The thirty-three anonymous Homeric Hymns celebrating individual gods are a collection of ancient Greek hymns, "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter— dactylic hexameter— as the Iliad and Odyssey, use many similar formulas and are couched in the same dialect. They were uncritically attributed to Homer himself in Antiquity—from the earliest written reference to them, Thucydides (iii.104)—and the label has stuck. "the whole collection, as a collection, is Homeric in the only useful sense that can be put upon the word;" A. W. Verrall noted in 1894,^[1] "that is to say, it has come down labeled as 'Homer' from the earliest times of Greek book-literature." The original Wikisource logo. ... For other uses, see Hymn (disambiguation). ... Dactyllic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter) is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. ... title page of the Rihel edition of ca. ... This article is about Homers epic poem. ... For other uses, see Thucydides (disambiguation). ...

The oldest of the Hymns were written in the seventh century BC, somewhat later than Hesiod and the usually accepted date for the writing down of the Homeric epics. This still places the older Homeric hymns among the oldest monuments of Greek literature; but although most of them were composed in the seventh and sixth centuries, a few may be Hellenistic, and the Hymn to Ares might be a late pagan work, inserted when it was observed that a hymn to Ares was lacking. Walter Burkert has suggested that the Hymn to Apollo, attributed by an ancient source to Cynaethus of Chios (a member of the Homeridae), was composed in 522 BC for performance at the unusual double festival held by Polycrates of Samos to honor Apollo of Delos and of Delphi.^[2] // Main article: Ancient Greek literature Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in Ancient Greek from the oldest surviving written works in the Greek language until the 4th century and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. ... This article is about the ancient Greek god. ... Cynaethus or Cinaethus (Κιναιθος or Κυναιθος), of Chios, a rhapsodist, who was gene­rally supposed by the ancients to have been the author of the Homeric hymn to Apollo. ... The Homeridae were a family, clan or professional lineage claiming descent from the legendary Greek epic poet Homer. ... Polycrates, son of Aeaces, was the tyrant of Samos from 535 BC to 515 BC. He took power during a festival of Hera with his brothers Pantagnotus and Syloson, but soon had Pantagnotus killed and exiled Syloson to take full control for himself. ... The island of Delos, Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann, 1847 The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of... For other uses, see Delphi (disambiguation). ...

The hymns, which must be the remains of a once more strongly represented genre, vary widely in length, some being as brief as three or four lines, while others are in excess of five hundred lines. The long ones comprise an invocation, praise, and narrative, sometimes quite extended. In the briefest ones, the narrative element is lacking. The longer ones show signs of having been assembled from pre-existing disparate materials.

Most surviving Byzantine manuscripts begin with the third Hymn. A chance discovery in Moscow, 1777, recovered the two hymns that open the collection, the fragmentary To Dionysus and To Demeter, in a single fifteenth century manuscript. Some at least of the shorter ones may be excerpts that have omitted the narrative central section, preserving only the useful invocation and introduction,^[3] which a rhapsode could employ in the manner of a prelude. In classical antiquity, a rhapsode was a professional reciter of poetry, especially the epics of Homer, but also the wisdom-verse of Hesiod and the satires of Archilochus, among others. ...

The thirty-three hymns praise most of the major gods of Greek mythology; at least the shorter ones may have served as preludes to the recitation of epic verse at festivals by professional rhapsodes: often the singer concludes by saying that now he will pass to another song. A thirty-fourth, To Hosts is not a hymn, but a reminder that hospitality is a sacred duty enjoined by the gods, a pointed reminder when coming from a professional rhapsode. The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. ... In classical antiquity, a rhapsode was a professional reciter of poetry, especially the epics of Homer, but also the wisdom-verse of Hesiod and the satires of Archilochus, among others. ...

Gods who have Homeric hymns dedicated to them include:

• Aphrodite
• Apollo
• Ares
• Asclepius
• Artemis
• Athena
• Cybele
• Dionysus
• Demeter
• The Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces
• Gaia
• Helios
• Hera
• Heracles
• Hermes
• Hephaestus
• Hestia
• Pan
• Poseidon
• Pythian Apollo
• Selene
• Zeus

The Birth of Venus, (detail) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 For other uses, see Aphrodite (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... This article is about the ancient Greek god. ... Asclepius (Greek , transliterated AsklÄ“piós; Latin Aesculapius) is the demigod of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology. ... For other uses, see Artemis (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Athena (disambiguation). ... A fountain in Madrid depicting Cybele in her chariot drawn by lions, in the Plaza de Cibeles Originally a Phrygian goddess, Cybele (Greek: Κυβέλη) was a deification of the Earth Mother who was worshipped in Anatolia from Neolithic times. ... This article is about the ancient deity. ... This article is about the grain goddess Demeter. ... Castor (or Kastor) and Polydeuces (sometimes called Pollux), were in Greek mythology the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. ... In Greek mythology, Castor (or Kastor) and Polydeuces (sometimes called Pollux) were the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. ... For other uses, see Gaia. ... Marble sculpture of Pan copulating with a goat, recovered from Herculaneum Pan (Greek Παν, genitive Πανος) is the Greek god who watches over shepherds and their flocks. ... Neptune in Copenhagen, Denmark. ... For other uses, see Delphi (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Greek goddess. ... For other uses, see Zeus (disambiguation). ...

Select translations

• The Homeric Hymns, Apostolos N. Athanassakis (translation, introduction and notes) Baltimore, MD; Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. ISBN 0801817927
• The Homeric Hymns: A Translation, with Introduction and Notes, Diane Rayor (2004). This translation sets the hymns in their context of Greek folklore, culture and geography, and offers parallels with Near Eastern texts.

Apostolos N. Athanassakis is a classical scholar and Argyropoulos Chair in Hellenic Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. ... The Johns Hopkins University Press is a publishing house and division of Johns Hopkins University that engages in academic publishing. ...

Notes

Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau (Bavaria), February 2, 1931), the most eminent living scholar of Greek myth and cult, is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland who has also taught in the United Kingdom and the United States. ...

External links

• English etext of the Homeric Hymns Translation by H.G. Evelyn-White at Perseus. Annotated with links to proper names, Greek text, etc.
• English etext of the Homeric Hymns at the Berkeley Sunsite
• Scholarly bibliography on the Homeric Hymns
• Introduction to the Homeric Hymns A condensed version of the introduction by Diane J. Rayor, The Homeric Hymns : A Translation, with Introduction and Notes (2004)