Samples of Greek & Latin, Restored Pronunciation

Some MP3 samples of the “restored” pronunciation of classical Greek and Latin.
I’ve long been a fan of attempts to reconstruct the pronunciation of ancient Greek and Latin. I’ve embedded MP3 snippets of the first line of The Odyssey as well as most of Catullus I. (They take up a lot of space !)

Odyssey Line 1.1 (spoken)

read by Stephen Daitz, “A Recital of Ancient Greek Poetry”, 2nd ed

ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ

Odyssey Line 1.1 (chanted)

Catullus 1

Read by Robert P. Sonkowsky, “Selections from Catullus and Horace”

Sonkowsky is not as good as Stephen Daitz reading the Greek. He has a very strong American accent and his nasal consonants are particularly bad, sounding rather like a feckless schoolgirl’s attempt to reproduce nasals in French. But still the recording gives the exotic and alien flavour of the “original” pronunciation of Classical Latin.

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum
arida modo pumice expolitum?
Corneli, tibi: namque tu solebas
meas esse aliquid putare nugas.
Iam tum, cum ausus es unus Italorum
omne aevum tribus explicare cartis…
Doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis!
Quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli—
qualecumque, quod, o patrona virgo,
plus uno maneat perenne saeclo!