As an extra exercise in pronunciation (and extra credit on Quiz 1), try to learn by heart any 2 of the following passages about 'the beginning' --in Greek!    (click on the mask for audio)

1) Hesiod is the author of the Greek creation story from ca 700 BCE: he pictures the very beginning as follows:

First of all came Chaos,  but then  (came) broad-breasted Earth...Out of Chaos came Erebus and black Night...

but Earth first gave birth to a match for herself, starry Heaven.

2) In the centuries after Alexander, the Old Testament was translated into Greek. By tradition, this was done by 70 (odd) scholars, at Alexandria in the mid 3rd century BCE (but, evidently, by various translators at different times ); it is called the 'Septuagint' (from Latin for 70). The first verses as follows (leaning on some old-fashioned versions):

In  the beginning (the) God made the heaven and the earth.

But the earth was 'without form and void', and darkness was over the abyss:

and the spirit/breath of God moved over the water.

ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου· καὶ πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος.

3) And perhaps most familiar to many of you, the opening verses of the Gospel according to John:

 ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν,

καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (2) οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ  πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

(3) πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο,

καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν ...