I begin to sing of Dionysos ivy-crowned, the loud-crying, splendid son of Zeus and glorious Semele. The rich-haired Nymphai received him in their bosoms from the lord his father and fostered and nurtured him carefully in the dells of Nysa, where by the will of his father he grew up in a sweet-smelling cave, being reckoned among the immortals. But when the goddesses had brought him up, a god oft hymned, then began he to wander continually through the woody coombes, thickly wreathed with ivy and laurel. And the Nymphai followed in his train with him for their leader; and the boundless forest was filled with their outcry. And so hail to you, Dionysos god of abundant clusters! Grant that we may come again rejoicing to this season, and from that season onwards for many a year.
Commentarius · Commentary
Dionysus among the nymphs of Nysa: his father gave them the infant, they took him to their bosoms and reared him in a fragrant cave, and when he had grown he began to range the wooded haunts, wreathed in ivy and laurel, with the nymphs following.
Μεταρίθμιος ἀθανάτοισιν — numbered among the immortals. The word matters: Dionysus is not born a god, he is reckoned among the gods, entered on the list. The same holds for Asclepius (homeric-asclepius-001), for whom the hymn draws up a pedigree, and not for Athena (homeric-athena-001), who appears already finished. The Greek pantheon was open to additions, and the hymns record who has been in it from the beginning and who was admitted later.
The request at the end (it falls outside the passage given, but is named in the occasion field) is for the return of his season for many years. What is asked is neither favour nor gift but the repetition of a term: that it come round year after year. The subject is the vintage, and the god of wine is responsible not for the harvest but for time coming round again.
Fons · Source
AuthorAnonymous (Homeric corpus)
WorkHomeric Hymns
Section26
Periodarchaic Greek (7th-4th c. BC)
OccasionHomeric Hymn to Dionysus — narrating his nurturing by the Nysean Nymphs and asking for the return of his season for many years
