Aeolic Greek

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Aeolic Greek
Aeolian dialect Lesbian dialect Lesbic dialect
Αἰολικός
Region	Aeolis, Boeotia, Lesbos, Thessaly
Era	c. 800–300 BC[citation needed]
Language family	Indo-European Hellenic Ancient Greek Central Aeolic Greek
Early form	Proto-Greek
Dialects	Boeotian Thessalian Lesbian
Writing system	Greek alphabet (uncial and cursive forms) Eastern Archaic Greek alphabet (up to 4th century BC)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	grc-aeo
Glottolog	aeol1234
Distribution of Greek dialects in Greece in the classical period.[1] Western group:   Doric proper   Northwest Doric   Achaean Doric (probably Northwest Doric) Central group:   Aeolic   Arcado-Cypriot Eastern group:   Attic   Ionic

In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (/iːˈɒlɪk/), also known as Aeolian (/iːˈoʊliən/), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anatolia and adjoining islands.

The Aeolic dialect shows many archaisms in comparison to the other Ancient Greek dialects (Arcadocypriot, Attic, Ionic, and Doric varieties), as well as many innovations.

Aeolic Greek is widely known as the language of Sappho and of Alcaeus of Mytilene. Aeolic poetry, which is exemplified in the works of Sappho, mostly uses four classical meters known as the Aeolics: Glyconic (the most basic form of Aeolic line), hendecasyllabic verse, Sapphic stanza, and Alcaic stanza (the latter two are respectively named for Sappho and Alcaeus).

In Plato's Protagoras, Prodicus labelled the Aeolic dialect of Pittacus of Mytilene as "barbarian",^[2] because of its difference from the Attic literary style:^[3] "He didn't know to distinguish the words correctly, being from Lesbos, and having been raised with a barbarian dialect".