Expressions of Agency in Ancient Greek
Expressions of Agency in Ancient Greek
$136.00
USDAncient Greek expressed the agents of passive verbs by a variety of means, and this work explores the language's development of prepositions which marked the agents of passive verbs. After an initial look at the pragmatics of agent constructions, it turns to this central question: under what conditions is the agent expressed by a construction other than hupo with the genitive? The book traces the development of these expressions from Homer through classical prose and drama, paying attention to the semantic, syntactic, and metrical conditions that favoured the use of one preposition over another. It concludes with a study of the decline of hupo as an agent marker in the first millennium AD. Although the focus is on developments in Greek, translation of the examples should render it accessible to linguists studying changes in prepositional systems generally.
- Offers the first book-length study of the development by Ancient Greek of prepositions to mark the agents of passive verbs
- Covers a wide chronological period, from Homer to the first millennium AD
- Translates examples making it accessible to all non-classicists interested in changes in prepositional systems generally
Reviews & endorsements
"Dr. Coulter H. George's [G.] 'Expression of Agency in Ancient Greek' ['Expressions'] is a clear, well-written, well-structured, well-argued, and therefore easily accessible exposition and discussion of passive with agent constructions in Ancient Greek. G has managed to write an extremely clear, well-argued and engaging book about passive with agent constructions in Ancient Greek, and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this area."
Jonas S. Green, Philosophy, King's College London, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"The book is lucid, eminently readable--one would not hesitate to recommend it to an undergraduate--and a model of sanity in argumentation. Handy summaries of the argument and a detailed index make it easy to consult piecemeal, but it can also be read as a whole when so tackled, is far more interesting than one might expect. This book will surely be the definitive work on the subject for decades to come." - Eleanor Dickey, University of Exeter, Classical World
Product details
November 2005Hardback
9780521847896
298 pages
225 × 148 × 24 mm
0.515kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Passive verbs and agent constructions
- 2. Agent constructions in Homer
- 3. Agent constructions with perfect passive verbs
- 4. Agent constructions with prepositons other than ???: prose
- 5. Agent constructions with prepositions other than ???: tragedy and comedy
- The decline of ??? in agent constructions
- Summary.
