Greek dialects

T. Wier wrote:

> I couldn't tell you more about the condition of Modern Italiote Greek than
> what the Ethnologue has to say about them:
>
> <http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/lookup?GRK>
Ok, I'll take a look.

> > > BTW, does anyone know anything about what (modern) Italiote Greek
> > > looks/looked like?  (I suppose that would be Ray, who is out capering
in
> > > the Continent...)
> >
> > Yes, in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy) there are some regions where
dwell
> > Greek speaking communities, but it hasn't been already definitely said
> > what's their origin (from pre-Roman time seems rather an impossible
> > possibility, IMHO, but the world's full of surprises!)
>
> No, actually, they were from Pre-Roman times.   The Romans had a lot of
> early encounters with hellenophone citystates in Magna Graecia.  Most of
> them had been founded between 750 and 450 BC, when Rome was just
> a political and cultural backwater.
I know there were a lot of Greek colonies in Southern Italy founded even
before Rome itself, but what I meant is: are we sure that the varieties of
Modern Greek spoken today in Southern Italy are direct heirs of those that
were spoken there 2000 yrs ago? Many ethnologues suggested that these
dialects were indeed those of some refugees come to Italy during the Middle
Ages, or even after the Battle of Lepantos.

A Question: is there a site on the www where the different dialects of
Ancient Greek are explained as well as their phonetic peculiarities?

Luca