Homeric Hymn 21: To Apollo
A brief 5-line hymn celebrating Apollo as the divine musician whose praises the swan sings on the banks of the Peneus, and whom all minstrels honor first and last in their songs.
About the Poem
The twenty-first Homeric Hymn is a short 5-line invocation to Apollo — one of three hymns to the god in the collection (alongside the vast Hymn 3 and the brief Hymn 21 here). It presents a beautiful image: even the swan sings Apollo’s praises as it beats its wings and alights on the bank of the river Peneus in Thessaly. And among mortals, every minstrel always begins and ends his songs with Apollo’s name.
This hymn captures the essential Apolline theology: he is the god of music, song, and poetry above all else — the deity whose favor every poet must invoke, whose lyre is the archetype of all lyres, whose praise frames all human song.
Complete Text
Greek (Homeric)
Φοῖβε, σὲ μὲν καὶ κύκνος ὑπὸ πτερύγων λίγ’ ἀείδει ὄχθῃ ἐφεζόμενος ποταμοῦ πάρα δινήεντος Πηνειοῦ· σὲ δ’ ἀοιδὸς ἔχων φόρμιγγα λίγειαν πρῶτόν τε καὶ λοίσθιόν τε μελίζει. καὶ σύ μεν οὕτω χαῖρε, ἄναξ· λίτομαί σε δ’ ἀοιδῇ.
(Full Greek text at Perseus Digital Library, link below.)
English (Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914 — public domain)
[1] Phoebus, of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneus; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first and last.
And so hail to you, lord! I seek your favour with my song.
The Swan of Apollo
The swan as Apollo’s sacred bird is one of the most persistent images in Greek art and poetry. Swans were associated with Apollo’s birthplace (Delos), his sanctuary at Delphi, and his temple at Amyclae near Sparta. The swan’s pure-white color, its musical cry (the “swan song”), and its association with prophecy (swans were believed to sing before their deaths in joyful anticipation of joining Apollo) all contributed to the symbolism.
The Peneus river (Πηνειός) flows through the Vale of Tempe in Thessaly — a landscape closely associated with Apollo, who first established his Delphic oracle by traveling through Thessaly, and where the laurel (Apollo’s sacred tree) grew abundantly.
The phrase “always sings both first and last” (πρῶτόν τε καὶ λοίσθιόν τε) reflects actual practice: Greek poets at festivals and symposia would invoke Apollo both to open and to close their performances. The Homeric Hymns themselves served this “first” invocatory function before the main epic recitation.
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
- Fontenrose, Joseph. Python: A Study of Delphic Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.
- Miller, Andrew M. From Delos to Delphi: A Literary Study of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Leiden: Brill, 1986.
- Perseus Digital Library, Homeric Hymns (Greek text): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0137:hymn=21