Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Here you can discuss all things Ancient Greek. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Greek, and more.
Post Reply
User avatar
mahasacham
Textkit Member
Posts: 187
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:05 am
Contact:

Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by mahasacham »

I found this translation of the Bhagavad Gita in Katharevousa Greek (in some places they even use ἐστίν, instead of είναι).

https://books.google.com/books?id=BN0oA ... os&f=false

The introduction is rather long. The actual translation starts about halfway into the book and like I said is almost a simpler form of Attic (but im no expert).

Markos
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:07 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Markos »

Very cool. Here's the passage made famous by Oppenheimer:
Greek Gita 11:32: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πανδαμάτωρ χρόνος...ἕτοιμος ἐνταῦθα ἀνελεῖν τοὺς πνοὴν ἔχοντας.
Reminds me a little of the τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.

How is it that you came to find this?

User avatar
mahasacham
Textkit Member
Posts: 187
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:05 am
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by mahasacham »

I thought so too Markos. I have always been intrigued by the interaction that occurred between the philosophers of India and Greece in the time of Alexander the Great. The Milindapanha is a great example of the literature that may have existed as a result of this meeting of minds.

But to answer your question; I came across this as I was reading an article about a yoga ashram that is located in Athens. They mentioned the author's name so I did a search. This was a few months back and then I noticed that I had book marked it for later viewing so I thought I would post it here.
It makes me wonder what else is out there that was translated into a scholastic Katharevousa dialect in the 1800s by Greek authors that could pass for Koine or simplified Attic Greek. I bet there are other translations out there. For instance, I read on Wikipedia that one of the first translations of the Koran was into late Koine/Byzantine Greek. That would be cool to track down.
Last edited by mahasacham on Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
mahasacham
Textkit Member
Posts: 187
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:05 am
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by mahasacham »

This gives a little back ground to the work:
http://elinepa.org/2004/03/13/demetrios ... k/?lang=en

and this is an abridged version of the Mahabharata in the same style of Greek:
https://books.google.com/books?id=bJE7A ... &q&f=false

More material from Demetrios Galanos on Indian literature:
https://books.google.com/books?id=gDlc0 ... os&f=false

Markos
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:07 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Markos »

Here's the other quote that came to Oppenheimer at Los Alamos.
Greek Gita 11:12: εἰ γὰρ καθ' ὐπόθεσιν ἐν οὐρανῷ χιλίων ἡλίων φῶς ἄμα ἀνατείλῃ, ἴσως ὀμοιοφανὲς ἄνπως εἴη ἐκείνῳ τῷ θείῳ φωτί.
The Greek strikes me as more or less pure Attic/Koine.
mahasacham wrote:It makes me wonder what else is out there that was translated into a scholastic Katharevousa dialect in the 1800s by Greek authors that could pass for Koine or simplified Attic Greek. I bet there are other translations out there. For instance, I read on Wikipedia that one of the first translations of the Koran was into late Koine/Byzantine Greek. That would be cool to track down.
I for one would find a Greek Koran of interest. I tried to google and could not find anything.

Shenoute
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 12:23 pm

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Shenoute »

Markos wrote:I for one would find a Greek Koran of interest. I tried to google and could not find anything.
Maybe this is the edition refered to by Wikipedia.
Last edited by Shenoute on Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

Shenoute
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 12:23 pm

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Shenoute »

.
Last edited by Shenoute on Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

Shenoute
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 12:23 pm

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Shenoute »

.

Markos
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:07 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Markos »

Shenoute wrote:
Markos wrote:I for one would find a Greek Koran of interest. I tried to google and could not find anything.
Maybe this is the edition refered to by Wikipedia.
Thanks for finding this. For what it's worth, this text is much more demotic than the Greek Gita.

Markos
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:07 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Markos »

mahasacham wrote:I have always been intrigued by the interaction that occurred between the philosophers of India and Greece in the time of Alexander the Great.
On p. ζ of the preface to the Greek Gita, the ὁ μέγας λόγος τῶν Βεδῶν is transliterated as Τὰτ Τβὰμ Ἀσεὶ and translated as σὺ εἶ ἐκεῖνο τὸ Ὂν. It occurs to me that both the biblical and Greek world views say the opposite. γνῶθι σεαυτόν, ὅτι σὺ οὐκ εἶ Ἐκεῖνο.

But there are many other passages of the Greek Gita that remind one of Christian and Greek ideas.

User avatar
mahasacham
Textkit Member
Posts: 187
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:05 am
Contact:

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by mahasacham »

That is an interesting observation on the viewpoints of western philosophy in relation to the Vedic philosophy. It almost seems like the greek world was slowly emerging from a ethos founded on corporeality that is found in the Homeric Epics. Whenever I read Plato it seems like he often times is trying to re-frame the assumptions of Homer into a more a spiritual framework........But that is just what I have seen from the very little I have read of Plato.

Thanks for the link to the Koran you found. It looks interesting. This is the quote I read from Wikipedia concerning the first Greek translation.

'The second known translation was into Greek and was used by Nicetas Byzantius, a scholar from Constantinople, in his 'Refutation of Quran' written between 855 and 870. However, we know nothing about who and for what purpose had made this translation. It is however very probable that it was a complete translation.[4]'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran_translations#Latin

So it looks like this translation is lost except for what remains in Nicetas' composition. Another interesting fellow I have been researching is Eugenios Voulgaris Greek: Εὐγένιος Βούλγαρις. He seems to have made a few translations of Voltaire into an Atticized katharevousa Greek in addition to some unpublished translations of John Locke.

There seem to be a lot of interesting intellectuals that may have made some other translations or even paraphrases of ancient works during the Modern Greek Enlightenment (Διαφωτισμός).......especially those intellectuals involved in the "Greek Language Question" back in the late 1700s/early 1800s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Gr ... ightenment


(Interesting side note)
For an interesting narrative of the historical Dracula of Wallachia/Transylvania check out Laonikos Chalkokondyles this is one of the primary sources for the history of the figure. Also it is written in a similar style to Herodotus. Dumbarton Oaks has an awesome translation of the 10 book history of the Greek World by him.............. So much cool stuff out there

Gonzalo
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 510
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:58 am

Re: Bagavad Gita in katharevousa/Attic greek

Post by Gonzalo »

Besides the articles in academic journals and Kargakos' book on Galanos' life, there is a wonderful film about the man here much better than the book.
Galanos work is very useful for anyone who is in the path of learning Greek and Sanskrit at the same time. In my case it was first Greek and then I discovered Galanos, while devouring Killingley's primer (Beginning Sanskrit) and Jessup sanskrit series.

Post Reply