Homeric Greek

Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used in the Iliad, Odyssey, and Homeric Hymns. It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of an archaic form of the Ionic dialect, with some Aeolic features, a few from the Arcadocypriot dialect, and a written form influenced by the Attic dialect. 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. Some compositions in Epic Greek date from as late as the 5th century CE, and it only fell out of use by the end of classical antiquity.