Homeric Hymn 26: To Dionysus

About the Poem

The twenty-sixth Homeric Hymn is a complete 13-line hymn to Dionysus — one of three hymns to the god in the collection (alongside Hymns 1 and 7). Where Hymn 7 tells the dramatic pirate story and Hymn 1 is fragmentary, Hymn 26 focuses on Dionysus’ childhood and divine growth: raised by nymphs in a sweet-smelling cave in the dells of Nysa, he grew up reckoned among the immortals. When the goddesses had brought him to maturity, he began wandering through the woody glades, “thickly wreathed with ivy and laurel,” followed by nymphs raising an outcry that filled the boundless forest.

The hymn closes with a prayer for the god to return each year, connecting to the seasonal festivals (Anthesteria, Lenaia, Dionysia) at which wine and Dionysus were celebrated.

Complete Text

Greek (Homeric)

Κισσοκόμην Διόνυσον ἐρίβρομον ἄρχομ’ ἀείδειν, Ζηνὸς καὶ Σεμέλης ἐρικυδέος ἀγλαὸν υἱόν, ὃν κομέοντο νύμφαι κυδραί, ἀπὸ δεξαμένοιο πατρὸς παρ’ κόλπῳ, καὶ ἀτιτάλλεσκον ἐπιμελὲς Νύσης ἐν γυάλοις· ὁ δ’ ἀέξετο πατρὸς ἄνωγεν ἀντρον ἔσω θυόεντος· ἐπεὶ δ’ ἐτελέσσατο πᾶσαν ἀθανάτοις ἀρίδηλον, ἀνεστιχόωντο νύμφαι δεῦρο κεῖσε, πολλὰ δ’ αὖθ’ ἄλση, δεδαιδαλμένος κισσῷ καὶ δάφνῃ· Νύμφαι δ’ ἐφέποντο, ἡγεμόνευε.

(Full Greek text at Perseus Digital Library, link below.)

English (Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914 — public domain)

[1] I begin to sing of ivy-crowned Dionysus, the loud-crying god, splendid son of Zeus and glorious Semele. The rich-haired Nymphs received him in their bosoms from the lord his father and fostered and nurtured him carefully in the dells of Nysa, where by the will of his father he grew up in a sweet-smelling cave, being reckoned among the immortals.

But when the goddesses had brought him up, a god oft hymned, then began he to wander continually through the woody coombes, thickly wreathed with ivy and laurel. And the Nymphs followed in his train with him for their leader; and the boundless forest was filled with their outcry.

And so hail to you, Dionysus, god of abundant clusters! Grant that we may come again rejoicing to this season, and from that season onwards for many a year.

Ivy, Laurel, and the Wild

The two plants with which Dionysus is “thickly wreathed” — ivy (κισσός) and laurel (δάφνη) — are the sacred plants of Dionysus and Apollo respectively, the twin poles of Greek religious ecstasy:

• Ivy was sacred to Dionysus because it stays green even in winter, and because it was used to wreathe wine-cups and festival thyrsoi; it represents the persistent, undying force of Dionysiac energy
• Laurel is Apollo’s tree, used to crown victors and prophets; its presence here suggests Dionysus’ transcendence of his own domain, or perhaps the complementarity of the two gods

The Nysa (Νύσα) where Dionysus was raised was a mythological mountain whose location was contested — various sites were claimed, from Lydia to Ethiopia to India. The indeterminacy of Nysa mirrors the universal, boundary-crossing nature of Dionysus himself.

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
• Detienne, Marcel. Dionysus Slain. Trans. L. Muellner and M. Muellner. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.
• Otto, Walter F. Dionysus: Myth and Cult. Trans. R. Palmer. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1965.
• See also Homeric Hymn 1 (fragmentary), Hymn 7 (pirate narrative).
• Perseus Digital Library, Homeric Hymns (Greek text): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0137:hymn=26