Homeric Hymns #2021

1 It s called Homeric Hymns not because they are by Homer but because they are in the same meter that Homer used.2 It is a very quick read A couple hours at most.3 The Hymn of Demeter Persephone is the best, Hermes second, and the rest, while interesting and sometimes beautiful, didn t add much for me.4 Aphrodite is kind of a jerk They re all kind of jerks.

Pallas Athena I begin to sing,The glorious goddess with gleaming eyes,Brilliantly inventive, her heart relentless,The formidable maiden, guardian of cities,The courageous Tritogeneia.Wise Zeus gave birth to her himselfOut of his majestic head.Golden armour clothed her,It was glistening, war like.All the gods who saw herWere overcome with awe.Suddenly she was thereBefore Zeus who holds the Aegis.She sprang from his immortal headShaking her sharp spear.Great Olympus trembled terriblyAt the power o [...]

3 Stars, Completed February 9, 2016I m not sure how it happened but after taking six semesters of Latin high school and a few upper level college courses of the foreign language , I never had to translate and read any Roman or Greek text fully in Latin We read excerpts or parts in translated idiomatic English So I sort of felt cheated by this being someone that was very interested in mythology growing up It s a shame most of my Latin Greek mythology knowledge is from Percy Jackson and the Olympi [...]

translated by Jules Cashford, with an introduction and notes by Nicholas RichardsonI m a little a loss to explain why I liked these so much or explain what I liked about them Maybe I m just fond of Greek mythology and any riff on them that made it through the vagaries of time will catch my interest But there does seem to be something extra here There is a reason Percy Bysshe Shelley translated so many of these, as did Chapman Maybe it s just how the opening fragment to Dionysos says something to [...]

A series of hymns of ancient Greece.Ranging from recounting myths, sometimes at length, to bursts of short lyric Some of it will be familiar, and some not at all the Hymn to Ares in particular.Translation matters I read an idiomatic one this time, and it tried to bring it into modern English as much as possible More unfortunately, it was a 1970s translation and bears quite definitely the mark of it, several phrases sheriek of the decades.Even so, you get the effect of the original Greek in place [...]

This collection of hymns follows the style of Homer s writings and due to that and to tradition are said to have been written by him The first two hymns were missing until the late 1700 s, but even then only a small fragment of hymn one was recovered although nearly all of hymn two was found Aside from difficulties resulting from a few missing lines these hymns are easy to follow and it is a marvel this much remains now for readers to enjoy.Although the works of Homer, Hesiod and others were wri [...]

Reading this book again for the Ancient Greek and Roman mythology course I am doing for the second time, I found I enjoyed it much This Penguin Classics translation is elegant, full of charm and so inspiring In the introduction by Nicholas Richardson, the author explores the composition, the history of the hymns and the beauty of the structure, themes and style The hymns Tell us something about the Greek view of the relationship between the divine and human worlds Ignorance of the future, the u [...]

Required reading for Greek and Roman Mythology, but I m happy about it It seems to be an excellent and enjoyable translation, with good notes to clarify meanings and identities If you re into Greek Mythology, the hymns here definitely add a bit of depth to the experience The stories aren t new, but they re told with a different flow to them, and so are just as fun to read again as they were the first time.

These Homeric Hymns might be better be described as prayers or invocations to the Gods, to be read before the start of stage plays They can be a bit repetitive, but that s the nature of offering praise to the gods, especially when you asking them to bless your proceedings.If you re a fan of ancient Greek drama, I would recommend this book as a supplement to your reading.

A taut, hypnotic translation sorta the poetic equivalent of Velvet Underground s The Murder Mystery Choppy and insistent, no dactyls, no hexameters So it s probably pretty close to the way these central hymns sounded in Mediterranean caves and hillsides The hymns to Hermes guide my every move wink , and I ended up disliking Demeter very much ducking Essential reading.

Beautiful translation of what will become one of your favorite books of short form Ancient verse Cannot recommend this highly enough

Beautiful translations Unfortunate that the majority of the hymns are so short as the longer ones are great.

These were surprisingly enjoyable Well, I guess it is silly to be surprised anything that is still in print well over a thousand years after its composition has probably got some fine qualities But many of these poems songs tell really compelling stories in beautiful, intense language I realize that part of the credit for the loveliness of the poetry goes to the translator, and, while admitting that I have no basis whatsoever for comparison, I think Thelma Sargent did a first class job here I ve [...]

