[XeTeX] Where to start

[François Charette]

> François Charette has written the bidi package, either on CTAN or 
> here: http://ankabut.net/xetex/bidi.zip

It's no longer there. Get it from CTAN. But polyglossia is still 
available at http://ankabut.net/xetex/polyglossia.zip

Here is a minimal example for using polyglossia, with German, Ancient 
Greek and Hebrew:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[no-math]{fontspec} %theologians rarely use math ;-)
\usepackage{xltxtra,polyglossia,bidi}
\setdefaultlanguage{german}
\setotherlanguage[variant=ancient]{greek}
\setromanfont{Linux Libertine}
\defaultfontfeatures{Scale=MatchLowercase}
\newfontfamily\hebrewfont[Script=Hebrew]{SBL Hebrew}
\newcommand{\texthebrew}[1]{\RL{\hebrewfont #1}}
\begin{document}

Text auf Deutsch...

Nun wollen wir mal was Hebräisches einfügen
(\texthebrew{בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים}), bevor wir im nächsten Absatz
einen berühmten altgriechischen Text zitieren:

\begin{greek}
τὸν δ' ἠμείβετ' ἔπειτα θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη:
ὦ πάτερ ἡμέτερε Κρονίδη, ὕπατε κρειόντων,
καὶ λίην κεῖνός γε ἐοικότι κεῖται ὀλέθρῳ …
\end{greek}
\end{document}

It is also possible to use the hebrew module of polyglossia, but for 
purposes of Biblical scholarship this is of little use.

See also http://kuerzer.de/K4yjwAcc9

Best,
FC