Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.490

c7.490

GREEK LITERATURE. Greek is one of the most important Indo-European languages. As an independent branch of the original Indo-European language Greek established itself by about 2000 B.C. Even during its earliest period Greek had four local dialects as a result of the arrival of the Greek-speaking people at different periods of time. Iolic, Ionic-Attic, Arcado Cyprean and western Greek are the four dialects. Iolese was prevalent in the Lesbos region, and this is the dialect mainly used in the poetry of Homer. The Ionic and Attic dialects were prevalent in Ionia and Attica respectively. After Homer, the major portion of Greek literature was written in this dialect. The Arcado-Cyprean dialect was used in Arcadio and Cyprus. The fourth dialect was also called Doric.