AND BYZANTINE GREEK. 5 



would naturally attract notice. And some of the Ptolemys Avould not tolerate even 

 the dialect of Macedonia.^' 



Seleucus and his successors introduced the Attic into Syria ; and Eumencs and his 

 successors, into the interior of Asia Minor. The two great centres of these parts of 

 the Macedonian empire Avere Antioch and Pergamus.^^ 



§ r 

 It appears, then, that, in the third century after Christ, the Attic had superseded 

 the other dialects.-^ But the Attic used in countries more or less remote from Athens 

 was not in every particular the same as the Attic of that city. On the contrary, 

 speakers and writers born and educated in such countries were apt to mix with it 

 words and phrases derived from their native idioms.^* At the same time, they would 

 naturally avoid whatever was likely to perplex a hearer or reader unacquainted with 

 the refinements of the Attic dialect. The grammarians, from the second century 

 downward, call this kind of Attic the common dialect^° and sometimes the Greek lan- 

 guage, in contradistinctioir to the Attic dialect ^'^ by which expression they designate the 

 language of the earlier Athenian authors, as Plato and Demosthenes. When they apply 

 the term ko cvr), common, to the dialect of Pindar, they simply mean that this poet 



^^ Plut. I, 927 F noXXcov Se Xcyerat [^ KXeoTrarpaJ Koi aKKwv iK^aBiiv "yXcoTraf, twv npo avrrji ^aaCK^wv ov8e 

 Trjf AlyvTTTLav d!'E;(0/ie'j'toi' nfpiXapuu 8ia\(KT0v, ivlav Be Koi to MoKeSovifeiV i<Km6iiT<av. 



-- Compare Joseph. Ant. 17, 11, 4 Vd^a yap koi TaSapa xnl 'Ittttos 'EWrjvldfS fiVi TToXeis. Bell. Jud. 2, 

 14, 4 Oi Kaurapiav "EWtjvcs- 3, 9, 1 Katcrapeiav peylartjv Trjs re lovdalas TroXii/, Kal to ifKiov i(f> 'EXXiji/ui/ 

 inotKOvp.hrjv. ' 



For Greek inscriptions found in Syria, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, see Inscu. Vol. Ill, p. 211 seq. 



-^ Wlicn Constantino Porpliyrogenitus tells us that the Ionic, Doric, and ^^Eolic were heard in his time, we 

 are to suppose that he had in view provincialisms ratlier than genuine dialects ; unless it be adajjtted that he 

 is confusedly quoting some ancient author. Poeph. Them. p. 42. 



^* Compare AtiIEN. 3, 94 MaKtSofifovTas t olSa noWovs TWV 'ATTiKav dia rryi' emjii^iav. 



'^ Ll.;CIAN. Quomod. Histor." Scrilj. 16 Kai 6ti dp^ajievos ev Trj la8i ypa<j)eiv, ovk oi8 5 Ti do^av, avTUa pia\a im 

 T Tjv K o I V !} V piTTjKdev. ClEJI. Alex. 404, 22 iao-i Si ol "EXXi;i/fs SioKfKTOV! elvai ras Trapa trcplai Trevre, 'At^i'So, 

 'Ia8a, Atapi'Sa, AioXi'Sa, Ka\ ire/j.Tmjv t tj v k o i v rj v . PsELL. 8 'H 6e koij'^ koc Tre<j>vK(i/ SBpouxpa ruiv TdJtrapuiv. 



StJ-abo recognizes only four dialects, namely, the Attic, Ionic, Doric, and iEolic. Strab. 8, 1, 2. 



^^ Take the following examples. Phutn. Ta-)^iov oi 'EXXijrfr ov \kyov<n, Buttou 8e • jiaWov fiiv ovv 

 "EXXiji/cs to t d )^i ov , 6 dr T o V 8i ol 'AttikoI. MoeK. "A y a p. a i 'YwepjioXov, ATTiKas ■ Ayap.ai'YTrip- 

 o X o 1/ , 'EXXiji/iKwf. Id. 'Ava^ioxiv, 'ArriKooj .... Ava^imaaadai, Kotvov. 



Compare Galen. VI, 312 B Ol pii> oiv Tayr]v'lTai napd Toij 'Attikoi5 ovopa^opfvoi, trap' rjpiv Be To7s Kara 

 TTjV 'Aaiav "EXXTjert TrjyavlTai, aKivd^ovTni Si' e'Xaiou /ioi/ou. 



