Monographs

Use of the Prepositions in Attic Prose.—

With the accusative only: ἀνά, εἰς.

With the dative only: ἐν, σύν.

With the genitive only: ἀντί, ἀπό, ἐξ, πρό.

With the accusative and genitive: ἀμφί, διά, κατά, μετά, ὑπέρ.

With accusative, genitive, and dative: ἐπί, παρά, περί, πρός, ὑπό.

a. With the dative are also used in poetry: ἀνά, ἀμφί (also in Hdt.), μετά. ἀπό (ἀπύ), ἐξ (ἐς) take the dative in Arcadian and Cyprian.

b. The genitive is either the genitive proper (of the goal, 1349, 1350, etc.) or the ablatival genitive.

c. The dative is usually the locative or the instrumental, rarely the dative proper (as with ἐπί and πρός of the goal).

Ordinary Differences in Meaning.—

	GENITIVE	ACCUSATIVE
ἀμφί, περί	concerning	round about, near
διά	through	owing to
κατά	against	along, over, according to
μετά	with	after
ὑπέρ	above, in behalf of	over, beyond

	GENITIVE	DATIVE	ACCUSATIVE
ἐπί	on	on	to, toward, for
παρά	from	with, near	to, contrary to
πρός	on the side of	at, besides	to, toward
ὑπό	by, under	under	under

Certain prepositions are parallel in many uses; e.g. ἀνά and κατά, ἀντί and πρό, ἀπό and ἐκ, ἀμφί and περί, ὑπέρ and περί, ἐπί and πρός, σύν and μετά.

The agent is expressed by different prepositions with the genitive:

ὑπό of persons and things personified ( ^cross1698. 1. N. 1): the normal usage in Attic prose.

παρά: here the agent is viewed as the source. The action is viewed as starting near a person, or on the part of a person.

διά through: the intermediate agent.

ἀπό: indirect agent and source (rare) to mark the point of departure of the action. Chiefly in Thuc.

ἐξ: chiefly in poetry and Hdt. In Attic prose of emanation from a source.

πρός: to mark the result as due to the presence (before) of a person; chiefly in poetry and Hdt.

Means is expressed by διά with the genitive (the normal usage in Attic prose), ἀπό, ἐξ, ἐν, σύν. Motive is expressed by ὑπό (gen.), διά (accus.), ἕνεκα.

Prepositions in composition (chiefly ἀπό, διά, κατά, σύν) may give an idea of completion to the action denoted by the verb ( ^cross1648).

a. For the usage after compound verbs see ^cross1382 ff., 1545 ff., 1559.