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Ancient marble relief showing the Dioscuri beside their horses and a central altar.
The Dioscuri with their horses, a Roman marble relief.Archaeological Museum Narona, Vid, Croatia; photograph by Carole Raddato, 2013. · Source · CC BY-SA 2.0. Full image shown.

Homeric Hymns · Hymn 17

Dioskouroi, Sons of Zeus

Διόσκουροι

Homeric tradition · 5 lines · Kastor and Polydeukes

ProtectionSea and journeys

Prayer and ritual

These hymns may be spoken as complete prayers to the Gods. Within the Temple’s practice, a ritual is a direct theurgical act; hymnody gathers the mind and turns it toward the Divine, helping the initiate enter reverent communion with the Gods.

Use a hymn on its own in place of another prayer, or add it to the prayer portion of a suitable ritual. Choose according to the deity addressed and the petition expressed in the hymn. When combining them, preserve the ritual’s prescribed sequence and let the hymn give voice to its purpose.

The petition of this hymn

Honour Kastor and Polydeukes through their divine birth and their swift equestrian power.

This short hymn can open an independent prayer to the Dioskouroi. It may also introduce a protective rite for a journey or an invocation of the brothers together, while their more explicit maritime help is described in Homeric Hymn 33.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 17 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. Sing Kastor and Polydeukes, clear voiced Muse,
  2. the sons of Tyndareos, who were born of Olympian Zeus;
  3. sovereign Leda bore them beneath the peaks of Taygetos,
  4. secretly joined in love with the Son of Kronos of the dark clouds.
  5. Hail, sons of Tyndareos, riders upon swift horses.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

5 Greek lines
  1. Κάστορα καὶ Πολυδεύκε’ ἀείσεο, Μοῦσα λίγεια,KAH-stoh-rah KEH poh-lee-DHEHF-keh’ ah-EE-seh-oh, MOO-sah LEE-yee-ah,
  2. Τυνδαρίδας, οἳ Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου ἐξεγένοντο·teen-dhah-REE-dhahs, EE zee-NOHS oh-leem-BEE-oo ehk-seh-YEH-nohn-doh·
  3. τοὺς ὑπὸ Τηϋγέτου κορυφῇς τέκε πότνια ΛήδηTOOS ee-POH tee-ee-YEH-too koh-ree-FEES TEH-keh POHT-nee-ah LEE-dhee
  4. λάθρη ὑποδμηθεῖσα κελαινεφέι Κρονίωνι.LAH-three ee-pohdh-mee-THEE-sah keh-leh-neh-FEH-ee kroh-NEE-oh-nee.
  5. χαίρετε, Τυνδαρίδαι, ταχέων ἐπιβήτορες ἵππων.HYEH-reh-teh, teen-dhah-REE-dheh, tah-HYEH-ohn eh-pee-VEE-toh-rehs EE-pohn.
Short sound guide for English speakers

Every line beneath the Greek uses English pronunciation spellings. Say each hyphenated syllable in sequence and emphasize the syllable in CAPITALS. For example, οὐρανόθεν is oo-rah-NOH-thehn. Read adjacent vowels separately: theh-AH has two syllables; oo-rah-NEE-een has four. Hyphens guide the voice; they do not mark pauses.

SpellingSound to make
ah · eh · ee · oh · oofather · met · see · go without its final glide · moon. Keep these vowels clear in unstressed syllables too.
th · dhThe unvoiced th in thin · the voiced th in this. Thus DHEE begins with the sound in “thee.”
khThe ch in Scottish loch or German Bach: let air pass at the back of the mouth, without closing it into a k.
hyThe breathy beginning of a carefully spoken Hugh. Raise the middle of the tongue toward the roof of the mouth and let air pass without voice. In shy, sound s followed by hy; do not use the English sh sound or the English word “shy.”
ghMake the kh sound above, then add voice. Keep the passage open; this is a flowing sound, not a hard g.
y · gy as in yes, with gentle friction · always a hard g as in get.
rTap the tongue lightly behind the upper teeth, or use a light roll.
ks · psSound both consonants, even at the beginning of a word: ks as in backs, ps as in lips.
n-g · m-b · n-dSound the nasal and the following consonant. In AHN-geh-leh, the n-g group is like finger, with the g audible.

Always sound s as in hiss, even at the end of DHEE-kees; z is voiced, as in zero. All other consonants have their usual English sounds. Initial consonant groups may be unfamiliar: sound every written consonant, without inserting an extra vowel. A word without capitals carries no written stress in the Greek. Where two syllables have capitals, both written accents are retained. An apostrophe marks a vowel already elided in the Greek; do not add it back. A hyphen at the end of a Greek verse joins the unfinished word to the next verse.

These spellings follow the Modern Greek liturgical reading used throughout this library. Breathings and iota subscripts are silent; separately pronounced vowels remain separate. The few Greek consonants without an exact English equivalent use the sound cues above. Ancient vowel length, pitch accent and metre are not reconstructed.

Hymn notes

Sacred meaning

The brothers are simultaneously named Tyndarids and children of Olympian Zeus. Their birth beneath Taygetos and their swift horses give the praise a place and a visible form. The poem’s force lies in naming and greeting them together.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hymn 17 To the Dioscuri (1914), Perseus Digital Library. Greek source. The English hieratic rendering and suggested devotional use are new editorial work. The applications are guidance for this library, not additional lines of the ancient poem.