Why does EB Garamond fail when Greek is the default language in Polyglossia?

Question

I am trying to typeset some text in ancient Greek. (Whether it is ancient or modern doesn’t seem to make a difference.) I would like to do it using EB Garamond, which has polytonic Greek characters.

However, when I try to compile a document, it gives me the following error message:

Package polyglossia Error: The current latin roman font does not contain the "Greek" script! (polyglossia) Please define \greekfont with \newfontfamily command.

Here is the MWE that I am attempting to compile in LuaLaTeX:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{EB Garamond}     % The document compiles with \setmainfont{Libertinus Serif} 
\setsansfont{Libertinus Sans}
\setmonofont{Libertinus Mono}

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setdefaultlanguage{greek}    % compiles with EB Garamond if I set default to English

\begin{document}

\section*{βίβλος Α}

\noindent ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ\\
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν:\\
πολλῶν δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,\\
πολλὰ δ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,\\
ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.\\
ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὣς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ:\\
αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο,\\
νήπιοι, οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο\\
ἤσθιον: αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.\\
τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.

\end{document}

(The same happens in XeLaTeX.)

Yet EB Garamond is plainly able to typeset the polyphonic Greek characters.

I realize that I can set Greek as a secondary language, but I would like to be able to have the headings, etc., in Greek.

Any ideas what is going on? Are there any work-arounds?

Answer 1

You get the error message

! Package polyglossia Error: The current latin roman font does not contain the "Greek" script!
(polyglossia)                Please define \greekfont with \newfontfamily command.

Never disregard error messages, particularly when they suggest a solution.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{polyglossia}

\setmainfont{EB Garamond}
\setsansfont{Libertinus Sans}
\setmonofont{Libertinus Mono}
\newfontfamily{\greekfont}{EB Garamond}

\setdefaultlanguage{greek}

\begin{document}

\section*{βίβλος Α}

\noindent ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ\\
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν:\\
πολλῶν δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,\\
πολλὰ δ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,\\
ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.\\
ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὣς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ:\\
αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο,\\
νήπιοι, οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο\\
ἤσθιον: αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.\\
τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.

\end{document}

Alternatively, use babel.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage[polutonikogreek]{babel}

\setmainfont{EB Garamond}
\setsansfont{Libertinus Sans}
\setmonofont{Libertinus Mono}

\begin{document}

\section*{βίβλος Α}

\noindent ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ\\
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν:\\
πολλῶν δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,\\
πολλὰ δ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,\\
ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.\\
ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὣς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ:\\
αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο,\\
νήπιοι, οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο\\
ἤσθιον: αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.\\
τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.

\end{document}