Like the Homeric epics and the works of Hesiod, Callimachus, Apollonius, Callimachus,
Theocritus, and many others, the meter of the Batrachomyomachia is the dactylic hexameter,
the supreme verse form of antiquity. Unlike accentual syllabic English verse, which adheres to a
pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, Greek meter follows a quantitative pattern of long
and short syllables. In the dactylic hexameter, each verse contains six metrical units, or feet. A
metrical foot that consists of one long (the first) and two shorts is called a dactyl. The long
syllable is the “thesis” and the two short syllables, the “arsis.” A foot of two long syllables is
called a spondee. Each of the first five feet consists of either a dactyl or a spondee. The fifth
foot is predominantly a dactyl. If not, the verse is called spondaic. The sixth foot always consists
of two syllables, either both long, a spondee, or one long (the first) and one short. Even if the
last syllable is short, it is treated as long for metrical purposes by pausing for the missing length
before proceeding to the next verse, as in Iliad 1.1. Therefore, the dactylic hexameter contains
anywhere from a minimum of twelve syllables to a maximum of seventeen.

See A. R. Benner, Selections from Homer’s Iliad, p. 349, for a comprehensive discussion
of the dactylic hexameter meter including key topics such as caesura and hiatus. The following
handful of features resolves puzzles not addressed by the summary above.

• Epic Correption

The final long vowel or diphthong in the arsis, before an initial vowel of the following word, may
shorten, e.g lines 68, 133, 152. Even a long vowel or a diphthong within a word, known as
“internal correption,” is sometimes shortened within the arsis of a foot before another vowel,
e.g. lines 93, 128.

• Attic Correption

A vowel that would scan long by nature or by position may scan short if followed by a
consonantal stop plus liquid pair. Stops may be voiceless (π, τ, κ), voiced (β, δ, γ), or aspirated
(φ, θ, χ). Liquids are λ, μ, ν, ρ. See lines 28, 36, 59, 63, 69, 76, 99, 101, 148, 182, 224, 228, 233,
238, 241, 255, 302.

Vowels of Variable Quantity
Vowels of some words may be either short or long. The alphas of καλόν, line 21, and καλῶν,
line 162, are both long. The vowel scans long in Ionic and Epic dialects and short in Attic. The
upsilon of ὕδατος, line 133, is naturally short, but often scans long for meter. The iota of λίην,
lines 181 and 189, scans long as it does usually in the Iliad and Odyssey but scans short in line
57.

Initial Syllables Lengthened

Initial syllables of words that would not otherwise fit the hexameter are sometimes lengthened.
The first epsilon of ἔδυνε, line 259, scans long. This rule furnishes another reason that the
upsilon of ὕδατος, line 133, discussed in the section above, scans long.

Disappearing Digamma
A lost digamma causes naturally short vowels to scan long or single consonants to be doubled.
The first epsilon of ὑπέδεισαν, line 301, scans long due to a lost digamma following the delta.

Synizesis
This occurs when two neighboring vowels, regularly pronounced separately, must be
pronounced as one syllable, to suit the meter. The adjacent iota and omega of κοχλιῶν, line
165, scan long as one syllable in the first syllable of a spondee.