Koine dialect

The koine or “common dialect” was the standardised Greek language which emerged in the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic periods, based on the dialect of Attica but expanded by contact with the closely‐related Ionic dialects. It was the first common Greek language, and gradually replaced the classical dialects in the written record. The koine remained the standard form of written Greek until the end of Late Antiquity, in spite of an abortive attempt by the literary elite to “purify” the language in the second century ce (the Second Sophistic) by taking it closer to classical Attic.

Ancient Greek · Elite · Greek language · Language contact · Standard language