Decker, Rodney J.

Biblical Language Fonts
  • The Galilee Greek font, a sans serif Windows TrueType font for polytonic koine Greek. Lots more detail, samples, and a download link on the linked page. (This is not a Unicode font; for that see the next listing.)
  • The Galilee Unicode Greek font is now available.
  • Biblical Language fonts and Unicode, an introductory discussion of font issues that arise in biblical studies; focuses primarily on Greek, but very relevant to Hebrew or Aramaic as well. This is a summary of some of what I have learned in the process of designing the Galilee font. Includes “What a NT Student Should Know about Unicode” (2d ed. of a 13 page paper that explains what Unicode is, how it relates to “doing Greek” on a computer, and how to use it; with a bibliography).
  • Mac OS X Unicode keyboard layout for polytonic Greek following the TLG beta code system. Details on the page linked, but generally this is the Mac equivalent of using Keyman on Windows with the Classical Greek keyboard by Lopez.

Unicode Font Tutorials for Polytonic Greek

The following Windows tutorials were designed and produced by my TA, Mark Mills, in August 2010. His work is greatly appreciated; I think you’ll find them useful. I created the Mac tutorials. I do NOT provide tech support for matters related to these tutorials; please don’t email me asking why you can’t make it work. If you find a actual error in the info here, and can verify that with more than one computer, then drop me a note.

  • Installing the Gentium font in Windows OS (XP, Vista, Win7) Other fonts will work fine as well so long as they support polytonic Greek, but Gentium is as good a font for this purpose as any–and it’s free. This is the one that I recommend to my students and use for online course materials, etc.
  • Installing and using the Keyman utility in Windows OS (XP, Vista, Win7) There may be other ways to handle entering polytonic Greek text, but on Windows, this is the best and easiest way that I know for English-speakers to do so. Keyman is NOT free, but the cost is minimal.
  • Mac tutorials for installing the Gentium font and configuring the OS to enter Greek text