THE HOMERIC HYMNS are a collection of thirty-three poems composed in the old Epic style. They range in length from 3 to 500 lines. The shortest of these are brief invocations which served as preludes to longer festival recitations of epic. The largest four are complete epic narrative poems in themselves.
The dating and authorship of the Hymns is complex. Greek writers assigned several authors including Homer, Pamphos (the Hymn to Demeter), and Cynaethus of Chios (the Hymn to Apollo). However they are now regarded as a largely anonymous collection of works.
The majority of the collection, including the longer hymns, dates from the C7th - C6th BC. A few of the shorter poems are clearly Hellenistic, and the Hymn to Ares was probably not composed till Roman times.
The dating and authorship of the Hymns is complex. Greek writers assigned several authors including Homer, Pamphos (the Hymn to Demeter), and Cynaethus of Chios (the Hymn to Apollo). However they are now regarded as a largely anonymous collection of works.
The majority of the collection, including the longer hymns, dates from the C7th - C6th BC. A few of the shorter poems are clearly Hellenistic, and the Hymn to Ares was probably not composed till Roman times.
| Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. |