Coulter H. George, Expressions of agency in ancient Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. x, 288. Hb. $85.

Expressions of agency in ancient Greek is a meticulous study of the development of passive-with-agent constructions (PACs) in ancient Greek, covering the timespan from Preclassical Greek to the 12th century ce. The author focuses on the complex history of the various, primarily prepositional, agent markers of passive voice verbs in various moods and tenses, such as participles or perfect verbs. He defines a passive verb as a detransitivized verb that retains the idea of agency whether or not it is expressed. The agent is to be defined as an oblique nominal occurring with a passive verb that would be the subject if the sentence were rewritten in the active voice.