As the Basket comes, greet it, ye women, saying 'Demeter, greatly hail! Lady of much bounty, of many measures of corn.' As the Basket comes, from the ground shall ye behold it, ye uninitiated, and gaze not from the roof or from aloft — child nor wife nor maid hath shed her hair — neither then nor when we spit from parched mouths fasting. Hesperos from the clouds marks the time of its coming: Hesperos, who alone persuaded Demeter to drink, what time she pursued the unknown tracks of her stolen daughter. Lady, how were thy feet able to carry thee unto the West, unto the Melanoi and where the golden apples are? Thou didst not drink nor didst thou eat during that time nor didst thou wash. Thrice didst thou cross Akheloios with his silver eddies, and as often didst thou pass over each of the ever-flowing rivers, and thrice didst thou seat thee on the ground beside the fountain Kallikhoros, parched and without drinking, and didst not eat nor wash. Nay, nay, let us not speak of that which brought the tear to Deo! Better to tell how she gave cities pleasing ordinances; better to tell how she was the first to cut straw and holy sheaves of corn-ears and put in oxen to tread them, what time Triptolemos was taught the good craft... O Demeter, never may that man be my friend who is hateful to thee, nor ever may he share party-wall with me; ill neighbours I abhor. Sing, ye maidens, and ye mothers, say with them: 'Damater, greatly hail! Lady of much bounty, of many measures of corn.' And as the four white-haired horses convey the Basket, so unto us will the great goddess of wide dominion come bringing white spring and white harvest and winter and autumn, and keep us to another year. And as unsandalled and with hair unbound we walk the city, so shall we have foot and head unharmed for ever. And as the van-bearers bear vans full of gold, so may we get gold unstinted. Far as the City Chambers let the uninitiated follow, but the initiated even unto the very shrine of the goddess — as many as are under sixty years. But she that is heavy and she that stretches her hand to Eileithyia and she that is in pain — sufficient it is that they go so far as their knees are able. And to them Deo shall give all things to overflowing, even as if they came unto her temple. Hail, goddess, and save this people in harmony and in prosperity, and in the fields bring us all pleasant things! Feed our kine, bring us flocks, bring us the corn-ear, bring us harvest! And nurse peace, that he who sows may also reap. Be gracious, O thrice-prayed for, great Queen of goddesses!
Commentarius · Commentary
The hymn is written as though spoken during the procession at the Thesmophoria: the poet cues the participants, and the text reads as an order of service. "When the Basket comes down, cry out, women."
The most curious part is the prohibitions. The uninitiated are to watch the Basket only from the ground, "neither from the roof nor from above"; not a child, not a married woman, not one who has let down her hair. Offence here is measured in height: to look down on a holy thing is forbidden, because that is the position of a superior.
The fast is real too: "when we, unfed, spit from parched mouths". Women fasted at the Thesmophoria, and Callimachus explains why the fast ends at nightfall: Hesperus alone persuaded Demeter to drink, when she was following the trail of her stolen daughter. The timetable of the rite is derived from a myth, as always in antiquity.
And in the omitted middle ([…], lines 22-116) stands the story of Erysichthon, who cut down Demeter's grove and was punished with a hunger that could not be satisfied. Callimachus sets two hungers side by side: the voluntary, ritual one that ends when a star appears, and the punitive one that never ends. The card keeps the frame, but the design of the hymn lies in that juxtaposition.
Fons · Source
AuthorCallimachus
WorkHymns
Section6.1-21; 117-138
Period3rd c. BC
OccasionHellenistic literary hymn for the Thesmophoria — sung by women as the sacred Basket is carried in procession through the city, with the central narrative of Demeter's wandering and gift of agriculture to Triptolemos
