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Old Athenian language
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Old Athenian language

Greek language
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The Attic dialect was the language of ancient Athens and is closely related to the Ionic dialect. In the 5th century BCE, Attic became the most prestigious Greek dialect, adopted by Macedonian kings and later becoming the basis for Koine, the common language of the Hellenistic period.1

Attic is the dialect used in Athenian comedy and tragedy, and it also became the prose standard for writers like Thucydides, Plato, and Demosthenes. While Ancient Greek had numerous dialects, Attic's influence led to its widespread adoption. The Attic dialect's phonology, as of 500 BCE, featured seven vowel qualities and a consonantal structure with stops, few spirants, and liquid and nasal sounds.123

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9 Britannica Sources
  1. Attic dialect
  2. Greek language - History and development
  3. Greek literature - Philosophical prose
  4. Greek language - Phonology
  5. Greek language - Local dialects
  6. list of critics - Greek
  7. Modern Greek
  8. Greek language - The Greek alphabet
  9. Greek language - Standard Modern Greek

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