Classicists from across Europe, and one from the US, explore how Greek historian Thucydides (460-400 BC) occasionally used the present indicative tense, rather than the usual imperfect and
aorist, to mark events that the he considered crucial, or decisive for the development of the plot. Such use of the tense is called historical present, or narrative present, to show that it
does not indicate actual time. Five of the nine essays are in French. The English discussions are capturing the case of airei and lambanei, linguistic and the persuasive function of the
historical present in two battle scenes, the profanation of the mysteries and the mutilation of the Hermae, and the temporal characteristics of the historical present in Thucydides. Readers are
assumed to read French, German, and ancient Greek as well as English. Only passages in Thucydides and technical terms are indexed. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
