hymn · Greek

Hymn to Artemis

Hear me, Zeus' daughter, celebrated queen, Bromia and Titanis, of a noble mien: in darts rejoicing, and on all to shine, torch-bearing Goddess, Diktynna divine. Over births presiding, and thyself a maid, to labour pangs imparting ready aid: dissolver of the zone, and wrinkled care, fierce huntress, glorying in the sylvan war: swift in the course, in dreadful arrows skilled, wandering by night, rejoicing in the field: of manly form, erect, of bounteous mind, illustrious Daimon, nurse of humankind: immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell, 'tis thine, blest maid, on woody mounts to dwell: foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight, in endless youth you flourish fair and bright. O universal queen, august, divine, a various form, Kydonian power, is thine. Dread guardian Goddess, with benignant mind, auspicious come, to mystic rites inclined; give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear, send gentle peace, and health with lovely hair, and to the mountains drive disease and care.

Commentarius · Commentary

The hymn consists almost entirely of forms of address, and in that heap of titles stands a contradiction uttered in one breath.

Ὠδίνων ἐπαρωγὲ καὶ ὠδίνων ἀμύητε — helper in birth-pangs and uninitiated in birth-pangs. Amyētos is a mystery word: uninitiated, not admitted to the rite. Artemis' virginity is described as non-initiation into childbirth, and she presides over precisely what she has not been initiated into.

Beside it stands lysizōne, loosener of the girdle. The girdle was untied twice — on marriage and in childbirth — and dedicated to Artemis; one word covers both cases and incidentally explains why a virgin goddess is in charge of each.

Then, without any awkwardness: arsenomorphe, male in form. The Orphic hymn heaps up mutually exclusive definitions and does not reconcile them: a deity is the sum of its names, not a person with a consistent character.

The fumigation here is manna, granular frankincense, an offering of the celestial gods. Compare the rubric for the chthonic Dionysus, where frankincense is expressly forbidden (orphic-amphietus-001): in this collection the list of incenses functions as an indication of class.

Fons · Source

AuthorAnonymous (Orphic corpus)

WorkOrphic Hymns

Section36

PeriodHellenistic to Roman imperial (3rd c. BC – 2nd c. AD)

OccasionOrphic hymn to Artemis with fumigation of manna — invocation of the huntress, virgin, midwife and bringer of fruits, peace and health

English translationThomas Taylor, 1792

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureGreek

Formhymn

DeitiesArtemis

FunctionsInvocation · Petition

Spherewilderness · Family · Healing · Personal