Automated metric profiling and comparison of Ancient Greek verse epics in Hexameter

Oliver Schoisswohl,Evangelos C Papakitsos

doi:10.13092/lo.103.7192

Abstract

This article describes a software tool, named Dactylo, which is capable of performing metrical analysis, alias scansion, of epics written in hexameter. The automated scansion is based on well-known scanning rules of various theoretical works. The development methodology introduces the concept of computerized metric profiling and metric distance, which is a measurement value that reflects the degree of similarity or dissimilarity between different epics. For this purpose, eight renowned epics have been scanned, including Iliad and Odyssey, with plenty of statistical information. Based on these outcomes, these epics can be classified in groups that reflect very well the three periods of their creation, namely Classical, Hellenistic and Late Antiquity. Dactylo demonstrates its ability to produce statistics for hexameter’s metric patterns in a massive scale, easily and accurately, becoming so a contribution of Computational Linguistics to the diachronic comparative and quantitative language studies.

Highlights

The topic of this article is the computer supported metric profiling and comparison of verse epics in ancient Greek language, written in hexameter, regarding their syllabic distribution
Apollonius Rhodius s. a.) and others. All of these poems are written in hexameter, the metric scheme of classical Greek and Latin verse epics that determines the prosodic structure of their verses
The rate of verses, not validly scanned as hexameters by Dactylo, is in the 5% magnitude for Homer’s and Hesiod’s works, dropping to 2% for Argonautica and to 1% for Dionysiaca

Summary

Introduction

The topic of this article is the computer supported metric profiling and comparison of verse epics in ancient Greek language, written in hexameter, regarding their syllabic distribution Renowned epics of this category are Iliad and Odyssey All of these poems are written in hexameter, the metric scheme of classical Greek and Latin verse epics that determines the prosodic structure of their verses (cf Halporn/Ostwald/Rosenmeyer 1980). This scheme imposes a specific sequence of long and short syllables onto each of the verses, which are arranged in groups that are called “feet”. The actor recited two or three syllables (either a spondee or a dactyl) for every stroke of the foot

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