Classics Reader: Announcing the Full Version
The Classics Reader, the main page for which can be found here, is a continuously evolving project. Besides adding new classical texts for reading, new features are added to the Java applet itself, which is responsible for presenting the texts to the reader. This page announces the new features that the full version of this applet will include, and asks for your feedback. Your feedback is extremely important because it guides the future shape, features, and possibilities for this application. One of the features is already available if you register for the full version (see below).

Please take a look at the added features of the full version, and tell us if they are of any interest to you by writing to:

(You’ll have to type the above, for our protection from spamming email;
we apologize for the inconvenience. Note the hyphen - in the address.)

Added Features in the Full Version Include the Following:

  1. A Find-Word Function
  2. A Select-Text Function
  3. A What-Word-Is-This Function
  4. A Geographical-Orientation Function
  5. An Explanatory Remarks Function
Clicking on the above links will move you to the description of the corresponding function, below.
After the descriptions you’ll find instructions on how to register, and what we expect you to tell us in your email, should you decide to contact us.

1. Find Word: searching for a string in the original text, or in the translation

Note 1: This function has already been implemented, and is available in the registered version. This page, close to the end, tells you how to obtain the registered version (click here if you want to go there now).

Note 2: You can experiment with the features of this function even in the unregistered version by clicking on the Find button (at the top-right corner of the book): doing so will still open the dialog window shown below. You can click on its buttons to see how diacritics are entered above or below the letters, what search options are included, etc. However, clicking on [OK] will not result in finding the string that you entered, because the actual “find” function is available only in the registered version.
The “find word” dialog is shown on the left. (This is only a gif; to experiment with the real dialog click on the Find button on the Classics Reader’s window.)

As you see, some keys are highlighted. These are the keys for entering diacritics in ancient Greek. All diacritics in ancient Greek are included, the following:

  • ΄ (key / ) the acute accent
  • ` (key \ ) the grave accent
  • ~ (keys =, ^, or ~) the circumflex
  • ’ (key ] ) the smooth breathing mark
  • ‘ (key [ ) the rough breathing mark
  • ι (key q) the iota underscript
  • ¨ (key : ) the diaeresis

To place the above diacritics above or below letters, click on the diacritic(s) before the letter (depending on the [Type dacritics] setting, shown just under the keyboard) and then click on the letter.
The keyboard changes its appearance if the [Search original text (left)] control is unchecked (top gray area). In that case, the text on the right page is to be searched, so the appearance of the keyboard depends on the language of the translation. If the translation is in English, no keyboard appears painted on the above dialog because it is not needed (every key produces its face value).

Other controls on the top of this dialog include: [Case sensitive] for case-sensitive or case-insensitive search; [Search from start of text] for searching from the top of the currect text if checked, or from the line shown at the top of the screen onward if unchecked; [Diacritic sensitive], which, when checked, finds only those appearances of the search string that match the diacritics that the user has entered, otherwise the diacritics are ignored; and the two controls [Word starting like this] and [Word ending like this], which, when both checked, result in searching for whole-word appearances of the entered text.

Finally, there is a pair of radio-button controls underneath the painted keyboard: [Type dacritics: o before letter o after letter]. While typing diacritics, some users are accustomed in typing them before the letter that holds them, whereas others prefer typing them after the letter. This control adjusts the behavior of the keyboard to the user’s preference.

An additional button on the Classics Reader’s top-right corner looks like this: (same like the find button, but with a plus sign). It allows the reader to find other appearances of the searched string. This button becomes active once a search has succeeded.

2. Select Text

  The image on the left shows a portion of the ancient text selected in Classics Reader. This is achieved in the familiar way: clicking at the beginning of the text to be selected, and dragging the cursor up to the end of the selection.

Now, what to do with the selection is another question. Classics Reader is a Java applet, and applets cannot copy material directly into the clipboard of your computer (so that you can paste it later somewhere else) for security reasons. (If they could do that, mischievous applets might wreak havoc in your system.) So what happens is that Classics Reader copies the text in another window of its own (it can do that), so then you can copy it normally from there, and paste it wherever you want.
One question with ancient texts is what form a “text” should have, since the usual character fonts do not contain letters with diacritics above or below them. Here, you are given some options: you can have your ancient text in Unicode (which means that if you select an appropriate font then you’ll see the diacritics), or in the style of the Perseus Project, which places the diacritics as separate characters after the letters.

3. Grammatical Information: What Word Is This?

When studying ancient texts, one often wonders what form of a word one is seeing. In a language like ancient Greek, which is extremely rich in morphology (nouns have cases, genders, and numbers, verbs have voices, tenses, moods, persons, and numbers), finding the root form of a word can be frustrating.
  On the left, some words are underlined with a dashed blue line (e.g., γενόμενα, etc.). When the cursor hovers over such words, a window with information about the word pops up, explaining what grammatical form of which word this is.

In the example shown for the word γένηται, the pop-up window informs us that this is the 3rd person singular of the subjunctive mood (1st person singular = γένωμαι), of the “2nd aorist” tense of the verb γίγνομαι, which appears only in the middle voice, and is thus called a “deponent verb”. If the user wishes to see further information on this verb, there is the “More info” button, which causes another window to appear with the full conjugation of this verb (not shown here).

Note: There is an option to hide these underlinings, in case the user prefers to have the text appear without them.

4. Geographical Orientation: What place is this?

  If you are new to classical texts and the geography of the antiquity, often you see names describing geographical places (regions, peoples, seas, rivers, mountains, etc.) but you have no idea what they refer to.

