The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns

Name: The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Author: Attributed to Orpheus

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The HymnsXVI. To Hera · Lines 1–10

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XVI. To Hera · Lines 1–10

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Ancient Greek

p. 70

XVI. ΗΡΑΣ

θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

Κυανέοις κόλποισιν ἐνημένη, ἠερόμορφε,

Ἥρη παμβασίλεια, Διὸς σύλλεκτρε μάκαιρα,

ψυχοτρόφους αὔρας θνητοῖς παρέχουσα προσηνεῖς,

ὄμβρων μὲν μήτηρ, ἀνέμων τροφέ, παντογένεθλε·

χωρὶς γὰρ σέθεν οὐδὲν ὅλως ζωῆς φύσιν ἔγνω·

κοινωνεῖς γὰρ ἅπασι κεκραμένη ἠέρι σεμνῷ·

πάντων γὰρ κρατέεις μούνη πάντεσσί τ’ ἀνάσσεις

ἠερίοις ῥοίζοισι τινασσομένη κατὰ χεῦμα.

ἀλλά, μάκαιρα θεά, πολυώνυμε, παμβασίλεια,

ἔλθοις εὐμενέουσα καλῷ γήθουσα προσώπῳ.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XVI. To Hera

p. 71

XVI. To Hera

fumigation from aromatics

Seated in dark-blue hollows, of airy form,

Hera queen of all, blessed bedfellow of Zeus,

supplying to mortals the kindly breezes that nourish the soul,

mother of rains, nurse of winds, all-begetting;

for apart from you nothing at all has known the nature of life;

for you share in all things, blended with the august air;

for you alone have power over all and are mistress of all,

shaken with airy rushings throughout the stream.

But, blessed goddess, of many names, queen of all,

may you come with favour, rejoicing, with a fair face.

1, 6.Hera is the air, and the hymn says so twice: ἠερόμορφε in the first line, αὔρας in the third, ἀνέμων in the fourth, κεκραμένη ἠέρι σεμνῷ in the sixth, ἠερίοις ῥοίζοισι in the eighth. The allegory rests on the old play of Ἥρα on ἀήρ, current before Plato, who records it at Cratylus 404c, and used by the Stoics after him (Cicero, ND 2.66). Apart from the titles παμβασίλεια (2, 9) and σύλλεκτρε Διός (2), nothing in the hymn touches Hera's myths.

3.ψυχοτρόφους αὔρας: breezes that nourish the ψυχή. The physical and the psychological senses of breath are not separated, and the hymn does not choose between them.

5–7.Three γάρ clauses in a row, all grounding the invocation. It is the closest thing to an argument in the block — though what it argues is that nothing lives without air, which the hymn treats as a reason to pray.

Cross.ἠερόμορφε was Rhea's two hymns earlier, at XIV.11, and the whole half-line σύλλεκτρε μάκαιρα repeats — Κρόνου at XIV.5, Διὸς here. The same words go to the wife of Kronos and the wife of Zeus, though formulaic repetition on this scale is ordinary in the collection.

About This Reading Edition

The eighty-eight Orphic Hymns and the Prayer to Musaeus, in Ancient Greek and English, with the supplied critical apparatus, explanatory notes, introduction, glossary and editorial matter.

Historical Text and Translation

Orphic Hymns, attributed to Orpheus. Greek text after Eugenius Abel, Orphica (Leipzig and Prague, 1885), pages 57–102.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The ancient Greek source and the 1885 Abel edition are public-domain material. The supplied new English translation and editorial matter are published with the site owner’s authorization. Both supplied original files remain unchanged.