It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance.

[3] Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects.

The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence.

Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from the center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation.

[7] Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in the Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian, such as the Pella curse tablet, as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note.

[8][9] Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet, Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect,[10][11][9] which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly.

[14] Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island.

Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia, which is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek.

[15][16][17] Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian[18] (see also Graeco-Armenian) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan).

Ancient Greek had long and short vowels; many diphthongs; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops; and a pitch accent.

Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent.

Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative) and three voices (active, middle, and passive), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms.

However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐτομόλησα in the aorist.

[22] The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing (c. 1450 BC) are in the syllabic script Linear B.

The beginning of Homer's Iliad exemplifies the Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.

Ὅτι[hótiHótiμὲνmenmènὑμεῖς,hyːmêːshūmeîs, | ὦɔ̂ːôἄνδρεςándresándresἈθηναῖοι,atʰɛːnaî̯i̯oiAthēnaîoi, | πεπόνθατεpepóntʰatepepónthate | ὑπὸhypohupòτῶνtɔ̂ːntônἐμῶνemɔ̂ːŋemônκατηγόρων,katɛːɡórɔːnkatēgórōn, | οὐκoːkoukοἶδα·oî̯daoîda: ‖ ἐγὼéɡɔːegṑδ' οὖνdûːŋd' oûnκαὶkai̯kaìαὐτὸςau̯tosautòs | ὑπ'hyphup'αὐτῶνau̯tɔ̂ːnautōnὀλίγουolíɡoːolígouἐμαυτοῦemau̯tûːemautoû | ἐπελαθόμην,epelatʰómɛːnepelathómēn, | οὕτωhǔːtɔːhoútōπιθανῶςpitʰanɔ̂ːspithanôsἔλεγον.éleɡonélegon. ‖ Καίτοιkaí̯toi̯Kaítoiἀληθέςalɛːtʰézalēthésγεɡege | ὡςhɔːshōsἔποςéposéposεἰπεῖνeːpêːneipeîn | οὐδὲνoːdenoudènεἰρήκασιν.eːrɛ̌ːkaːsineirḗkāsin.

‖] Ὅτι μὲν ὑμεῖς, {} ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, {} πεπόνθατε {} ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν κατηγόρων, {} οὐκ οἶδα· {} ἐγὼ {δ' οὖν} καὶ αὐτὸς {} ὑπ' αὐτῶν ὀλίγου ἐμαυτοῦ {} ἐπελαθόμην, {} οὕτω πιθανῶς ἔλεγον.

{}[hóti men hyːmêːs | ɔ̂ː ándres atʰɛːnaî̯i̯oi | pepóntʰate | hypo tɔ̂ːn emɔ̂ːŋ katɛːɡórɔːn | oːk oî̯da ‖ éɡɔː dûːŋ kai̯ au̯tos | hyp au̯tɔ̂ːn olíɡoː emau̯tûː | epelatʰómɛːn | hǔːtɔː pitʰanɔ̂ːs éleɡon ‖ kaí̯toi̯ alɛːtʰéz ɡe | hɔːs épos eːpêːn | oːden eːrɛ̌ːkaːsin ‖]Hóti mèn hūmeîs, {} ô ándres Athēnaîoi, {} pepónthate {} hupò tôn emôn katēgórōn, {} ouk oîda: {} egṑ {d' oûn} kaì autòs {} hup' autōn olígou emautoû {} epelathómēn, {} hoútō pithanôs élegon.

And yet, loosely speaking, nothing they have said is true.The study of Ancient Greek in European countries in addition to Latin occupied an important place in the syllabus from the Renaissance until the beginning of the 20th century.

[25] In particular, female intellectuals of the era designated the mastering of ancient Greek as essential in becoming a "woman of letters.

It is compulsory in the liceo classico in Italy, in the gymnasium in the Netherlands, in some classes in Austria, in klasična gimnazija (grammar school – orientation: classical languages) in Croatia, in classical studies in ASO in Belgium and it is optional in the humanities-oriented gymnasium in Germany, usually as a third language after Latin and English, from the age of 14 to 18.

Ancient Greek is taught at most major universities worldwide, often combined with Latin as part of the study of classics.

Alfred Rahlfs included a preface, a short history of the Septuagint text, and other front matter translated into ancient Greek in his 1935 edition of the Septuagint; Robert Hanhart also included the introductory remarks to the 2006 revised Rahlfs–Hanhart edition in the language as well.