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Prepositions with the genitive: cause

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τίνος μʼ ἕκατι γῆς ἀποστέλλεις, Κρέον;

‘For what reason do you expel me from the land, Creon?’ (Eur. Med. 269)

The postpositions ἕνεκα and χάριν with the genitive signal a cause.

Lexical usage

Less frequently the prepositions ἀμφί, ἀντί, ἀπό (rare), ἐκ, ἐπί, πρός, ὑπέρ and ὑπό are used.

Historical background

Although ἀπό with this meaning is very rare in the classical period, in Koine its frequency increases considerably.

Example Sentences: 

ὀργῆς χάριν τὰ κρυπτὰ μὴ ἐκφάνῃς φίλου

Do not betray your friend's secret out of anger.

καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τίς ἐστιν, καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου

And he wanted to see who Jesus was, but because of the crowd he could not.

ἔγνωκε δ᾽ ἡ τάλαινα συμφορᾶς ὕπο οἷον πατρῴας μὴ ἀπολείπεσθαι χθονός.

The poor woman has learned through her misfortune what a good thing it is not to be cut off from the fatherland. ֍

εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἕνεκα χρημάτων με συκοφαντεῖ…

For if he falsely accuses me for the sake of my money…

κἐντεῦθεν ἀρχὴ τοῦ πολέμου κατερράγη Ἕλλησι πᾶσιν ἐκ τριῶν λαικαστριῶν.

And hence, because of three whores, the war broke out for all Greeks. [preliminary translation]