Homeric Hymns

The Homeric Hymns are a group of ancient Greek hymns attributed to the poet Homer. Most scholars believe that they are not the work of Homer, and that the oldest of them dates back to the days of Hesiod; this does make them among the oldest monuments of Greek literature. They vary widely in length, some being as brief as three or four lines, while others are in excess of five hundred lines.

The hymns praise most of the major gods of Greek mythology. Gods who have Homeric hymns dedicated to them include:

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

External link

• English etext of the Homeric Hymns (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Hesiod/hymns) at the Berkeley Sunsite