A line of verse with six metrical feet, most famously the dactylic hexameter used in ancient Greek and Latin epic poetry.
From 'hexa-' (six) + 'meter' (from Greek 'metron' meaning measure). Dactylic hexameter was the standard form for Homer's epics and Virgil's Aeneid.
When you read Homer's Iliad or the Aeneid, every single line has exactly six beats—it's a hypnotic rhythm that people memorized thousands of years ago without writing!
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