Genitive absolute with κατεφρόνησεν

Greek
1

In the sentence “τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς ἐξαπατηθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀτίμου κατεφρόνησεν ὁ ἀνήρ” I take “τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς ἐξαπατηθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀτίμου..” as a genitive absolute. Because κατεφρόνησεν takes a genitive object students want to construe it as the object of the finite verb.

What do others here think?

2

The students must be right, I think. Why would it make more sense to take it as a genitive absolute?

3

κατεφρονήσεν needs a complement, and this verb normally takes a genitive complement. So the genitive noun phrase τῆς γυναικὸς ἐξαπατηθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀτίμου, must be the genitive complement of κατεφρονήσεν in this sentence, not a genitive absolute.

4

Naturally we first read it as a genitive absolute, but once we reach κατεφρόνησεν, that controls the construction. Does it matter?
[Crossed with Hylander]

1 Like
5

Thanks everyone for your posts. Sometimes one cannot see the wood for the trees.

I hope everyone is well. Its getting colder here in London and I miss the warmth I found in Greece in September. Thessaloniki was much changed from my last visit - for the better - Nafplio for the worse.

Thanks again

1 Like
6

Sorry but not surprised that Nafplio has changed for the worse. I was first there in the late sixties with a new girlfriend and still remember feasting on grilled garides by the water. Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end. (Before your time no doubt.)

7

I have just looked at pictures from my previous visit 11 years ago and perhaps the changes haven’t been that rapid. There were huge oligarch yachts then but now they seem more numerous and larger. I was more conscious this time of the extensive gentrification of the old town and the explosion of tourist shops and bars. I was first there many years after you in 1990 but then the old town seemed more like a place people lived in. Perhaps thats rose tinted glasses. I took a “flying dolphin” to Monemvasia from the harbour but those services seem to no longer exist. Reassuringly the old Xenia is still a ruin in a prime location - I wonder why? Everything changes as someone once said :grinning_face: .