ὁπόσας εἶχε φυλακὰς (X. An. 1.1.6)

Greek Learning Greek
1

ὁπόσας εἶχε φυλακὰς ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι παρήγγειλε τοῖς φρουράρχοις ἑκάστοις λαμβάνειν ἄνδρας Πελοποννησίους…

I’m struggling to understand the relative clause ὁπόσας εἶχε φυλακὰς ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι in this sentence. Is the rel. adj. ὁπόσας in the acc. pl. because it adjectively modifies φυλακὰς? Or is it because the antecedent of ὁπόσας is (implicitely) αι πολεις (i.e. “All (the cities) that had garrisons in them…”)? And if the latter, then why isn’t it ὁπόσαι (nom. pl.) since the rel. adj. would be the subject of εἶχε?

And why is εἶχε singular? Is the verb εχω used intransitively and existentially here (like ειμι can be used i.e. “there is/was”)?

Appreciate any light that can be shed on this construction…thanks!

2

It’s acc. because it’s the object of εἶχε (lit. as many φυλακαι as he had), and the subject will be Cyrus. If τοις φρουραρχοις came earlier in the sentence we’d more probably have ὁποσων ειχε φυλακῶν, with relative attraction, or more fully ἁπασων ὁποσας ειχε φυλακάς, but he kicks off with the φυλακαι.

3

Ah of course, thanks! The verb being positioned between the adjective and noun confused me!