The Greek New Testament Gateway:Fonts

Greek Fonts (Unicode)

Note:  the future of fonts on the internet is Unicode.  I strongly encourage you to come to terms with Unicode as soon as possible.  Eventually everyone will be working with it, so make the change now rather than later.   There are a couple of very helpful guides which explain Unicode and provide advice and instructions:

Unicode Polytonic Greek Keyboard Map (New)
By John Schwandt:  easy to follow instructions on how to begin working with Unicode for writing Greek, with links and keyboard maps.

Biblical Language Fonts and Unicode
By Rodney Decker:  an excellent introduction for those looking to find out more about Unicode.  Particularly helpful is Decker's paper "What a Biblical Scholar / Student Should Know About Unicode" (PDF)

Further details:  if you want to know more, the following site is recommended:

Unicode (New)
From SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics): a wealth of useful material, with tutorials and more.

Also useful:  the following is a facility that you may find useful if you have not yet made the transition to working with a Greek keyboard:

Unicode Classical Greek Inputter (New)
By James Naughton:  a web page that you can use as a keyboard -- type naturally in unicode, or point and click, and then copy and paste into your document.  You can save the page locally so that you can access the facility off-line.  See also Naughton's helpful page on Unicode Classical Greek which has several useful links.

Copying and pasting New Testament passages: if you simply need Greek NT materials in unicode, copy and paste from one of the following resources, which have the Greek NT in unicode:

• Greek New Testament (HTML help file format, Naughton)
• Greek New Testament (PDF, Naughton)
• Greek New Testament and LXX (Zhubert, HTML, etc.)
• Greek New Testament and LXX (Variety, HTML, Unbound Bible)
• On-line Greek Bible (NA26, HTML)

Greek Fonts (Legacy)

Note: some publishers are still working with legacy fonts and SPIonic is particularly popular, not least because everyone can download it for free (see below).  I have provided links to a variety of legacy fonts below.  If you are starting out with Greek fonts, though, I would strongly encourage you to go with unicode (see above);  you will make life easier for yourself in the long run.

SPIonic
The free, public domain Scholars Press Greek font designed by James Adair. Available for Mac or Windows. Click on SPIONIC_.TTF and download the 'read me' document as well as the font. You will need this font to read certain Biblical Studies related web pages. The same site provides Hebrew, Coptic and Syriac fonts. For keyboard mapping, see the next link.

SPIOnic Keyboard Picture
By Doug Chaplin: a useful keyboard illustration of the keyboard mapping for SPIonic.

SPIOnic Keyboard Map
At Biblisches Forum: keyboard mapping for SPIonic. A keyboard map is also available at Biblical Studies on the Web site.

Fonts for Biblical Studies
By David Instone Brewer, Tyndale House, Cambridge, U.K. Excellent page taking the user through several of the major fonts available for download. Features the Tyndale Fonts Kit, a freeware package incorporating the Scholars Press fonts, SPIonic (Greek) and SPTiberian (Hebrew); the RTL keyboard program and full instructions on how to use the fonts and utilities. Type Hebrew from right to left and find help with Greek breathings, accents, final sigmas and more. One-stop solution for Biblical scholars looking for good, free fonts and utilities for typing Hebrew and Greek.

SIL Greek Font System
The Summer Institute of Linguistics has a fine Greek font system, also downloadable for free (though copyright). This is another one-stop solution to your search for a useful, free Greek font, and it comes with instructions, special keyboard facilities and so on.

SIL Apparatus Fonts -- Symbols Used For Biblical Text Apparatus -- is available from the same site.

Teknia Greek Font (New URL)
A Greek font from Teknia Software, "absolutely free without any restrictions", the successor of the old "Mounce" Greek font. The page usefully contains full details on how to download the font, and gives keyboard mapping.  It is essential for using the Greek software downloadable from the Teknia site.

Paradigm Software Development Greek Font
Another good looking free Greek font. It comes with a Word document giving the keyboard mapping for the font.

BST Font Resources
Free Greek and Hebrew fonts, with instructions on how to install. You will need these fonts to view the Goshen Interlinear Bible and Greek Lexicon.

Galilee Greek Font
By Rodney Decker: font has been developed for free use by the scholarly community. It is currently available in True Type format with both regular, bold, and italic faces. It works on both Windows and Mac OS X. One of the goals for Decker's project has been to design a font optimized for use on screen and on the web rather than primarily for printed output.

Silver Mountain Software
Shareware Greek, Hebrew, Latin and Coptic fonts available for a registration fee of $20.

Athenian Font
Available free for the reading of Greek material on the web (e.g. at the Perseus site), or for $50 if one wants to use it for typing.

BibleScript
From Galaxie Software: a shareware version is available and is necessary for reading material at the Biblical Studies Foundation.

Classical Greek Fonts and Utilities
By Matthew Robinson: resources and links for the PC, including explanations and macros for using fonts in Word and WordPerfect -- a very useful site.

The Little Greek Guide to Fonts for New Testament Greek
By Jonathan Robie: a useful introduction, if now rather out of date.

Greek Font Help
Provided for the fonts SGreek (from Silver Mountain Software, above) and Athenian (see above). It is necessary to have one of these fonts in order to read the pages in Greek at the Perseus site.

Greek and Hebrew Fonts for Microsoft Windows
By Glenn Wooden and Harry Hahne: a good introduction to some of the fonts listed above, but now quite dated.

WP Language Assistants
By Willem Smouter: freeware to enable Word Perfect users to type Greek, Hebrew and Cyrillic without difficulty.

Babylon Lingua: Greek
By William D. Ramey: excellent, comprehensive guide to lots of Greek fonts (and related resources) on the web. See also this site for extensive guide to other ancient language fonts, Hebrew, Coptic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, Syriac etc.

Greek and Coptic Language Fonts
By Luc Devroye: comprehensive, annotated and up-to-date guide to Greek and Coptic fonts available on the internet. A useful page.

Coptic Fonts

Greek Fonts Hebrew, Aramaic and Other Fonts

Greek and Coptic Language Fonts
By Luc Devroye: comprehensive, annotated and up-to-date guide to Greek and Coptic fonts available on the internet. A useful page.

Coptic Font
Yamada Language Centre, University of Oregon

SPAchmim
The Scholars Press free font, available for Mac or Windows, designed by Jimmy Adair: a good font that is particularly useful for writing and reading web materials. Click on SPACHMIM_.TTF and download the 'read me' document as well as the font.

C2SRC Coptic Fonts Page
By Mike Grondin: provides character mapping for both of the above-mentioned fonts.

Hebrew, Aramaic and Other Fonts

Greek Fonts Coptic Fonts

Babylon Lingua
By William Ramey: comprehensive, annotated and very useful guide to ancient language fonts available on the internet. Recommended.

SIL Hebrew Font System
The Summer Institute of Linguistics provides a free Hebrew font package for Windows and Macintosh.

Scholars Press Fonts
Scholars Press has free, public domain Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac fonts.

Jack Kilmon's Scriptorium
Provides a set of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek fonts constructed by the host of the site; there are links too to other good fonts on the internet.