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    Contents:
  • To Dionysus
  • To Demeter
  • To Hermes
  • To Aphrodite
  • To Aphrodite
  • To Dionysus
  • To Ares
  • To Artemis
  • To Aphrodite
  • To Athena
  • To Hera
  • To Demeter
  • To the Mother of the Gods
  • To Heracles the Lion-Hearted
  • To Asclepius
  • To the Dioscuri
  • To Hermes
  • To Pan
  • To Hephaestus
  • to Apollo
  • To Poseidon
  • To the Son of Cronos, Most High
  • To Hestia
  • To the Muses and Apollo
  • To Dionysus
  • To Artemis
  • To Athena
  • To Hestia
  • To Earth the Mother of All
  • To Helios
  • To Selene
  • To the Dioscuri
    		•

    Homeric Hymns (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White)

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White) | English (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White)
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    hymn=1:line=5 hymn=2:line=1 hymn=2:line=30 hymn=2:line=50 hymn=2:line=80 hymn=2:line=100 hymn=2:line=118 hymn=2:line=140 hymn=2:line=160 hymn=2:line=184 hymn=2:line=210 hymn=2:line=230 hymn=2:line=245 hymn=2:line=270 hymn=2:line=292 hymn=2:line=320 hymn=2:line=345 hymn=2:line=370 hymn=2:line=395 hymn=2:line=410 hymn=2:line=440 hymn=2:line=460 hymn=2:line=490 hymn=3:line=5 hymn=3:line=30 hymn=3:line=50 hymn=3:line=80 hymn=3:line=95 hymn=3:line=125 hymn=3:line=145 hymn=3:line=170 hymn=3:line=1 hymn=3:line=205 hymn=3:line=225 hymn=3:line=255 hymn=3:line=275 hymn=3:line=300 hymn=3:line=317a hymn=3:line=340 hymn=3:line=360 hymn=3:line=390 hymn=3:line=405 hymn=3:line=430 hymn=3:line=450 hymn=3:line=480 hymn=3:line=500 hymn=3:line=530 hymn=3:line=540 hymn=4:line=5 hymn=4:line=30 hymn=4:line=55 hymn=4:line=75 hymn=4:line=94 hymn=4:line=120 hymn=4:line=135 hymn=4:line=165 hymn=4:line=185 hymn=4:line=210 hymn=4:line=235 hymn=4:line=256 hymn=4:line=280 hymn=4:line=300 hymn=4:line=330 hymn=4:line=350 hymn=4:line=380 hymn=4:line=400 hymn=4:line=409b hymn=4:line=435 hymn=4:line=455 hymn=4:line=485 hymn=4:line=505 hymn=4:line=525 hymn=4:line=545 hymn=4:line=565 hymn=5 hymn=5:line=20 hymn=5:line=40 hymn=5:line=70 hymn=5:line=85 hymn=5:line=95 hymn=5:line=115 hymn=5:line=140 hymn=5:line=165 hymn=5:line=185 hymn=5:line=210 hymn=5:line=230 hymn=5:line=250 hymn=5:line=280 hymn=6:line=5 hymn=7:line=1 hymn=7:line=25 hymn=7:line=45 hymn=8:line=5 hymn=9:line=5 hymn=11 hymn=12:line=5 hymn=14 hymn=15:line=5 hymn=17 hymn=18:line=5 hymn=19:line=10 hymn=19:line=40 hymn=20:line=5 hymn=22 hymn=24 hymn=25:line=1 hymn=26:line=10 hymn=27:line=15 hymn=28:line=5 hymn=29:line=5 hymn=30:line=1 hymn=31:line=1 hymn=32 hymn=33

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    To Demeter

    [1] I begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter, awful goddess --of her and her trim-ankled daughter whom Aidoneus rapt away, given to him by all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer.

    Apart from Demeter, lady of the golden sword and glorious fruits, [5] she was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters of Oceanus and gathering flowers over a soft meadow, roses and crocuses and beautiful violets, irises also and hyacinths and the narcissus, which Earth made to grow at the will of Zeus and to please the Host of Many, to be a snare for the bloom-like girl -- [10] a marvellous, radiant flower. It was a thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its root grew a hundred blooms and it smelled most sweetly, so that all wide heaven above and the whole earth and the sea's salt swell laughed for joy. [15] And the girl was amazed and reached out with both hands to take the lovely toy; but the wide-pathed earth yawned there in the plain of Nysa, and the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon her --the Son of Cronos, He who has many names.1

    He caught her up reluctant on his golden car and bare her away [20] lamenting. Then she cried out shrilly with her voice, calling upon her father, the Son of Cronos, who is most high and excellent. But no one, either of the deathless gods or of mortal men, heard her voice, nor yet the olive-trees bearing rich fruit: [25] only tender-hearted Hecate, bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaeus, heard the girl from her cave, and the lord Helios, Hyperion's bright son, as she cried to her father, the Son of Cronos. But he was sitting aloof, apart from the gods, in his temple where many pray, and receiving sweet offerings from mortal men. So he, that son of Cronos, of many names, who is Ruler of Many and Host of Many, [30] was bearing her away by leave of Zeus on his immortal chariot --his own brother's child and all unwilling.

    And so long as she, the goddess, yet beheld earth and starry heaven and the strong-flowing sea where fishes shoal, [35] and the rays of the sun, and still hoped to see her dear mother and the tribes of the eternal gods, so long hope calmed her great heart for all her trouble ... and the heights of the mountains and the depths of the sea rang with her immortal voice: and her queenly mother heard her.

    1 The Greeks feared to name Pluto directly and mentioned him by one of many descriptive titles, such as “Host of Many”: compare the Christian use of ho diabolos or our “Evil One.”

    There are a total of 11 comments on and cross references to this page.

    Further comments from Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns:
    line 1: theon
    line 10: to Ge
    line 15: amphô
    line 20: iachêse
    line 25: eX antrou
    line 35: mêtera . . phula
    line 5: bathukolpois

    Cross references from Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns:
    * [HYMN TO DEMETER]
    * [HYMN TO ARTEMIS]
    * [HYMN TO APHRODITE]
    * [HYMN TO APHRODITE]

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    The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Anonymous. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
    OCLC: 41785942
    ISBN: 0674990633

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