Enjoy these ancient hymns to the gods, perfect for diversifying your religious practice.

Primeval Eros/Phanes/Protogonus

Do not confuse this god with olympian eros; Phanes is one of the most powerful primeval gods.

“At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist until Eros had brought together all the ingredients of the world, and from their marriage Heaven, Ocean, Earth and the imperishable race of blessed gods sprang into being. ”

-Aristophanes, Birds

Zeus

“Dear Zeus! I marvel at Thee. Thou art lord of all, alone having honour

and great power; well knowest Thou the heart and mind of every man

alive; and Thy might, O King, is above all things. How then is it, Son

of Cronus, that Thy mind can bear to hold the wicked and the

righteous89 in the same esteem, whether a man’s mind be turned to

temperateness, or, unrighteous works persuading, to wanton outrage?

Nor is aught fixed for us men by Fortune, nor the way a man must go to

please the Immortals. Yet the wicked90 enjoy untroubled prosperity,

whereas such as keep their hearts from base deeds, nevertheless, for

all they may love what is righteous, receive Penury the mother of

perplexity, Penury that misleadeth a man’s heart to evil-doing,

corrupting his wits91 by strong necessity, till perforce he endureth

much shame and yieldeth to Want who teacheth all evil, both lies and

deceits and baleful contentions, even to him that will not and to whom

no ill is fitting92; for hard is the perplexity that cometh of her.”

-Theognis

“Most glorious of Immortals, mighty God,

Invoked by many a name, O sovran King

Of universal Nature, piloting

This world in harmony with Law,—all hail!

Thee it is meet that mortals should invoke,

For we Thine offspring are, and sole of all

Created things that live and move on earth

Receive from Thee the image of the One.

Therefore I praise Thee, and shall hymn Thy power

Unceasingly. Thee the wide world obeys,

As onward ever in its course it rolls

Where’er Thou guidest, and rejoices still

Beneath Thy sway: so strong a minister

Is held by Thine unconquerable hands,—

That two-edged thunderbolt of living fire

That never fails.

Under its dreadful blow

All Nature reels; therewith Thou dost direct

The Universal Reason which, commixt

With all the greater and the lesser lights,

Moves thro’ the Universe.

How great Thou art,

The Lord supreme for ever and for aye!

No work is wrought apart from Thee, O God,

Or in the world, or in the heaven above,

Or on the deep, save only what is done

By sinners in their folly.

Nay, Thou canst

Make the rough smooth, bring wondrous order forth

From chaos; in Thy sight unloveliness

Seems beautiful; for so Thou hast fitted things

Together, good and evil, that there reigns

One everlasting Reason in them all.

The wicked heed not this, but suffer it

To slip, to their undoing; these are they

Who, yearning ever to secure the good,

Mark not nor hear the law of God, by wise

Obedience unto which they might attain

A nobler life, with Reason harmonized.

But now, unbid, they pass on divers paths

Each his own way, yet knowing not the truth,—

Some in unlovely striving for renown,

Some bent on lawless gains, on pleasure some,

Working their own undoing, self-deceived.

O Thou most bounteous God that sittest throned

In clouds, the Lord of lightning, save mankind

From grievous ignorance!

Oh, scatter it

Far from their souls, and grant them to achieve

True knowledge, on whose might Thou dost rely

To govern all the world in righteousness;

That so, being honoured, we may Thee requite

With honour, chanting without pause Thy deeds,

As all men should: since greater guerdon ne’er

Befalls or man or god than evermore

Duly to praise the Universal Law.”

-Cleanthes of Assos

Aphrodite

“Come, goddess of Cyprus, and in golden cups serve nectar delicately mixed with delights. Come hither foam-born Cyprian goddess, come, And in golden goblets pour richest nectar All mixed in most ethereal perfection, Thus to delight us.”

-Sappho

Hestia

“Hestia be favorable. To you I now open my lips in devotion, if I am

permitted to come to your ritual. While absorbed in prayer I felt a

divine presence and the floor shone joyously with purple light. Of

course I didn’t see you – so long poetic license – you are not a

goddess for a man to behold, but I’ve learned with no human teacher

what I didn’t know while confusion had me in it’s grip.”

