Learning Ancient Greek can be… challenging.

For one thing, there are competing dialects (as was discussed in our Podcasts with Professors Episode with the Professor of Linguistics at the University of Cyprus.) As such, there are times when we aren’t even sure how the word is pronounced.

There are also like 5 different translations for every word, which gives translators a huge artistic license, truth be told. It can be difficult to figure out which version of the word the author intended because we just don’t think like ancient Greeks. The huge differences in time and culture can make it tricky to figure out what they really meant.

So while actually dedicating years to learning this beautiful and complicated ancient language might not be the most practical use of your time, I do think you should at least learn a few of the most important concepts.

Anaxagoras was born in Clazomenae (modern day Turkey) around 510 BCE. He moved to Athens, and then to Lampsacus, where he lived out his remaining years. He died around 428 BCE and had an altar of Mind and Truth built in his honor.

By Carly Silver, Contributing Writer, Ancient Origins

While completing his Twelve Labors, the Greek hero Heracles (a.k.a. Hercules) got up to tons of mischief—and that included bedding a lot of women. In the process, he fathered a whole host of legendary sons, called the Heracleidae, from whom many clans across the Mediterranean claimed descent. According to Herodotus, the “Father of History,” the Greeks living in Scythia—an area of Central Eurasia—were descended from one of Heracles’s most interesting sons.

The Greeks who lived on the Black Sea (a.k.a. “Pontic Greeks”) created a founding myth directly tied to their homeland. During Heracles’s tenth labor—capturing cattle belonging to the monster Geryon—the hero arrived in what would eventually become the fertile land of Scythia, then a desert. Geryon himself lived on an island, so Heracles decided to rest up before sailing out to tackle him. He must have forgotten to tie up his horses, though, since they ran off while he was asleep.

Finally technology is being put to good use!

The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World was a list of must-see sites for Ancient Greek tourists. Compiled by Antipater of Sidon, a poet in 2nd-century-BCE Greece, with later contributions by figures such as the mathematician Philon of Byzantium, the list remains an important piece of intangible heritage today.

Sadly, only one of those ancient wonders is still standing. Fortunately technology has come to the rescue so that modern classics-lovers can have the chance to visit the structures that Antipater first recommended.

Check out the reconstructed the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, so you can see how the ruins originally looked:

He gained his freedom sometime after the death of Emperor Nero and began to teach philosophy in Rome. He founded his own school of philosophy in Greece after Emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from Rome in 93 CE.

Though missing several parts, Discourses is Epictetus’ largest surviving text. It is said to have been originally comprised of eight parts, four of which we have today.