🎵 Hymn Greek Complete c. 7th–6th century BCE

Homeric Hymn 31: To Helios

A 20-line hymn invoking the Muse Calliope to sing of Helios — the tireless sun-god born of Hyperion and Euryphaessa, who daily drives his golden-yoked chariot from Ocean to the heights of heaven and back.

About the Poem

The thirty-first Homeric Hymn is a complete 20-line hymn to Helios, the Sun-god. Unusually, it begins by invoking the Muse Calliope (the Muse of epic poetry) by name — one of the very few occasions in archaic Greek literature where a specific Muse is named rather than “the Muse” generically. This suggests the hymn may have served as a preface to a lost epic poem about Helios or the heroic generation descended from him.

The hymn gives Helios a specific genealogy: born of the Titan Hyperion and his sister-wife Euryphaessa (“the far-shining one”), making him sibling of Eos (Dawn) and Selene (Moon). This Titanide solar family reflects an archaic cosmological tradition older than the Olympian order.

Complete Text

Greek (Homeric — opening)

Ἥλιον ὑμνεῖν ἄρχεο, Μοῦσα λίγεια Καλλιόπη, Ὑπερίονος υἱὸν ἀριπρεπέος, ὃν ἔτεκεν εὐρυφάεσσ’ Εὐρυφάεσσα βοωπὶς Οὐρανοῦ εὐρυστέρνου παῖδι μεγαλωνύμῳ· ἀδελφεὴ δ’ αὐτοῦ μήτηρ, Ὑπερίων δ’ ἀγακλυτὸς εὐρυφάεσσαν ἄκοιτιν ἔγημε κασιγνήτην αὐτοῦ· ἣ δ’ ἔτεκε ῥοδόπηχυν Ἠῶ καὶ εὔπλοκον Σελήνην καὶ ἀκάμαντα Ἥλιον, ἀθανάτοις εἰδόμενον…

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

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

[1] And now, O Muse Calliope, daughter of Zeus, begin to sing of glowing Helios whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one, bare to the Son of Earth and starry Heaven. For Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios who is like the deathless gods.

As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks streaming from the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the wind: and stallions carry him. Then, when he has stayed his golden-yoked chariot and horses, he rests there upon the highest point of heaven, until he marvellously drives them down again through heaven to Ocean.

Hail to you, lord! Freely bestow on me substance that cheers the heart. And now that I have begun with you, I will celebrate the race of mortal men half-divine whose deeds the Muses have showed to mankind.

Helios: Sun-God vs. Sun-God

The relationship between Helios (the Titan sun-god) and Apollo (the Olympian god of the sun) is complex and evolved over Greek religious history. In Homer, Apollo and Helios are distinct deities — Apollo is god of music, prophecy, and the silver bow; Helios is the sun’s chariot-driver who sees all. Only from the 5th century BCE onwards, especially under Pindar and in Orphic hymns, did the two begin to merge into a single solar deity. By the Hellenistic period the equation Apollo = Helios = Sol Invictus was standard.

The cattle of Helios (Ἡλίου βόες) on the island of Thrinacia, which Odysseus’s men disastrously slaughter in Odyssey XII, belong to this god — his livestock as symbols of the days and seasons.

Euryphaessa (“far-shining”) as the Titaness-mother of the solar family appears only in this hymn; most other sources call the mother of Helios, Eos, and Selene simply Theia (a Titan-goddess of shining things). The name Euryphaessa may be an alternative or regional name for Theia.

Citations

Homeric Hymns Helios sun Hyperion Euryphaessa Eos Selene chariot Calliope
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