In the consideration of ancient Greek verbal syntax there are three main factors: the lexical meaning, or range of meanings, of each verb, the possible range of significance of its inflexion, including aspect, voice and mood (or mood-substitute), and the context. The interaction of these is such that the understanding of the complexities of each depends to some extent on its relationship to the others. Although we naturally describe the lexical meaning in terms of our own language, it is, of course, the ancient Greek meaning of the stem that is really relevant. For example, the dominant translation usually proposed for is ‘conquer’, yet in Greek terms it really means ‘am victorious’, for it appears to be a stative verb, one of ‘being’ or ‘having’, like , rather than an action verb, one of ‘doing’, like , . The context factor is not confined to the immediate context, the rest of the clause or sentence in which the words under consideration occur, but may involve the wider context embracing the paragraph, the chapter and the nature of the whole work, and also the assumed or external context of what the speaker or writer could assume to be commonly accepted in his society or might expect his audience to know or recognise. However one defines the various circles of context, it is important for modern readers to recognise that unexpressed assumptions, whether based on physical observation of gestures or on the shared habits of an ancient society, can sometimes lead to misunderstanding and to overconfident misjudgment.