The best readers after Athenaze Book 1 are W.H.D. Rouse’s A Greek Boy at Home and Alexandros, the JACT Reading Greek text, Peckett’s Thrasymachus, and Geoffrey Steadman’s free annotated readers. After Athenaze Book 1, most learners should move to a sheltered graded reader before tackling annotated Xenophon or Plato, and the next step depends on whether you want to keep studying Attic or branch into Koine.
If you just closed Athenaze Book 1 and are staring at the bookshelf wondering what comes next, you are in exactly the right place. Athenaze is one of the most widely used Greek textbooks in the world, and finishing Volume I is a real milestone. But the textbook ends just as the vocabulary starts to feel useful, and the jump to Plato or the Greek New Testament can feel enormous without a bridge. I have talked to dozens of self-learners and worked through this stage myself, and the same titles come up over and over again as the best readers after Athenaze Book 1.
This guide is a curated, sequenced path through the next stage of your Greek. I will walk through eight strong reader picks, explain the Attic versus Koine versus Homeric dialect question in plain English, share free PDF resources that the community trusts, and answer the four questions readers most often ask after finishing Athenaze.
Table of Contents
Best Readers After Athenaze Book 1
Here are the eight readers I recommend first, ordered roughly from easiest to most challenging. Each one is well-loved by the r/AncientGreek and Textkit communities, and several have free PDFs available if you hunt for them.
- A Greek Boy at Home by W.H.D. Rouse — A short, gentle narrative reader written in clean Attic. Many self-learners treat it as the smoothest landing after Athenaze, because the vocabulary is sheltered and the story stays simple.
- Alexandros by W.H.D. Rouse — Rouse’s follow-up to Greek Boy. The vocabulary is still controlled, but the sentences are denser, which makes it a natural step up before tackling annotated Xenophon.
- Reading Greek by the Joint Association of Classical Teachers (JACT) — A two-volume course that pairs short reading passages with grammar and vocabulary notes. The Cambridge edition is widely used in British schools and is a strong alternative or companion to Athenaze Book 2.
- Thrasymachus by A.E.C. Peckett and A.R. Munday — A graded reader built around the story of a young Athenian. Several Athenaze users on Textkit report pairing Thrasymachus alongside the textbook rather than waiting until the end.
- O Kataskopos by A.E.C. Peckett — A short, accessible reader that recycles much of the Athenaze vocabulary. If you bounced off Athenaze around chapter XII, this is a kind re-entry point.
- Greek to GCSE: Part 1 by John Taylor and Gilbert Lawall — Written for British secondary students, but it works beautifully for adult self-learners who want short, fast-moving readings with built-in vocabulary help.
- Mythologica by J.M. Hansen — A graded reader built from Greek myths. The cultural hook keeps motivation high when Athenaze chapters start to feel heavy.
- A First Greek Reader by Ed Donnelly — One of many freely available readers on Ed Donnelly’s website. Donnelly hosts more than thirty beginning-reader texts, and his site is the single best free resource for post-Athenaze material.
Each of these can be read in a semester of steady work, and most of them are short enough that you can finish one before deciding on the next step.
Where Athenaze Book 1 Leaves You
Athenaze Book 1, written by Maurice Balme, Gilbert Lawall, and James Morwood for Oxford University Press, teaches Attic Greek through a continuous story set in fifth-century Athens. By the end of Volume I you have worked through roughly fourteen chapters plus the Hellenistic Greek Ephodion supplement, and you have met the major verb and noun forms.
What Athenaze does brilliantly is give you a feeling for the language. What it does not do is turn you into an independent reader. The chapters are heavily scaffolded, vocabulary is glossed inside each unit, and the readings are short. Real Plato, real Xenophon, and real New Testament Greek are longer, less glossed, and full of forms Athenaze only touches in passing.
That is why almost every serious learner reaches the same conclusion: Athenaze Book 1 is the foundation, not the finish line. You need a graded reader or an annotated intermediate text to consolidate the grammar before reading authentic prose at speed.
A 3-Step Reading Path After Athenaze Book 1
Here is the sequenced path I recommend. It mirrors the natural progression used in UK classics programs and matches what experienced self-learners describe on Textkit and r/AncientGreek.
Step 1: Sheltered Graded Reader (Weeks 1-6)
Start with Rouse’s A Greek Boy at Home or Alexandros. Read a chapter a week, write out unfamiliar vocabulary by hand, and resist the urge to look up every word in the running glossary. The point at this stage is fluency, not perfection.
Step 2: Annotated Intermediate Text (Weeks 7-16)
Move into a Steadman annotated reader, or work through Geoffrey Steadman’s free PDF of the Anabasis Book 1. Steadman’s editions keep the original Greek but add facing vocabulary and notes, so you can read authentic Xenophon without drowning.
Step 3: Authentic Text With a Loeb (Weeks 17+)
Pick up a Loeb Classical Library edition of Xenophon’s Anabasis, Plato’s Apology, or a Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament. Read slowly, keep a vocabulary list, and use the facing English translation only when you are truly stuck.
This three-step path takes most self-learners about four to six months. It builds the bridge Athenaze alone cannot build, and it leaves you reading real Greek with confidence.
Attic vs Koine vs Homeric: Which Dialect First
After Athenaze Book 1, learners often get stuck on a dialect question they did not have to worry about in the textbook: should I keep reading Attic, switch to Koine, or tackle Homeric?
