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The Historical Present of Atelic and Durative Verbs in Greek Tragedy
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December 7, 2012
Abstract
Among modern scholars of ancient Greek it is almost universally accepted that the historical present is only used for (telic) events and not for (atelic) states and activities. A survey of the extant complete tragedies shows that this view is untenable: there are passages where static verbs like κεῖμαι ‘lie’ and εὕδω ‘sleep’ are used in the historical present and where the historical present describes a state or activity which is extended in time. On the one hand this shows that punctuality or decisiveness cannot be regarded as the basic function of the historical present; on the other it leads to new interpretations of a number of passages in Greek tragedy.
Published Online: 2012-12-07
Published in Print: 2012-12
© by Akademie Verlag, Berlin, Germany
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Articles in the same Issue
- Comic Rivalry and the Number of Comic Poets at the Lenaia of 405 B. C.
- The Historical Present of Atelic and Durative Verbs in Greek Tragedy
- Matching in Mind the Sea Beast’s Complexion. On the Pragmatics of Plutarch′s Hypomnemata and Scientific Innovation: The Case of Q. N. 19 (916 BF)
- Per la storia del testo di Plauto nell’antichità (e ancora sui due Sisenna)
- Willkürliche Rechtssprechung. Ovids verhüllte Augustuskritik in der Tieropfer-Passage der Fasti (1, 349–456)
- Hungernde Dichter, unwillige Mäzene. Baptista Mantuanus’ Ekloge V und die römische Satire
- Der Trevi-Brunnen, Statius und Homer. Das Modell Nicola Salvis und die Bauten Clemens’ XII
- „Unser Rohde“. Der Briefwechsel zwischen Franz Overbeck und Otto Crusius
- Observations on the Hesiodic fragment 65 M–W
- Catullus 64, 94: A Textual Note
