Sophocles and John

Clayton Bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Thu, 28 Aug 1997 10:37:13 +0000

I've been reading Oedipus Rex and John's Gospel and have
noted a structural difference in the way they use the language.
Sophocles is often very *economical* in the use of words. He
seems to let a single adverb or pronoun serve for more than
one verbal idea. For example in Oedipus' speech (385-387
Oxford text) the adverb LAQRAi and the pronoun ME are
associated with more than one verbal idea.

. . . KREWN hO PISTOS, OU[ E]X ARCHS FILOS,
LAQRA M[E] hUPELQWN EKBALEIN hIMEIRETAI
hFEIS MAGON TOION[ ]DE MHCANORRAFON

Now John, on the other hand tends to repeat elements from the
immediately preceding context so that each verbal idea has
it's own set of complements. Is this difference between John's
structure and Sophocles a dialect difference between Attic
and Koine? Or is it a difference between Tragedy and Gospel
(literary forms)? Or is it semitizing on John's part?

In my study of Acts I have discovered occasions where Luke's
clauses have show an *economical* use of words similar to
Sophocles.

Clay Bartholomew
Three Tree Point

Postscript:

Someone needs to give Major Domo a few bran muffins. The
digests have been running about 36 to 48 hours late and some
posts to b-greek seem to have been sent to e-mail purgatory
never to return.