Home Classical, Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies Tense, Aspect, Iterativity and Related Textual Criticism: A Case Study Based on Herodotos, Historiai 4.78
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Tense, Aspect, Iterativity and Related Textual Criticism: A Case Study Based on Herodotos, Historiai 4.78

  • Filip De Decker
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
From Greece to Cappadocia
This chapter is in the book From Greece to Cappadocia

Abstract

In this article, I discuss tense and aspect (the use of the aspect-stems) in Herodotos’ Historiai 4.78 (the story of Skyles, the Skythian philhellene) and the textual criticism related to this problem (i.e. the instances where forms of the presentand aorist-stem were both transmitted). First, I point out some problems with the textual transmission of Herodotos and explain why I chose this passage. Then I discuss in some detail the previous scholarship on tense and aspect in Greek and Herodotos. After that discussion, I print the text and provide a table with the choices made by the different editors and commentators. In a final stage, I analyse the aspect use of the different forms in the passage and determine which variant is preferred in each disputed instance. In general, it will become clear that the traditional aspectual distinctions assumed for Classical Attic Greek are valid for Herodotos’ Ionic Greek and for the epic-Ionic iterative forms as well.

Abstract

In this article, I discuss tense and aspect (the use of the aspect-stems) in Herodotos’ Historiai 4.78 (the story of Skyles, the Skythian philhellene) and the textual criticism related to this problem (i.e. the instances where forms of the presentand aorist-stem were both transmitted). First, I point out some problems with the textual transmission of Herodotos and explain why I chose this passage. Then I discuss in some detail the previous scholarship on tense and aspect in Greek and Herodotos. After that discussion, I print the text and provide a table with the choices made by the different editors and commentators. In a final stage, I analyse the aspect use of the different forms in the passage and determine which variant is preferred in each disputed instance. In general, it will become clear that the traditional aspectual distinctions assumed for Classical Attic Greek are valid for Herodotos’ Ionic Greek and for the epic-Ionic iterative forms as well.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Figures and Charts IX
  4. List of Tables XI
  5. Abbreviations
  6. In Honour of Mark Janse 1
  7. Part I: Greek Through the Ages — From Homer to Byzantium
  8. Hyperbaton and Homeric Colometry: A First Exploration 15
  9. Aspect in the Gortyn Law Code: The Subjectivity of the Category 41
  10. Tense, Aspect, Iterativity and Related Textual Criticism: A Case Study Based on Herodotos, Historiai 4.78 65
  11. The Tragic Aorist: A Well-defined and Homogeneous Group? 101
  12. Changes in Word Order: Scribal Corrections to the Placement of Clitic Pronouns 127
  13. Κένταυρος, Κέρβερος and Their Possible Etymological Relatives 139
  14. Light from Gothic on the Post-Classical Greek Lexicon 161
  15. The Theory of Semantic Fields and the Greek Lexicon: The Case of ΠΟΝΗΡΟΣ and its Semantic Congeners in the History of the Greek Language 167
  16. Figs and the City: A Comic Cocktail (Aristophanes, fr. [dub.] 955 Kassel-Austin, PCG) 197
  17. Musings on an Attic Muse: Three Ancient Responses to a Passage from Xenophon’s Anabasis 215
  18. ἐρρωμένος μοι διατελοῖς μετὰ τῶν φιλτάτων κύριέ μου ἀσύγκριτε: The Social Semiotics of Formulaic Extravagance in the Ancient Greek Epistolary Frame 237
  19. Homer in Byzantium: Comment parler des livres que l’on n’a pas lus? 271
  20. Koineization in Ancient Epirus: Some Additional Insights from Onomastics 301
  21. The Papyrus of the Curse of Artemisia: Dialect and Interference 333
  22. Part II: Greek in Contact — Dialect and Diversity in the Modern Era
  23. On the So-Called Progressive in Romeyka 353
  24. The Exploitation of Turkish Dialectal Lexicography: Dialectal Turkish Loanwords in the Historical Dictionary of Cappadocian Dialects 381
  25. Investigating Derivational Borrowability in the Cappadocian Greek Dialectal Landscape: The Emergence of allo-morphomes 401
  26. Aivaliot Morphology: Selected Phenomena from Prefixization and Verb Borrowing 429
  27. Innovation and Retention in Silliot Greek 459
  28. The Historical Dictionary of Cappadocian Dialects as a Contribution to the Study of Variation and Change 477
  29. List of Contributors 503
  30. Index Rerum
  31. Index Nominum
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111183169-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Figures and Charts IX
  4. List of Tables XI
  5. Abbreviations
  6. In Honour of Mark Janse 1
  7. Part I: Greek Through the Ages — From Homer to Byzantium
  8. Hyperbaton and Homeric Colometry: A First Exploration 15
  9. Aspect in the Gortyn Law Code: The Subjectivity of the Category 41
  10. Tense, Aspect, Iterativity and Related Textual Criticism: A Case Study Based on Herodotos, Historiai 4.78 65
  11. The Tragic Aorist: A Well-defined and Homogeneous Group? 101
  12. Changes in Word Order: Scribal Corrections to the Placement of Clitic Pronouns 127
  13. Κένταυρος, Κέρβερος and Their Possible Etymological Relatives 139
  14. Light from Gothic on the Post-Classical Greek Lexicon 161
  15. The Theory of Semantic Fields and the Greek Lexicon: The Case of ΠΟΝΗΡΟΣ and its Semantic Congeners in the History of the Greek Language 167
  16. Figs and the City: A Comic Cocktail (Aristophanes, fr. [dub.] 955 Kassel-Austin, PCG) 197
  17. Musings on an Attic Muse: Three Ancient Responses to a Passage from Xenophon’s Anabasis 215
  18. ἐρρωμένος μοι διατελοῖς μετὰ τῶν φιλτάτων κύριέ μου ἀσύγκριτε: The Social Semiotics of Formulaic Extravagance in the Ancient Greek Epistolary Frame 237
  19. Homer in Byzantium: Comment parler des livres que l’on n’a pas lus? 271
  20. Koineization in Ancient Epirus: Some Additional Insights from Onomastics 301
  21. The Papyrus of the Curse of Artemisia: Dialect and Interference 333
  22. Part II: Greek in Contact — Dialect and Diversity in the Modern Era
  23. On the So-Called Progressive in Romeyka 353
  24. The Exploitation of Turkish Dialectal Lexicography: Dialectal Turkish Loanwords in the Historical Dictionary of Cappadocian Dialects 381
  25. Investigating Derivational Borrowability in the Cappadocian Greek Dialectal Landscape: The Emergence of allo-morphomes 401
  26. Aivaliot Morphology: Selected Phenomena from Prefixization and Verb Borrowing 429
  27. Innovation and Retention in Silliot Greek 459
  28. The Historical Dictionary of Cappadocian Dialects as a Contribution to the Study of Variation and Change 477
  29. List of Contributors 503
  30. Index Rerum
  31. Index Nominum
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 11.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111183169-004/html
Scroll to top button