Help with translation of this Greek text

I recently got History of the Later Roman Empire, Volume 1 by J.D Bury for really cheap and have started to read it. Right before the preface is the following words in Greek.



There is no translation given, which I assume is because when the book was first published, Greek (and Latin) was still widely taught, so it would be assumed that readers who would seek to read about ancient history would have good knowledge about reading Greek. But I am a product of the Greek-less U.S. public school system of the late-20th and early 21st century so I am at a loss as to what it says. I recognize a few letters but that's about it. Tried taking a photo through my translator app but that was no real help.

Would really appreciate any help with this!

 

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i speak modern greek but some stuff is the same i think its -the couples- romans slaves memories
or memoirs (young or new) and many...... last word i will look up

 

google translate is giving me conferences for ΣΥΝΟΔΟΙΠΟΡΙΩΝ
if anybody knows some katharevousa they can probably clean up my translation

 

I typed it into Google Translate

MY CYZYGI MY
'POMMHC HOW TO TAKE COI MNHMHION' ECT
HEAVY NEAC, SLAUGHTER AND CYNODOID

You're welcome.

Sometimes Google Translate fails big. This is one of those times.

 

https://www.onlineocr.net/
use an image to text translator, they are 100 % accurate

it says


YOU! [HERE MY ROME SPECIFIC PACKAGE THE MEMORY [ONE] NEAC, VEGETABLES AND COSMETICS

 

okay I punched the whole thing in greek text using a sigma in place of the roman c
and it gave me church elders instead of slaves and some gobbledygook,
enjoy!

 

ΣΥΝΟΔΟΙΠΟΡΙΩΝ is fellow traveler, ΠΟLLΩΝ can mean anything from the many to the common men. I might suggest something like 'fellows and companions'. It has been 50 years since I took Greek and I remember mostly that the language was very idiomatic. My favorite line applies here - Ou Panu Euparo - Not at all well-prepared - was explained to me as 'up the creek without a paddle' by my professor who actually thought in ancient Greek.

 

It won't be translated by Google because it's ANCIENT Greek, not modern.

It reads:

To the one yoked together with me

Let this be a monument to you, of old Rome
and new and of many fellow travelers.

Sounds like it's a dedication to a wife.

 

Yes, it's almost certainly to a wife. The feminine article before CΥΖΥΓΩΙ identifies it as the second declension feminine noun used by Euripides (Alc. 314) and others to mean "wife." It literally means "yoke-mate."

 

funny thing is there is some cosmetics containing vegetables

 

I'll make it numismatic by showing my eta sigma phi classics honor society medal. Basically, it's the equivalent of "I studied Latin and/or Greek and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."



The obverse is part of a quote by Horace, Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor—My aim ever is to subject circumstances to myself, not myself to them.

The reverse reads "The importance of classical languages."

 

I am impressed that anyone can read ancient Greek.

What are the major differences between modern and ancient Greek?

John

 

Bravo! I am very impressed, Roman Collector! Are you self-taught?

 

Isn't carving letters in stone more of a Roman pastime?

I think the Greeks would rather sculpt a battle or mythical scene.

Are there any prominent inscriptions on the Parthenon for example?

 

one thing I remember in the Akropolis museum there is marble with inscriptions with costs of construction of the Parthenon... I dont know how prominent they would have been though

 

We tend to think of antiquity as what has survived but not what was. I suspect there were shopping lists scratched in wax and graffiti on many surfaces but all we know are things that last 2000 years. I am concerned today that the 21st century will be lost compared to the 20th because so few of us have stacks of letters and diaries compared to what we might call 'the paper generation'. Will the texts and tweets of today be readable in 200 years or 2000? I have a number of letters and books on paper that will be useful to historians trying to reconstruct the way thing were and I know there are a million other stacks of similar material. The posts I made online in the 1990's may or may not be considered crucial to history but the other million stacks of lost bytes might leave a gap rather like the one that makes us think of the the Romans as primarily stone carvers.

Will coin collectors in 2117 have albums of Visa cards with magnetic stripes and/or chips? Will they figure out how to slab a bit of the Cloud? Will there be Lincoln cents dated 2117? We can only guess.