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The Homeric Hymns | |||||
Revised 2000 • 1-58510-019-6 • paper • 186 pages • 5½ x 8½ • $10.95 English translation. This is a collection of the standard texts of ancient Greek which are important components of what we know about Greek myth, religion, language and culture. All of the works collectively known as the Homeric Hymns are collected and translated here in their entirety, and the work includes ample notes and an introduction to place the works in their historic importance. This edition is part of the Focus Classical Library | Contents | About the Author | Preface |
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Dr. Susan Shelmerdine is professor and chair of the department of Classical Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She earned her PhD at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include Archaic Greek literature, Homer, Mythology, Ancient Religion, and Greek and Latin pedagogy.
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The Homeric Hymns are a rich source of information for Greek myth, religion, language and culture. But they are more than merely scraps of ancient texts to be mined for material of interest to scholars. Long neglected in favor of the great Homeric epics to which they have been connected by name and tradition since antiquity, these poems also tell stories worth reading in their own right. The long hymns tell of a daughter stolen and her mother’s grief, of one god’s search for a place to found his temple, of the struggle a new-born god makes to win recognition through his skill at trickery, and of love for a mortal man imposed on a goddess to teach her a lesson. Even the shorter hymns provide wonderfully vivid portraits of the gods and goddesses in action: Zeus whispering his schemes to a trusted aunt; Athena, born from the head of her father, stopping even the sun in his course; Kastor and Polydeukes sweeping down from the heavens to save a storm-tossed ship. The hymns show in miniature many of the characteristics of the epics which have overshadowed them. Although their nature is different from that of the epics, they too deserve to find an audience. Because the Hymns were composed by different authors and at different times, they do not all share precisely the same style and feel in the original Greek, and some have even been criticized as poor poetry. Since the aim of this translation has been to produce readable texts for a modern audience, I fear these individual traits have largely been lost in the current version. But if the Hymns sound alike in language and style here, it is worth remembering that they shared also in Greek the general language and style of early hexameter poetry. Because the Greek language operates very differently from English, using a system in which the function of a word is generally signaled by its ending, rather than by its position in the sentence, a strict literal translation is often impossible or unsatisfactory. I have tried, nevertheless, to stay as faithful as possible to the structure of each line, to translate epithets and common formulae as consistently as possible, and to allow the occasional awkwardness of the Greek to show through in the English rather than trying to correct it. Where there is a break in the text (lacuna) or lines in the manuscript that do not appear to be original, I have indicated that with dashes (in the former case) and square brackets (in the latter). I have not attempted to reproduce the rhythms or sound of the original, but I have, in most cases, used the Greek spellings of names, representing the final long e of Greek sometimes as e and sometimes as a. In cases where the Latinized spelling has become especially well-known (e.g. Aeschylus for Aischylos, Crete for Krete), I have cheerfully abandoned ideas of consistency and used that spelling. A pronunciation guide is included to help readers not familiar with these names, and the index at the end of the book gives common Latin spellings and names in brackets after their Greek equivalents. The notes have been written with two audiences in mind: the novice reader of early Greek poetry and the more experienced reader of classical literature. For the former I have tried to identify important characters, places and concepts mentioned in the text, for the latter I have added background information and more speculative commentary. The discussion of themes within the narratives will, I hope, be of interest to both and will provide an incentive to explore other themes not mentioned here. My advice to the novice reader is to read each hymn first without the notes, except where clarification is needed, so the narrative will not be too often interrupted with secondary information before it can be appreciated on its own. The General Introduction offers information about the collection (corpus) of the hymns and treats four main topics, the literary tradition of Greek poetry and its varying subject matter, sources for the study of Greek myth, the form and nature of the hymns, and the performance of the hymns. A chronological table of major Greek authors is provided for context, and a genealogical chart of the gods (based largely on Hesiod’s Theogony) is included for reference. Two maps are also included for those not familiar with Greece and its environs. The illustrations from ancient sculpture and vase-painting are reproduced both for fun and to remind us that what we know about the gods and their myths comes from the plastic arts as well as from literature. Each hymn is preceded by its own introductory note on the date and place of the hymn’s composition (usually unknown, alas) and on other main points of interest. A list of suggestions for further reading precedes the pronunciation guide and index at the end of the book. The translation is based on the Oxford text edited by T.W. Allen, supplemented by the commentaries listed in the suggested readings. In addition to these, I have benefited especially from the editions of M.L. West on the Theogony (Oxford 1966) and the Works and Days (Oxford 1978), and from the Cambridge commentaries on the Iliad (vol. 1-6) and the Oxford commentaries on the Odyssey (vol. 1-3). I am grateful to my colleagues in Greensboro and elsewhere who read or used early drafts of this translation in their classes and to Jeffrey Patton who patiently drew and redrew the maps to show as many locations in the hymns as possible. I offer special thanks to Theresa Rotante, David Wharton, and Sarah Wright, all of whom endured several early versions of the text and improved both translation and notes with their tactful comments. My thanks go also to James J. Clauss and Michael R. Halleran for their helpful criticisms and suggestions on the final manuscript. I dedicate this book to the memory of my twin sister, Nancy. S.C. Shelmerdine | |||||
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The Homeric Hymns
