Perseus · Tufts
All Greek and Roman Materials
Collections: Classics · Papyri · Renaissance · London · California · Upper Midwest · Chesapeake · Boyle · Tufts History
Configure display · Help · Tools · Copyright · FAQ · Publications · Collaborations · Support Perseus
Classics:
Classics collection contents
About the Classics collection
Greek Hist. Overview
Art & Arch. Catalogs

Other Tools & Lexica
Plot:
  • sites on this page
  • sites in this hymn
  • sites in this document
  • dates in this document
    Display text chunked by:
    hymn (default)
    card (default)
    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)

    To Aphrodite

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White) | English (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White)
    Your current position in the text is marked in red. Click anywhere on the line to jump to another position.
    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

    Table of ContentsGo to Previous Next

    Of these three Aphrodite cannot bend or ensnare the hearts. But of all others there is nothing [35] among the blessed gods or among mortal men that has escaped Aphrodite. Even the heart of Zeus, who delights in thunder, is led astray by her; though he is greatest of all and has the lot of highest majesty, she beguiles even his wise heart whensoever she pleases, and mates him with mortal women, [40] unknown to Hera, his sister and his wife, the grandest far in beauty among the deathless goddesses --most glorious is she whom wily Cronos with her mother Rhea did beget: and Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting, made her his chaste and careful wife.

    [45] But upon Aphrodite herself Zeus cast sweet desire to be joined in love with a mortal man, to the end that, very soon, not even she should be innocent of a mortal's love; lest laughter-loving Aphrodite should one day softly smile and say mockingly among all the gods [50] that she had joined the gods in love with mortal women who bare sons of death to the deathless gods, and had mated the goddesses with mortal men.

    And so he put in her heart sweet desire for Anchises who at that time among the steep hills of many-fountained Ida [55] was tending cattle, and in shape was like the immortal gods. Therefore, when laughter-loving Aphrodite saw him, she loved him, and terribly desire seized her in her heart. She went to Cyprus, to Paphos, where her precinct is and fragrant altar, and passed into her sweet-smelling temple. [60] There she went in and put to the glittering doors, and there the Graces bathed her with heavenly oil such as blooms upon the bodies of the eternal gods --oil divinely sweet, which she had by her, filled with fragrance. And laughter-loving Aphrodite put on all her rich clothes, [65] and when she had decked herself with gold, she left sweet-smelling Cyprus and went in haste towards Troy, swiftly travelling high up among the clouds. So she came to many-fountained Ida, the mother of wild creatures and went straight to the homestead across the mountains. After her [70] came grey wolves, fawning on her, and grim-eyed lions, and bears, and fleet leopards, ravenous for deer: and she was glad in heart to see them, and put desire in their breasts, so that they all mated, two together, about the shadowy coombes.


    There are a total of 5 comments on and cross references to this page.

    Further comments from Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns:
    line 30: Piar helousa
    line 45 (general note)
    line 60: thuras hePethêke phaeinas

    Cross references from Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns:
    * [HYMN TO HERMES]
    * [HYMN TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS]

    Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=HH+5+33

    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

    Buy a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com.

    Previous Next