Homeric Greek From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 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 Archaic Greek consisting mainly of Ionic and Aeolic, with a few forms from Arcadocypriot and non-Greek languages, and a written form influenced by Attic.[1] It later served as the basis of Epic Greek,[citation needed] the language of epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter, of poets such as Hesiod. Unlike later forms of the language, Homeric Greek did not have available in most circumstances a true definite article.[2] Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 3rd century AD, though its decline was inevitable with the rise of Koine Greek.