Ancient Greek accent

Ancient Greek had a pitch accent. One of the final three syllables of an Ancient Greek word carried an accent. Each syllable contains a vowel with one or two vocalic morae, and one mora in a word was accented; the accented mora was pronounced at a higher pitch than other morae. Two-mora syllables could have rising or falling pitch patterns or normal pitch; one-mora syllables could have high or normal pitch. Rules restricted where an accented mora could appear, but within those restrictions, accent was free: it could appear in different positions in a given word. Usually a word's accent was either recessive, or as close to the beginning of the word as restrictions would allow, or it was placed on the last syllable, the ultima; but in some cases the second syllable from the end was accented even when accent rules allowed the third syllable from the end to be accented.