An inscription carved over 2,300 years ago by Alexander the Great is still perfectly readable to any Greek speaker alive...

An inscription carved over 2,300 years ago by Alexander the Great is still perfectly readable to any Greek speaker alive today. The dedication was found in the Temple of Athena Polias in Priene, an ancient Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, and it reads: "King Alexander dedicated the temple to Athena Polias." The text, written in ancient Greek, uses words that remain in use in the modern language. Greek history writer Homer Pavlos noted that the continuity is striking, given that the inscription predates the Roman Empire, the Byzantine era, and centuries of Ottoman rule. Priene was one of dozens of Greek cities that flourished along the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. Alexander made the dedication when he visited the city during his campaigns, and the temple itself is considered one of the finest examples of Ionic architecture from the classical period. The original marble block bearing the inscription is now housed in the British Museum in London, having been excavated by British archaeologists in the 19th century. The temple ruins remain in what is now western Turkey. The fact that a modern Greek reader can look at a 2,300-year-old royal dedication and understand it without translation is a detail that tends to stop people in their tracks. Few living languages can claim that kind of documented, unbroken thread reaching back to antiquity. #AlexanderTheGreat #GreekHistory #AncientGreece