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Veiled marble Hera standing with a raised arm and a shallow offering dish.
Hera Campana, probably 2nd century CE, Louvre.Photograph: Marie-Lan Nguyen (2006); Public domain. · Source · Public domain. Detail shown.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 16

Hera

Ἥρας

Orphic tradition · 10 lines · Hera

Cosmic orderNatureHealing

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

Prayer to Hera as the divine presence in the air, mother of rains and nourisher of winds. It seeks her gracious arrival in beauty and joy.

Recite independently in reverence for the breath and currents that sustain life. It may accompany an established rite to Hera for a household's flourishing or for harmonious conditions of life, while retaining the hymn's own emphasis on air and universal nourishment.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 16 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. Clothed in dark blue folds, formed of air,
  2. Hera, Queen of all, blessed consort of Zeus,
  3. who grant to mortals the gentle breezes that nourish the soul,
  4. mother of rains, nourisher of winds, begetter of all;
  5. for without you nothing has known the nature of life at all,
  6. for you partake in all things, mingled with the holy air.
  7. You alone hold dominion over all and rule over all,
  8. stirred with airy rushing throughout the flowing expanse.
  9. But, blessed Goddess of many names, Queen of all,
  10. come in kindness, rejoicing with your beautiful face.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

10 Greek lines
  1. Κυανέοις κόλποισιν ἐνημένη, ἠερόμορφε,kee-ah-NEH-ees KOHL-pee-seen eh-nee-MEH-nee, ee-eh-ROH-mohr-feh,
  2. Ἥρη παμβασίλεια, Διὸς σύλλεκτρε μάκαιρα,EE-ree pahm-vah-SEE-lee-ah, dhee-OHS SEE-lehk-treh MAH-keh-rah,
  3. ψυχοτρόφους αὔρας θνητοῖς παρέχουσα προσηνεῖς,psee-khoh-TROH-foos AH-vrahs thnee-TEES pah-REH-khoo-sah proh-see-NEES,
  4. ὄμβρων μὲν μήτηρ, ἀνέμων τροφέ, παντογένεθλε·OHM-vrohn MEHN MEE-teer, ah-NEH-mohn troh-FEH, pahn-doh-YEH-nehth-leh·
  5. χωρὶς γὰρ σέθεν οὐδὲν ὅλως ζωῆς φύσιν ἔγνω·khoh-REES GHAHR SEH-thehn oo-DHEHN OH-lohs zoh-EES FEE-seen EHGH-noh·
  6. κοινωνεῖς γὰρ ἅπασι κεκραμένη ἠέρι σεμνῷ·kee-noh-NEES GHAHR AH-pah-see keh-krah-MEH-nee ee-EH-ree sehm-NOH·
  7. πάντων γὰρ κρατέεις μούνη πάντεσσί τ’ ἀνάσσειςPAHN-dohn GHAHR krah-TEH-ees MOO-nee PAHN-deh-SEE t’ ah-NAH-sees
  8. ἠερίοις ῥοίζοισι τινασσομένη κατὰ χεῦμα.ee-eh-REE-ees REE-zee-see tee-nah-soh-MEH-nee kah-TAH HYEHV-mah.
  9. ἀλλά, μάκαιρα θεά, πολυώνυμε, παμβασίλεια,ah-LAH, MAH-keh-rah theh-AH, poh-lee-OH-nee-meh, pahm-vah-SEE-lee-ah,
  10. ἔλθοις εὐμενέουσα καλῷ γήθουσα προσώπῳ.EHL-thees ehv-meh-NEH-oo-sah kah-LOH YEE-thoo-sah proh-SOH-poh.
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

Hera's dark blue folds express her encompassing aerial presence, and nothing knows life apart from her. Her union with all through the holy air makes the final request for her kindly countenance a prayer for favour within the very conditions of living.

Ancient offering rubric: Aromatic substances.

Textual note

The translation follows the hymn's aerial and life sustaining emphasis. A marriage petition is not inserted merely because Hera is also addressed as the consort of Zeus.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 67. The text follows the printed main reading of this edition; source-specific variants are recorded where relevant. Read the digitised edition. Greek source. Wikisource transcription, revision 124107; checked and corrected against Abel’s print. 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.