Greek Poems to the Gods

Hymns from Homer to Proclus

Barry B. Powell

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780520972605
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Ancient Poetry
• Index: Literature

The ancient Greek hymnic tradition translated beautifully and accessibly. The hymn—as poetry, as craft, as a tool for worship and philosophy—was a vital art form throughout antiquity. Although the Homeric Hymns have long been popular, other equally important collections have not been readily accessible to students eager to learn about ancient poetry. In reading hymns, we also gain valuable insight into life in the classical world. In this collection, early Homeric Hymns of uncertain authorship appear along with the carefully wrought hymns of the great Hellenistic poet and courtier Callimachus; the mystical writings attributed to the legendary poet Orpheus, written as Christianity was taking over the ancient world; and finally, the hymns of Proclus, the last great pagan philosopher of antiquity, from the fifth century AD, whose intellectual influence throughout western culture has been profound. Greek Poems to the Gods distills over a thousand years of the ancient Greek hymnic tradition into a single volume. Acclaimed translator Barry B. Powell brings these fabulous texts to life in English, hewing closely to the poetic beauty of the original Greek. His superb introductions and notes give readers essential context, making the hymns as accessible to a beginner approaching them for the first time as to an advanced student continuing to explore their secrets. Brilliant illustrations from ancient art enliven and enrichen the experience of reading these poems.

1

Zeus

Zeus is the only Olympian for whose name there is a transparent Indo-European etymology. The name has the same root as the Sanskrit Dyaus Pitar, “Father Sky”; the Roman Juppiter; the Germanic Tiu, hence “Tuesday”; and the Latin deus, “god,” and dies, “day.” He is, then, the god of the bright sky, the “shiner.” He was identified with Near Eastern weather gods, who preside over rain and storms, and he belongs to this type. He is mentioned in the economic tabulations that survive from the Mycenaean Age (c. 1600–1100 BC), written in a prealphabetic syllabic script called Linear B. He may have been the highest god even at this time.

In Homer Zeus is the father of gods and humans, presiding over MOUNT OLYMPOS like a warlord in his palace. He is the “cloud-gatherer,” the “thunderer on high,” the “hurler of thunderbolts.” His emblem is the eagle, king of the birds. In Greek religion, he was worshipped on mountain tops: on MOUNT LYKAON in ARCADIA, on Mount Hymettos near ATHENS, and on MOUNT IDA in CRETE. He was associated with the highest mountain in Greece, Mount Olympos, though many other mountains bore this name (Olympos seems to be a pre-Greek word meaning “mountain”). The weather could be controlled through him, sometimes assisted by human sacrifice, as apparently took place on Mount Lykaon. His power is manifest in the irresistible thunderbolt by which he strikes down humans and gods. If a person were hit by a thunderbolt, that was the doing of Zeus Kataibatês, “Zeus the Descender,” and an altar was built at the site.

FIGURE 3. Zeus with his thunderbolt and his kingly scepter. He is bearded and wears a wreath of ivy leaves. Athenian red-figure vase, c. 470 BC. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Photograph © Rowanwindwhistler / Creative Commons.

In myth, as in Hesiod’s Theogony, a main source about Zeus’s family history and exploits as well as the configuration of power on which his reign relies, it is made clear that Zeus did not always rule. Before him, crooked-counsel Kronos was king of the gods. Kronos swallowed all his children, but Zeus’s mother Rhea saved the infant and concealed him in a cave on Crete. There he grew to manhood and defeated his father and his father’s allies, the Titans, by the invincible power of his thunderbolt.

Zeus is repeatedly threatened by women who are predicted to bear children greater than himself, even as he was greater than his own father, Kronos. One such woman was Metis, “Mind.” His response was to swallow her when she was pregnant so that “mind” became part of Zeus’s own nature. The child was Athena, who burst from Zeus’s head when she came to term, wholly Zeus’s child and obedient to him alone. Another threat came from the sea-nymph Thetis, to whom Zeus was attracted. Warned of the danger, he refrained from intercourse with her and instead compelled Thetis to marry a mortal, Peleus, who became the father of Achilles, the greatest warrior that ever lived. Other threats to his rule came from the monster Typhoeus, the child of Earth (Gaia) and Tartaros, shown in art as a beast with snakes for feet. Zeus destroyed him with his thunderbolts and imprisoned the carcass beneath Mount Etna in SICILY, where it continues to smolder even to this day. The giants, too, opposed his reign, but with the help of the other Olympians he defeated them and sent them into the underworld.

Parallel to Zeus’s power in combat is his sexual potency. Zeus had sexual relations with many goddesses and mortal women—ancient commentators counted 115 consor...