At the bottom of the text, on the left, you see the word “Φοίνικας” (meaning “Phoenicians”) placed in a dotted red rectangle. Clicking on it results in a pop-up window (see it below), which shows the geographical region referred to in the text, highlighted.
     
  The map on the left shows the location of Phoenicia, the region of the ancient Phoenicians, i.e., the “Φοίνικες” in ancient Greek. Clicking on the highlighted region might result in further textual information. For example:

Phoenicia was located in present-day Lebanon, Syria, and northern Israel. The Phoenicians were sea-faring people who established several colonies throughout the Mediterranean Sea. They excelled as merchants. They spoke Phoenician (a Semitic language), and because of their maritime trading culture, they made their alphabet known first to the Greeks, and from there later it spread to the rest of Europe. Thus, the English alphabet has Phoenician roots.

5. Explanatory Remarks Function

Sometimes something is said in the ancient text that its mere translation cannot clarify. This happens when the ancient author assumes knowledge by the reader of some custom, or cultural information, which was common knowledge in antiquity, but was lost in later times. One example is shown below.

Look at the point where a phrase has been underlined with a red dashed line and marked with a star, both in the original text and in the translation. Clicking anywhere on that phrase or star results in a window popping up, in which supplementary information is given. In the above example, Herodotus is saying that Arion, a character in the story and a famous singer of the time, performed the “Orthian Strain” with his lyre. Information about this includes the following:
 
The “Orthian Strain” was an ancient religious high-pitched hymn, honoring Apollo — apparently very well-known in antiquity. It was given a definite form by Terpandros, a poet from Lesbos who lived mostly in Sparta.

 

What we ask from you, and what we offer:

Please note: the full version of Classics Reader is not free. It comes at the nominal price of €5 (five euros). This is less than the price of a dinner at a fast-food place! Why do we ask for your monetary contribution? And why this ridiculously low price? For the following good reasons:

1. The eventual price of the Classics Reader, when all of its functions are implemented, will be set to close to €30 (with some minor adjustment for by-then-suitable prices). However, by registering for it now and paying only €5, you earn the right to receive all future functions of the full version, as they are implemented and become available (including classical texts, see below), at no additional cost. So our low price means: buy now and pay low, rather than buy later but at the full price. If you are really interested in the Classics Reader and you find it useful, we believe this is a very reasonable deal.

2. Because your monetary contribution acts as a reward for us, so that we continue working on this project, improving both the quantity of the ancient texts, and the quality of the program that displays them.

The current minimum price of €5 will keep being adjusted in the future, as functions are added to the Classics Reader, approaching the final price of €30. Besides assigning a fairer price for our product, we do this also to urge you to register as soon as possible.

Also NOTE: every 10th person who registers receives Classics Reader for free, i.e., the above cost is waived. Your only obligation if you are the 10th registering person and thus a winner (after the previous 10th who also won the full Classics Reader for free) is a moral one: we ask that if you discuss in forums, or with friends, etc., about topics related to ancient texts, their translations, etc., then you do not feel shy to tell other people that you won the Classics Reader for free as the 10th registering person, and you give them a link to this page. Note: this offer is not a sham. We have no way of proving to you either that you are, or that you are not the 10th registrant, so you have to rely on our word. But we do keep our word, and rest assured that we do appreciate and look forward to your advertisement of our product if you happen to be a winner.

Other benefits of registration:

  • Included in the low price anounced above are many classical texts that will become available in the future, which are not among the samples shown currently in the free (unregistered) version on the web. For example, there is already more text of Herodotus translated, not shown on the web, which you will receive. You will never need to pay more to obtain additional texts.
  • By running the Classics Reader locally from your computer you avoid the possibly annoying behavior of the letters appearing to “push” each other as they appear on the screen, especially in the beginning. Running locally, the program is sufficiently fast to essentially eliminate this behavior.

You may opt to send us your feedback without ordering the full version of Classics Reader and without paying the €5. (Sending merely feedback does not increase our registration counter; i.e., we increase the counter as soon as we receive a payment of €5, or with the 10th person who expresses an interest to buy our product, and thus gets it for free.) Your feedback and your registration is an and/or option for you. For whatever reason you want to contact us, consider writing up something like the following:
To:
[← type this please]
Subject: Classics Reader feedback/registration [← your and/or option]
Hello,

[For feedback:]

I am interested in seeing the following functions implemented in the full version of the Classics Reader:

3, 1, 2, 5, 4 [← you determine the order; omit whatever does not interest you at all.]

in that order of preference. [Optional:] Notify me when you implement new functions.

[If you have some other idea/comment/suggestion, please add it here.]

[For registering, i.e., ordering the full version:]

I would like to place an order for the full version of Classics Reader, at its current lowest price of €5. I do not need to send any payment at present because I might be a winner. I understand that this price now includes only the implemented find-word function, but it also entitles me to receive all the other functions when they are implemented, and translated texts, at no extra cost. I understand that this offer is not a contract and entails no legal obligations for you (the developers), but you agree that you will email to me newer versions of the Classics Reader with the implemented functions when they become available. If I change my email address in the future, it is up to me to inform you about my new address. If I am the 10th registrant after the previous one who won the full Classics Reader for free according to your records, then I qualify to also win the full Classics Reader for free (i.e., my payment of €5 is waived), so please let me know if I am a winner.

[Name]

As you see from the above, you lose nothing if besides your feedback (or even instead of it) you inquire us to see if you are a winner. If you are, you get our product for free; if not, it is of course up to you to decide whether you’ll buy it or not.

NOTE: You have only one chance to inquire us and learn if you are a winner. This is to discourage people from inquiring, waiting for some time, inquiring again, and so on.

For comments, suggestions, or other correspondence please contact the webmaster. Click here to email to him.

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