hymn · Greek

Hymn to Artemis and Apollo

Mousa, sing of Artemis, sister of the far-shooter, Parthenos the virgin who delights in arrows, who was fostered with Apollon. She waters her horses from Meles deep in reeds, and swiftly drives her all-golden chariot through Smyrna to vine-clad Klaros where Apollon god of the silver bow, sits waiting for far-shooting delighter in arrows. And so hail to you, Artemis, in my song and to all goddesses as well. Of you first I sing and with you I begin; now that I have begun with you, I will turn to another song.

Commentarius · Commentary

A short rhapsode's prelude (on how these hymns work, see homeric-aphrodite-001), and the whole of it is an itinerary.

Artemis waters her horses in the Meles, drives her golden chariot through Smyrna and arrives at vine-clad Klaros, where her brother is waiting. The Meles is the river at Smyrna, Klaros the oracular sanctuary of Apollo near Colophon; the distance between them is short, and all of it is Ionia.

The hymn, that is, is local. The singer takes the goddess along the roads of the country where he is singing, and the listener is pleased that she passes his town. Smyrna was, among other things, one of the cities that claimed to be Homer's birthplace. Hymns of this kind are not universal but spoken here, and geography in them is a form of flattery to the audience.

The closing courtesy is worth noting too: "and so rejoice in song, you and all the goddesses together". Even in nine lines there is room for a covering clause, so that no one may feel passed over.

Fons · Source

AuthorAnonymous (Homeric corpus)

WorkHomeric Hymns

Section9

Periodarchaic Greek (7th-4th c. BC)

OccasionHomeric Hymn to Artemis — short invocation calling the goddess as virgin huntress driving her chariot through Lydia to her brother Apollo at Klaros

English translationHugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureGreek

Formhymn

DeitiesArtemis, Apollo

FunctionsInvocation · Praise

Spherewilderness · Arts & Poetry