Here is the short version. Attic is the dialect of classical Athens, used by Plato, Xenophon, Thucydides, and the Attic orators. Koine is the Hellenistic and Roman-era Greek of the New Testament, the Septuagint, and most later prose. Homeric is the literary dialect of the Iliad and Odyssey, with its own grammar and vocabulary.
Athenaze teaches Attic, so the smoothest transition is to keep reading Attic. Steadman’s Anabasis notes and Plato’s Apology are both Attic, and they reinforce exactly the grammar Athenaze just introduced. If your real goal is to read the Greek New Testament, you can branch into Koine after Athenaze Book 2; the dialect shift is small and many learners find Koine easier than Attic because the morphology is simpler.
Homeric is a different beast. The forms and the metrical conventions take real time to learn, and most learners save Homer for after they are comfortable with Attic prose. If you love epic, start with a Steadman Iliad excerpt and treat it as a side project rather than the main road.
Free PDF Resources and Companion Tools
One of the best things about the post-Athenaze community is how much free material is available. Here are the resources I trust.
Geoffrey Steadman publishes free annotated PDFs of Xenophon, Plato, Lysias, and the Greek New Testament. His editions add facing vocabulary below each line, which is exactly the support Athenaze graduates need. Look for Steadman Xenophon Anabasis 1 and the Steadman Plato Apology.
Ed Donnelly’s website hosts more than thirty beginning-reader texts, including his own A First Greek Reader. The site is the single best free library for post-Athenaze material, and Donnelly’s notes are unusually friendly to self-learners.
Anki decks for Athenaze vocabulary are widely shared on Reddit and Quizlet. If verbs are slipping out of your head, an Anki deck built from the Athenaze word list is the single most effective fix.
Luke Ranieri’s YouTube channel (ScorpioMartianus) includes long-form read-throughs of Athenaze chapters and Xenophon. Listening while you read is a powerful way to internalize Lucian pronunciation and rhythm.
Loeb Classical Library volumes are available through most university libraries and now through digital subscriptions. The facing English translation is a safety net you should use sparingly, but it is invaluable when a passage really resists you.
How to Choose the Right Reader for Your Goals
The eight readers above all work, but the right one for you depends on three honest questions.
What is your real goal? If your goal is to read Plato or the Greek New Testament, prioritize Attic-continuation readers like Rouse or Steadman. If your goal is the New Testament and early Christian literature, jump to a Steadman Gospel of John or the Greek New Testament itself once you have finished Athenaze Book 2.
Self-study or classroom? Readers with built-in answer keys and vocabulary glosses are far better for solo learners. Rouse, Reading Greek, and Steadman all work without a teacher. Thrasymachus and Peckett’s other readers assume a classroom context, so they are tougher to use alone.
Continuity or variety? If you finished Athenaze feeling confident, stay with Attic and try Alexandros or Steadman’s Anabasis. If you finished feeling burned out, switch genres: try Mythologica for stories, or branch into Koine with a Steadman Gospel for a fresh start.
There is no wrong path as long as you keep reading. Greek rewards volume, and any of these readers will move you forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest ancient Greek text to read after Athenaze Book 1?
Rouse’s A Greek Boy at Home is widely considered the easiest post-Athenaze reader because it uses sheltered Attic vocabulary and a simple narrative. Alexandros by the same author is the natural follow-up, and Steadman’s annotated PDFs of Xenophon and Plato are the easiest path into authentic prose.
Should I do Athenaze Book 2 or move straight to readers?
Most learners benefit from doing both. Finish Athenaze Book 2 to consolidate the grammar, then use a graded reader like Rouse or Reading Greek to build reading speed. Jumping to readers before Book 2 works if you are willing to look up grammar as you go, but Book 2 is the safer choice for self-learners.
What are some must-read books in ancient Greek?
For Attic prose, Xenophon’s Anabasis and Plato’s Apology are the classic entry points. For oratory, Lysias’ On the Murder of Eratosthenes is short and rewarding. For Koine, the Gospel of John in the Greek New Testament is the standard starting text. For epic, the Iliad Books 1 and 6 are the usual first stops.
In what order should I read the Greek classics?
A common sequence is Xenophon Anabasis, then Plato Apology or Crito, then Lysias speeches, then Herodotus selections, and finally Homer. For Koine learners, the sequence is Gospel of John, then Acts, then the Pauline epistles. The exact order matters less than reading consistently.
Is there a free Greek reader I can use after Athenaze Book 1?
Yes. Geoffrey Steadman publishes free annotated PDFs of Xenophon, Plato, Lysias, and the Greek New Testament. Ed Donnelly’s website hosts more than thirty free beginning-reader texts, including A First Greek Reader. Both are trusted by the r/AncientGreek and Textkit communities.
Final Thoughts
Finishing Athenaze Book 1 is the moment most learners decide whether Greek becomes a lifelong habit or a half-finished shelf. The readers above give you a real next step, and the free resources from Steadman and Donnelly mean you do not need a big budget to keep going. Pick the reader that matches your goal, follow the three-step path, and within a few months you will be reading real Greek with confidence.
The best readers after Athenaze Book 1 are the ones you actually finish. Start with one, read it cover to cover, and let the next reader find you.