Contextualizing counterfactual patterns in Post-Classical Greek texts : forms, functions and contexts

In this paper I detail the major (con)texts in which we find counterfactual reasoning in Post-Classical Greek texts (III BCE – VI CE). . First, I present a general overview of the different forms and functions of counterfactual conditionals in Post-Classical Greek (III BCE – VI CE). Next, I offer four qualitative studies of the contexts in which counterfactual reasoning by means of counterfactual conditionals is commonly used in Post-Classical Greek texts: (i) counterfactual stylistics in rhetorical treatises, (ii) counterfactual grammatical descriptions, (iii) narratorial counterfactuals in historiography, novels and epic, and (iv) counter-argumentative counterfactuals in rhetorical texts.