Anthology of Computers and the Humanities · Volume 3

Towards a Computational Study of Ancient Greek Rhyme

Keith Begley1,2 ORCID and Leon Wash3 ORCID

  • 1 School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
  • 2 Honorary Associate, Department of Philosophy, Durham University, United Kingdom
  • 3 Department of Classics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.63744/wzq90UqABYVz

Published: 21 November 2025

Keywords: rhyme, \textit{homoeoteleuton}, ancient Greek poetry, hexameter, rhetoric, computational philology

Abstract

This paper presents a new program, Greek Rhyme Yielder (GRY), written by the authors in order to gather rhyme (or rhyme-like) phenomena and statistics about them from ancient Greek texts. The goal of the larger research project is to intervene in an old and lingering debate about whether there is any rhyme at all in ancient Greek poetry. The method is an empirical study of relevant digital corpora, combined with close readings of relevant passages. The purposes of this paper are: to explain the program, its capabilities, and its use, especially for those who may be interested in using it themselves; and to lay out some initial results and their significance for that old debate.