek Alphabet

The history of the Greek alphabet

The earliest inscriptions that used Greek letters date from 770 BC. The oldest texts are the Nestor's Cup, discovered at Pithekoussai in 1954 and the Dipylon inscription. The Nestor's Cup has three lines written with Greek symbols on it. The cup comes from Rhodes and was made to be burnt and put with the grave of a child. The Greek symbols say: "Whoever drinks from this cup, desire for beautifully crowned Aphrodite will seize him instantly". The lines were written from right to left. The Dipylon Inscription is a wine jug found in the Dipylon Cemetery in 1871. The text written on it is one of the oldest in the history of the Greek alphabet. The vessel was a prize in a dancing competition, according to the text on it. The legends of Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, say that the Greek alphabet was introduced by Cadmus, a Phoenician. The Phoenicians knew the art of writing, which was unknown to the Greeks. Many Greek scholars argued about the origin of the Greek alphabet.

Learn Greek alphabet flashcards

There were several variations of ancient Greek alphabets but the modern one is a standardized variant of them. The system of diacritical marks used along with the Greek symbols were invented around 200 BC. It helped with the tone accents when pronouncing the Greek words. The names of some Greek letters were also changed, o became omicron, ei became epsilon and so on, in order to distinguish these letters from some diagraphs. You can learn how to pronounce the Greek alphabet flashcards with the help of our lesson! It will introduce you to each of the Greek alphabet flashcards and the pictures of the letters. These Greek alphabet flashcards are very important if you want to start learning Greek. The Greek alphabet flashcards are the basics you should know in order to write and read. Some of the Greek alphabet flashcards contain additional hints to explain important aspects of the pronunciation. Master these Greek alphabet flashcards and continue with learning basic Greek words! Here are some examples of the Greek alphabet flashcards that you will learn with this lesson:

• 1. A - alpha
• 2. B - veeta
• 3. Γ - gama
• 4. Δ - delta
• 5. E - epsilon

As you can see, you will learn the letter alpha and the delta symbol along with many more letters presented by the Greek alphabet flashcards.

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