Part Two - Patterns of Reference to Gods in Attic Tragedy

This is a continuation of yesterdays post.

Euripides Heraclidae 853-854
{Χο.} ὦ Ζεῦ τροπαῖε, νῦν ἐμοὶ δεινοῦ φόβου
ἐλεύθερον πάρεστιν ἦμαρ εἰσιδεῖν.

Here we see an adjective τροπαῖε following ὦ Ζεῦ. This pattern isn't all that common, never the less, it is a perfectly normal way of doing things. In this instance both head noun and the adjective are unambiguously vocative. That is not the case in the text we looked at yesterday where ἵλεως could be nominative, vocative or an adverbial.

Sophocles Electra 1376
{ΗΛ.} Ἄναξ Ἄπολλον, ἵλεως αὐτοῖν κλύε,
ἐμοῦ τε πρὸς τούτοισιν,