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Readers should feel no fear in pronouncing proper names, since there are few ways they can go far wrong. The evolution of these names from Greek to Latin to English means that there is often more than one valid way to sound them out. The vowel combination ae is pronounced by some to rhyme with “buy,” by others “bay,” and still others “bee”; the first is more authentic but all are possible. Many classicists are eclectic, choosing whichever sounds right in a particular word. My own preference is for the “eye” sound in both syllables of Aegae , the ancient capital of the Macedonian state.
Some consonants also offer more than one possibility. C can be sounded soft, like s , or hard, like k. Most English speakers follow our own language and allow it to be soft before the vowel i (as in Phocion ) and before some e ’s. Likewise the letter g becomes soft (like j ) before e but is hard elsewhere; this will help distinguish Antigonus , hard, from Antigenes , soft, two names that are otherwise maddeningly similar.
The syllable -es at the end of a name is always sounded “eez,” so that Eumenes and Demades have three syllables (with the first one stressed). A final e is either “ee” or “ay” but is always voiced as a syllable. The Greek language had no silent vowels, and no silent consonants either: in Ptolemy the initial P is usually dropped by English speakers, but those courageous enough to sound it will be saying the name as the Greeks did.
The issue of syllabic stress sometimes causes stress for readers. A good rule to follow is that in four-syllable names —Antigonus, Leosthenes, Hyperides— the emphasis usually falls on the second syllable. Alexander of course breaks this rule, as he broke all the others.