Lekythion

For the ancient Greek pottery type, see Lekythos.
Greek and Latin metre

A lekythion or lecythion, in classical Greek and Latin poetry, is a metric pattern (colon) defined by a sequence of seven alternating long and short syllables at the end of a verse (— u — x — u —).[a][1][2] In classical grammatical terminology it can be described as a trochaic dimeter catalectic, i.e. a combination of two groups of two trochees each (— u — x), with the second of these groups lacking its final syllable; or as a trochaic hepthemimer, i.e. a trochaic sequence of seven half-feet.[3] A lekythion can appear in several different metric contexts in different types of poetry, either alone as a verse or as the second of two cola following a caesura. A frequent type of occurrence in Greek drama is in lines of iambic trimeter, the most frequent metre used in spoken dialogue, i.e. lines of the type x — u — | x — u — | x — u —. These lines may have a metric caesura after the first five syllables, with the remaining line thus resulting in a lekythion group.

The lekythion also has a catalectic form known as the ithyphallic, of which the pattern is – u – u – x.[4]


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  1. ^ Dale, A. M.: Lyric Metres of Greek Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1968. p. 20, 215
  2. ^ Halporn, James W., Martin Ostwald, & Thomas G. Rosenmeyer: The Meters Of Greek And Latin Poetry. London: Methuen, 1963, p.23.
  3. ^ Liddell, Henry George, & Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. "ληκύθιον" [1].
  4. ^ West, M. L. (1987) An Introduction to Greek Metre. Oxford. p. 52.