Homeric Hymns facts for kids

The Homeric Hymns are a group of 33 old ancient Greek poems. These poems are called hymns because they celebrate different Greek gods. They are called "Homeric" because they sound a lot like the famous poems by Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Even though they sound like Homer's work, most experts today believe Homer himself did not write them. But in ancient times, people thought he did. So, the name "Homeric" stuck! These hymns use the same special rhythm and words as Homer's epic poems.

Discovering the Homeric Hymns

The oldest of these hymns were likely written around the 7th century BC. This was a bit after Hesiod and the time when Homer's epics were written down. This means the Homeric Hymns are some of the very oldest pieces of Greek literature we have.

Most of them were made in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. But some might be from later times. For example, the Hymn to Ares might be a much newer poem. The hymns to Helios (the Sun) and Selene (the Moon) are also thought to be a bit newer than others.

These hymns were probably part of a larger group of similar poems that are now lost. They are very different in length. Some are only a few lines long. Others are more than 500 lines!

The longer hymns usually start by calling upon a god. Then they praise the god and tell a story about them. The shorter ones often skip the story part.

Most of the old copies we have today start with the third hymn. But in 1777, two missing hymns were found in Moscow. These were the first two hymns in the collection. They were about Dionysus and Demeter.

Many of the shorter hymns might have been used as introductions. Singers called rhapsodes would use them before reciting longer epic poems at festivals. The singer would often end by saying they would now move on to another song.

Gods in the Homeric Hymns

The 33 hymns praise many of the main gods from Greek religion. A 34th poem, "To Hosts," is not a hymn. It is a reminder that being kind to guests (called hospitality) is a sacred duty given by the gods. This was a good reminder from a traveling rhapsode!

Here is a list of the gods honored in the Homeric Hymns:

• "To Dionysus"
• "To Demeter"
• "To Apollo"
• "To Hermes"
• "To Aphrodite"
• "To Ares"
• "To Artemis"
• "To Athena"
• "To Hera"
• "To the mother of the gods" (Rhea/Cybele)
• "To Heracles with the heart of a lion"
• "To Asclepius"
• "To the Dioscuri"
• "To Pan"
• "To Hephaestus"
• "To Poseidon"
• "To Zeus"
• "To Hestia"
• "To the Muses and Apollo"
• "To Gaia, mother of all"
• "To Helios"
• "To Selene"