Ancient Greek Dialects

Ancient Greek Dialects

Ancient Greek in classical antiquity, before the development of the Koiné (κοινή) as the lingua franca of Hellenism, was divided into several dialects. Most of these are known from inscriptions, but a few of them, principally Aeolic (Lesbic), Doric and Ionic, are also represented in the literary canon alongside the dominant Attic form of literary Greek. Likewise, Modern Greek is divided into several dialects, most of them deriving from the Koiné.