-Ovid, Fasti Book 6

Muses

“Come you, let us begin with the Muses who gladden the great spirit of

their father Zeus in Olympus with their songs, telling of things that

are and that shall be and that were aforetime with consenting voice.

Unwearying flows the sweet sound [40] from their lips, and the house

of their father Zeus the loud-thunderer is glad at the lily-like voice

of the goddesses as it spreads abroad, and the peaks of snowy Olympus

resound, and the homes of the immortals. And they, uttering their

immortal voice, celebrate in song first of all the revered race of the

gods [45] from the beginning, those whom Earth and wide Heaven begot,

and the gods sprung of these, givers of good things. Then next, the

goddesses sing of Zeus, the father of gods and men, as they begin and

end their strain, how much he is the most excellent among the gods and

supreme in power. [50] And again, they chant the race of men and

strong giants, and gladden the heart of Zeus within Olympus,—the

Olympian Muses, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder. Them in Pieria did

Mnemosyne （Memory）, who reigns over the hills of Eleuther, bear of

union with the father, the son of Cronos, [55] a forgetting of ills

and a rest from sorrow.”

-Hesiod

Pan

“O Pan, O Pan, appear to us, sea-rover, from the stony ridge of snow-beaten Cyllene. King, dancemaker for the gods, come, so that joining with us you may set on the Nysian and the Cnosian steps, your self-taught dances.”

-Sophocles, Ajax

To the gods

” But, O ye gods, turn aside from my tongue the madness of those men.

Hallow my lips and make a pure stream flow from them! And thee,

much-wooed, white-armed Virgin Muse, do I beseech that I may hear what

is lawful for the children of a day! Speed me on my way from the abode

of Holiness and drive my willing car! Thee shall no garlands of glory

and honour at the hands of mortals constrain to lift them from the

ground, on condition of speaking in thy pride beyond that which is

lawful and right, and so to gain a seat upon the heights of wisdom.

Go to now, consider with all thy powers in what way each thing is

clear. Hold not thy sight in greater credit as compared with thy

hearing, nor value thy resounding ear above the clear instructions of

thy tongue;[4] and do not withhold thy confidence in any of thy other

bodily parts by which there is an opening for understanding, but

consider everything in the way it is clear.”

-Empedocles

Wedding hymns

These litanies can be used as part of the Hellenic wedding ritual,

detailed in the post about oaths.

“Once Zeus and Hera came together

In wedded bliss, joined forever

And to this day man celebrates

Their holy union tied by the fates

And so it is that we now sing

Our song hymen, our wedding hymn

Shimmering Eros held the reins

Guiding their chariot on it came

His glittering wings glowing goden

To Zeus the groom he was beholden

And so it is that we now sing

our song to hymen our wedding hymn”

-Aristophanes, Clouds

“To Hera on Olympus’ height

The Fates conducted heaven’s Lord

Of lofty throne and at their rite

Sang out this hymn in one accord

Hymen O Hymenaeus

O Hymen Hymenaeus

Love that makes all things to grow

Attended at their marriage bed

Gave rein to their desires and so

Were Zeus and happy Hera wed

Hymen O Hymenaeus

O Hymen Hymenaeus”

-Aristophanes, Birds

“Bride, that goest to the bridal chamber

In the dove-drawn car of Aphrodite,

By a band of dimpled

Loves surrounded;

Bride, of maidens all the fairest image

Mitylene treasures of the Goddess,

Rosy-ankled Graces

Are thy playmates;

Bride, O fair and lovely, thy companions

Are the gracious hours that onward passing

For thy gladsome footsteps

Scatter garlands.

Bride, that blushing like the sweetest apple

On the very branch’s end, so strangely

Overlooked, ungathered

By the gleaners;

Bride, that like the apple that was never

Overlooked but out of reach so plainly,

Only one thy rarest

Fruit may gather;

Bride, that into womanhood has ripened

For the harvest of the bridegroom only,

He alone shall taste thy

Hoarded sweetness.”

-Sappho