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LOCATIVE DATIVE
Dative of Time.—The dative without a preposition is commonly used to denote a definite point of time (chiefly day, night, month, year, season) at which an action occurred. The dative contrasts one point of time with another, and is usually accompanied by an attributive.
The dative denotes the time at which an action takes place and the date of an event.
ταύτην μὲν τὴν ἡμέρᾱν αὐτοῦ ἔμειναν, τῇ δὲ ὑστεραίᾳ κτλ. throughout that day they waited there, but on the day following, etc. H. 1.1.14. So τῇ προτεραίᾳ the day before, τῇ δευτέρᾳ the second day, Ἐλαφηβολιῶνος μηνὸς ἕκτῃ (ἡμέρᾳ) φθίνοντος
on the sixth of waning Elaphebolion 2.90, ἕνῃ καὶ ϝέᾳ
on the last of the month 18.29; τρίτῳ μηνί
in the third month 21.1, περιιόντι τῷ θέρει
when summer was coming to an end 1.30, ἐξηκοστῷ ἔτει in the sixtieth year 1. 12; also with ὥρᾳ (χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ
in the winter season 1.137).
The names of the regular recurring festivals which serve to date an <*>ccurrence stand in the dative: Παναθηναίοις
at the Panathenaea 21.156, <*>οῖς Διονῡσίοις at the Dionysia 21. 1, ταῖς πομπαῖς at the processions 21. 171, τοῖς <*>οαγῳδοῖς at the representations of the tragedies 3.176. ἐν is rarely added.
ἐν is added:
a. To words denoting time when there is no attributive: ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι
in winter O. 17.3; cp. 1444. b. When the attributive is a pronoun (sometimes): (ἐν) ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ. c. To statements of the time within the limits of which an event may take place (where ἐντός with the genitive is common); to statements of how much time anything takes; with numbers, ὀλίγος, πολύς, etc. Thus, ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις for (during) three days A. 4.8.8, οὐ ῥᾴδιον τὰ ἐν ἅπαντι τῷ χρόνῳ πρᾱχθέντα ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ δηλωθῆναι
it is not easy to set forth in a single day the acts of all time 2.54, ἐξελέσθαι τὴν διαβολὴν ἐν οὕτως ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ
to clear myself of calumny in so brief a time A. 19a. ἐν is rarely omitted in prose, and chiefly when there is an attributive: μιᾷ νυκτὶ 6.27. d. Always with adjectives or adverbs used substantively: ἐν τῷ παρόντι, ἐν τῷ τότε. e. To words denoting the date of an event, not a point of time: ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ πρεσβείᾳ
in the first embassy 2.123. Thuc. employs ἐν, as ἐν τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ in the assembly held the day after 1. 44, but usu. the simple dative, as μάχῃ in the battle 3. 54, ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἐσβολῇ in that incursion 2. 20, τῇ προτέρᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ in the first assembly 1. 44.
The dative and genitive of time are sometimes employed with only a slight difference (1447 a).
In the index: Dative case · Locative dative · Time · Month · Festivals · Genitive case