A brief review of studies which deal with the Greek dative shows that in most instances description of the uses of the case is due to semantic considerations derived from contextual factors. It seems incoherent, therefore, to view the explanations included in traditional grammar books and manuals or in some specific studies as "dative syntax". The author announces ¿be publication, in a second part, of an analysis of the Greek dative from ¿be point of view of its syntactical Anction, that is, ¿he retationship between the categories which intervene in a context where a dative is present.
