Homeric Hymn 15: To Heracles the Lion-Hearted
A 9-line hymn celebrating Heracles — son of Zeus and Alcmena — who after his mortal labors was deified and lives on Olympus with Hebe as his wife.
About the Poem
The fifteenth Homeric Hymn is a complete 9-line invocation to Heracles (Herakles), the greatest of the Greek heroes, who through his legendary labors earned deification. The hymn calls him “the Lion-Hearted” (μεγάθυμον) and summarizes his entire mythological biography in compressed form: born of Zeus and Alcmena in Thebes; forced to wander and perform his labors at the command of Eurystheus; now dwelling happily on Olympus with his wife Hebe.
The juxtaposition — “Once he wandered… but now he lives happily” — is the essential arc of the Heracles myth: mortal suffering transformed into divine reward. This narrative structure made Heracles the paradigmatic figure for Stoic philosophy (the sage who endures all trials to achieve virtue) and for mystery religion (the mortal who achieved immortality).
Complete Text
Greek (Homeric)
Ἡρακλῆα Διὸς υἱόν, ὃν μέγιστον τεκε Θήβη, ὕμνει Μοῦσα λίγεια, ὃν Ἀλκμήνη τέκ’ ἀγαυή, εὖτε Κρονίωνι μιγεῖσ’ ἐρικυδέι νύκτα ἐκείνην ἐν Θήβῃ ἐρατεινῇ πολυδαιδάλου ἠλιβάτοιο. ὃς πρὶν μὲν κατὰ γαῖαν ἀπείριτον ἠδὲ θάλασσαν πλαζόμενος Εὐρυσθῆος ὑπ’ ἄγγελον ἐξετέλεσσεν πολλὰ μὲν αὐτὸς ἔρεξεν ἀτάσθαλα, πολλὰ δ’ ἀνέτλη· νῦν δ’ ἤδη κατὰ καλὸν ἕδος νιφόεντος Ὀλύμπου ναίει, τερπόμενος καὶ ἔχει καλλίσφυρον Ἥβην.
(Full Greek text at Perseus Digital Library, link below.)
English (Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914 — public domain)
[1] I will sing of Heracles, the son of Zeus and much the mightiest of men on earth. Alcmena bare him in Thebes, the city of lovely dances, when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos had lain with her.
Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land and sea at the bidding of King Eurystheus, and himself did many deeds of violence and endured many; but now he lives happily in the glorious home of snowy Olympus, and has neat-ankled Hebe for his wife.
Hail, lord, son of Zeus! Give me success and prosperity.
Heracles as the Deified Hero
This hymn represents the apotheosis tradition of Heracles — his deification after death — rather than the older strand of myth in which he was a purely mortal hero. The deification story, in which Heracles ascends to Olympus and marries Hebe (Youth), is attested from Hesiod (Theogony 950–955) onwards and became the dominant tradition.
Hebe (Ἥβη, “Youth”) as Heracles’ wife on Olympus is a theologically charged pairing: the man who endured superhuman suffering receives eternal youth as his reward. Hebe was also the cup-bearer of the gods before Ganymede replaced her — suggesting Heracles’ bride was the divine personification of the immortal youthfulness that he had earned.
The phrase “the city of lovely dances” (Θήβῃ ἐρατεινῇ) for Thebes echoes Pindar and other archaic poets; Thebes was proud of its connection to both Heracles and Dionysus (also born of Zeus and a Theban woman — Semele).
Citations
- Evelyn-White, H. G. (trans.). Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica. Loeb Classical Library 57. Harvard University Press, 1914. Public domain. https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomericHymns3.html
- Hesiod, Theogony 950–955 (Heracles’ deification). Perseus Digital Library. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+950
- Stafford, Emma. Herakles. London: Routledge, 2012.
- Perseus Digital Library, Homeric Hymns (Greek text): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0137:hymn=15