Homeric Hymns

Description

Composed for recitation at festivals, these 33 songs were written in honour of the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek pantheon. They recount the key episodes in the lives of the gods, and dramatise the moments when they first appear before mortals. Together they offer the most vivid picture we have of the Greek view of the relationship between the divine and human worlds.

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Further Reading
Translator’s Note

The Homeric Hymns

I. Hymn To Dionysos

II. Hymn To Demeter

III. Hymn To Apollo
Delian Apollo
Pythian Apollo

IV. Hymn To Hermes

V. Hymn To Aphrodite

VI. Hymn To Aphrodite

VII. Hymn To Dionysos

VIII. Hymn To Ares

IX. Hymn To Artemis

X. Hymn To Aphrodite

XI. Hymn To Athena

XII. Hymn To Hera

XIII. Hymn To Demeter

XIV. Hymn To The Mother Of The Gods

XV. Hymn To Herakles, The Lion-Hearted

XVI. Hymn To Asklepios

XVII. Hymn To Dioskouroi

XVIII. Hymn To Hermes

XIX. Hymn To Pan

XX. Hymn To Hephaistos

XXI. Hymn To Apollo

XXII. Hymn To Poseidon

XXIII. Hymn To The Son Of Kronos, Most High

XXIV. Hymn To Hestia

XXV. Hymn To The Muses And Apollo

XXVI. Hymn To Dionysos

XXVII. Hymn To Artemis

XXVIII. Hymn To Athena

XXIX. Hymn To Hestia

XXX. Hymn To Gaia, Mother Of All

XXXI. Hymn To Helios

XXXII. Hymn To Selene

XXXIII. Hymn To The Dioskouroi

Notes

“The purest expression of ancient Greek religion we possess. Jules Cashford is attuned to the poetry of the Hymns.” (Nigel Spivey, Cambridge University)Originally attributed to Homer because of their style and quality, the hymns are now thought to have been written by of a number of different poets of the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

Jules Cashford is a writer and lecturer on Mythology. She is the author of The Myth of the Goddess (Arkana, 1991) & The Myth of the Moon (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, forthcoming.

Dr Nicholas Richardson is a Fellow in English at Merton College, OxfordGB