Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and in the Homeric Hymns. It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of Ionic and Aeolic, with a few forms from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by Attic. It was later named Epic Greek because it was used as the language of epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter, by poets such as Hesiod and Theognis of Megara. Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 3rd century BC, but it disappeared with  the rise of Koine Greek. Main features. In the following description, only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed. Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek. Phonology. Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long to : thus, Homeric for Attic "Troy", "hour", "gates (dat.)". Exceptions include nouns like "goddess", and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns: "of goddesses, of the son of Atreus". Nouns. A note on nouns: Other features. In most circumstances , Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article. , , and their inflected forms do occur, but they are in origin demonstrative pronouns. Vocabulary. Homer (in the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey") uses about 9,000 words, of which 1,382 are proper names. Of the 7,618 remaining words 2,307 are hapax legomena. According to classical scholar Clyde Pharr, "the "Iliad" has 1097 "hapax legomena", while the "Odyssey" has 868". Others have defined the term differently, however, and count as few as 303 in the "Iliad" and 191 in the "Odyssey". Sample. The "Iliad", lines 1–7 <poem> Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω  Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ’ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα· Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. </poem> Robert Fitzgerald (1974): <poem> Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men—carrion for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done. Begin it when the two men first  contending broke with one another— Agamemnon, Atreus' son, and Prince Akhilleus. </poem>