ἐπὶ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἐπὶ

   e-PI

   on
2. sentence🔊 Καὶ εἶδον ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης θηρίον ἀναβαῖνον ἔχον κέρατα δέκα καὶ κεφαλὰς ἑπτά καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κεράτων αὐτοῦ δέκα διαδήματα καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτοῦ ὀνόματα βλασφημίας

   KAI EI-don ek tês tha-LAS-sês thê-RI-on a-na-BAI-non E-khon KE-ra-ta DE-ka KAI ke-pha-LAS hep-TA KAI e-PI tôn ke-RA-tôn au-TOU DE-ka di-a-DE-ma-ta KAI e-PI tas ke-pha-LAS au-TOU o-NO-ma-ta blas-phê-MI-as

   and I saw out of the sea a beast coming up having horns ten and heads seven and on the horns of it ten diadems and on the heads of it names of blasphemy

Exegesis

The prepositional phrases epi tōn keratōn autou deka diadēmata {ἐπὶ τῶν κεράτων αὐτοῦ δέκα διαδήματα | e-pí tôn ke-rá-tōn au-toû dé-ka di-a-dḗ-ma-ta} and epi tas kephalas autou onomata blasphēmias {ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτοῦ ὀνόματα βλασφημίας | e-pí tás ke-pha-lás au-toû o-nó-ma-ta blas-phē-mí-as} use epi with genitive and accusative respectively to indicate spatial placement “upon,” first over the horns and then over the heads, marking two layers of symbolic detail. The genitive blasphēmias functions as a descriptive genitive with onomata, “names characterized by blasphemy,” which is rendered in formal translation as “names of blasphemy” and in dynamic translation as “names that were blasphemous” to make the qualitative nuance explicit while keeping the tight linkage between the noun and its defining characteristic. English syntax slightly restructures the long Greek chain into clear clauses and, in the dynamic version, into separate sentences, while still following the original progression: vision, emergence, physical description, distribution of royal insignia, and finally the moral-spiritual characterization of the beast.