Hymn to Aphrodite

Six lines — the shortest of the three Homeric hymns to Aphrodite in this corpus, and the most transparent in construction.

The root himer-, "desired", is used three times: "on her desirable face … runs a desirable bloom … give me desirable song". One word ties together the goddess's face, her activity, and the singer's request.

And that is the request: δὸς δ᾽ ἱμερόεσσαν ἀοιδήν — grant me desirable song. Of a deity one asks what falls in her department: of the goddess of desire, that one's songs be desired. The same reckoning as in Ovid asking Flora to make his verses flower (ovid-flora-001): a well-chosen name itself dictates what to ask for.

Σαλαμῖνος … εἰναλίης τε Κύπρου — Salamis beside sea-girt Cyprus: this is in all likelihood the Cypriot Salamis, not the island off Attica. Both places bear the same name, and confusion between them is common.

The last line is the same transitional formula as in the long hymn (homeric-aphrodite-001): the singer announces that he is moving on to the next. The hymn ends exactly where the work begins.