5 Places and people

In this section, you get to test your knowledge of Greek letters by trying to match the ancient Greek names of various places and people with their English equivalents.

Activity 6 Pairing names

Allow about 15 minutes

Here are some Greek place names with their English equivalents. Try to match them up, using the Greek alphabet to guide you.

Hint: the letters won’t always correspond exactly, but they are close. Any divergence will usually occur towards the end of the word. (Consider, for example, the English name for the city of ‘Munich’ with the German ‘München’.)

Athens

Αθηναι

Delos

Δηλος

Thebes

Θηβαι

Corinth

Κορινθος

Sicily

Σικελια

Chios

Χιος

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

  1. Athens

  2. Delos

  3. Thebes

  4. Corinth

  5. Sicily

  6. Chios

  1. Αθηναι

  2. Δηλος

  3. Θηβαι

  4. Κορινθος

  5. Σικελια

  6. Χιος

The correct answers are:
  • 1 =
  • 2 =
  • 3 =
  • 4 =
  • 5 =
  • 6 =

Discussion

The words in brackets below are the Greek letters represented in English. These ‘transliterations’, which are helpful guides for students new to the alphabet, are presented in more detail in the next section.

  • Αθηναι (Athēnai) = Athens
  • Δηλος (Dēlos) = the island of Delos
  • Θηβαι (Thēbai) = Thebes
  • Κορινθος (Korinthos) = Corinth
  • Σικελια (Sikelia) = Sicily
  • Χιος (Chios) = the island of Chios

Now try to match the names of these peoples with their English equivalents. Some are easier than others, which means you might need to use a process of elimination.

Egyptians

Αιγυπτιοι

Babylonians

Βαβυλωνιοι

Lacedaimonians

Λακεδαιμόνιοι

Persians

Περσαι

Romans

Ρωμαιοι

Phoenicians

Φοίνικες

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

  1. Egyptians

  2. Babylonians

  3. Lacedaimonians

  4. Persians

  5. Romans

  6. Phoenicians

  1. Αιγυπτιοι

  2. Βαβυλωνιοι

  3. Λακεδαιμόνιοι

  4. Περσαι

  5. Ρωμαιοι

  6. Φοίνικες

The correct answers are:
  • 1 =
  • 2 =
  • 3 =
  • 4 =
  • 5 =
  • 6 =

Discussion

Here are the answers with transliterations in brackets:

  • Αιγυπτιοι (Aiguptioi) = Egyptians
  • Βαβυλωνιοι (Babulо̄nioi) = Babylonians
  • Λακεδαιμόνιοι (Lakedaiomonioi) = Lacedaimonians (= the Spartans)
  • Περσαι (Persai) = Persians
  • Ρωμαιοι (Rhо̄maioi) = Romans
  • Φοινικες (Phoinikes) = Phoenicians

OpenLearn - Getting started on ancient Greek
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