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Recensione sul blog thereadingpal 2017Questa una recensione davvero molto personale raccomandato anzi, quasi obbligatorio per noi politeisti ellenici, approcciarsi ai testi antichi L ho fatto e lo sto facendo Volevo comprare una copia degli inni da tempo, e non trovandola in italiano ho preso questa.Gli Inni Omerici sono una serie di Inni agli dei ellenici, di cui potete leggere la storia sia online che in questo libro Ovviamente non sono davvero scritti da Omero, ma hanno una metrica simile tra [...]

I can t tell why, but the hymn on Demeter has risen so many emotions and images in me though of course I known the story itself before reading it Generally I really enjoyed the four longer hymns, just four solid pieces of good poetry and stories were also interesting ones On the other hand shorter on were often were just boring, emptybut not all of them, some of them have risen that wield religios vibe in meMust read for everyone with at least basic interest in greek mythology.

A masterpiece I found this book an enchanting read from the first pages I have read the Focus Classical Library edition and I found Susan C Shelmerdine introduction and rich footnotes so helpful for understanding this great work I think I am going to reread this interesting book again and again I particularly loved the Hymns to Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Hermes, though all the hymns are so beautiful I do highly recommend it.

Homerische Hymnen, das klingt schrecklich langweilig Man sollte sich aber nicht vom Titel abschrecken lassen, denn was die alten Griechen unter Hymnen verstanden ist zum Gro teil deutlich spannender und unterhaltsamer als das, was das Christentum darunter versteht Nat rlich gibt es auch die langweilig, schwafeligen Lobhuddeleien an ein paar G tter, die den christlichen Hymnen in nichts nachstehen, die gro en, langen Hymnen sind aber spannende Geschichten, die der Odyssee in nichts nachstehen.Das [...]

Required reading for a class on Homer The Homeric Hymns have had a fascinating and rather sad life history This collection consists of 33 poetic invocations to various Greek gods, with Hermes, Apollo, and Aphrodite getting the most page time Originally oral poetry, they were widely read by armchair classicists in later centuries After someone decided they were written by Homer, the hymns got even popular Unfortunately, then some scholars apparently decided that the Hymns weren t that Homeric af [...]

I ve never read other translations of the Homeric Hymns, but these flowed beautifully and certainly had the feel Homer s verses, even though they are written by various, unknown poets My initial interest was in the long hymn to Demeter, which was my favorite even after reading them all Some, like the Demeter hymn, have cohesive story lines, but others are less focused.I have been slogging my way through Apollodorus s Library of Greek Mythology which I WILL finish , and the bits and pieces of sto [...]

While most of these hymns are boring as presented a scholarly Greek English version with lots of critical apparatus would have been interesting , there is one which works to the modern sense, at least in part The Hymn to Dionyos has, as I recall, a theme of Apollo being pissed at the trickster godling Once, when still very young, Dionysos had stolen some of the god s sacred cattle Apollo pursues, finally catching him in, get this, his crib In the face of the god s accusatory rage, Dionysos, act [...]

A very good, understandable translation of this set of ancient hymns I greatly prefer Athanassakis line per line kind of translation over less accurate poetic translations, as I seek to understand the original Hellenic texts better The same applies to my preference over Athanassakis trnaslations of the Orphic Hymns compared to Thomas Taylor s.

Las notas y las introducciones hacen de este libro una edici n preciosa Y los himnos largos son lo mejor mi favorito por siempre el de Hermes Ojal se hubieran conservado m s

Perhaps the best known of the poems is The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which is the story of a mother s search for a lost daughter The translator did not preserve the hexameter rhythm of the original Greek, but that would add another dimension These works are credited to Homer, as are The Iliad and The Odyssey A few tell a story, specifically the Hymn to Demeter, The Hymn to Apollo, the Hymn to Hermes, and The Hymn to Aphrodite The others are hymns of praise to the specific Greek god, and most are [...]

Solid collection, but not necessarily one I feel I d need on my shelves.

we made hephaestus dropping his seed on Athena s leg into a legend

I dawdled over this volume of about 70 pages for months It was delightful.

I loved Athanassakis translation It was beautiful to read and his notes were useful and enlightening I am quite happy with it.

I read this mostly in translation, but whenever I looked at the original I thought what a wonderful language is this ancient Greek.

It was an interesting read, a little confusing at first but I actually really enjoyed Hermes story as well as Demeter.