This textbook features the best of traditional methods for learning ancient Greek, with an especially strong focus on composition work. But the text also includes innovative drills and stimulating readings and sentences, designed in such a way that they offer a gateway to discussions about Greek literature, history, and culture. The text presupposes the mastery of no other foreign language, including Latin, and thus fully explicates the most basic principles of tense, part of speech, etc. Particularly difficult aspects of the Greek language, like accentuation or the principles of euphonic change, are introduced gradually yet fully. The relative frequency of forms, vocabulary, and constructions in Greek informs the organization and order of the text. With the completion of the companion text, A Course in Attic Greek II, the student will be prepared to read any ancient author in the original, including works in koine.