Bible Lexicons

ἀπέναντι, construed with the gen. in the sense of ";over against,"; ";opposite,"; as in Matthew 27:61, is well illustrated by P Grenf. I. 21.14 (B.C. 126) ἀπέναντι τῆς θύ (ρας) αὐ (τοῦ) and Syll 558.17 (i/A.D.) τὸν ναὸν τὸν ἀπέναντι τῆ [ς ] εἰσόδου. See also P Petr II. 17 (3).3 (iii/B.C.), and from the inscriptions Priene 37.168 (beginning of ii/B.C.) ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἐγκολαπτῶν ὅρων εἰς τὸν ἀπέναντι βουνὸν τὸν λεπρὸν ἐθήκαμεν ὅρον, ib. 42.59 ἐπὶ τὴν ἀ. ὀφρύν and Preisigke 3556 (on a mummy). On P Ryl I. 3O.12 (i/B.C.), a few lines from a historical work, Prof. Hunt observes that ";the use of the preposition ἀπένα [ν ]τι, of which Stephanus quotes no example earlier than Polybius,"; may perhaps give ";some indication of the date of the work."; Wackernagel, Hellenistica, p. 3 ff., quotes ἴναντι c. gen. from a very old Cretan inscr., and ἔναντι from Delphi (B.C. 198) : in both dialects ἀντί was still used in the old local sense. From this Doric Greek it passed into the Κοινή about B.C. 300. He goes on to discuss its relations with ἐναντίον, etc.