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Demeter reaches toward Persephone as Hermes guides her upward from the underworld.
Frederic Leighton, The Return of Persephone, 1891. Demeter receives her daughter as Hermes guides her upward.Frederic Leighton; Leeds Art Gallery. Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. · Source · Public domain. Full image shown.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 40

Demeter of Eleusis

Δήμητρος Ἐλευσινίας

Orphic tradition · 20 lines · Demeter

FertilityProsperityInitiation

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

For fruitful work, the earth’s abundance, peace, good order, and health under Demeter’s care.

Offer this hymn alone in prayer for nourishment and the flourishing of household and land. It may also accompany a rite of Demeter, agricultural blessing, prosperity, or initiation, joining the rite to the hymn’s petitions for peace, good order, and health.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 40 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. O Deo, all-mother goddess, divine power of many names,
  2. revered Demeter, nurturer of children, giver of blessings,
  3. wealth-giving goddess, nourisher of the grain-ear, giver of all,
  4. delighting in peace and in the works of much toil,
  5. lady of seed, of heaped grain, of the threshing floor, of green fruit,
  6. you who dwell in the sacred hollows of Eleusis,
  7. desirable and lovely, nourisher of every mortal,
  8. first to yoke the ploughing neck of oxen,
  9. and to release for mortals a delightful life abundant in blessings,
  10. raiser of growth, sharing the hearth of Bromios, splendidly honored,
  11. torch-bearing, pure, delighting in the sickles of harvest:
  12. you are within the earth, you are manifest, you are gracious to all;
  13. blessed in your children, lover of children, revered maiden who nurtures the young,
  14. you have yoked your chariot with the bridles of serpents,
  15. while the sacred cries circle in whirling courses around your throne,
  16. only-begotten, many-childed goddess, sovereign in many ways for mortals,
  17. whose many forms are rich in flowers and sacred growth.
  18. Come, blessed and pure one, laden with the fruits of harvest,
  19. bringing down peace and lovely good order,
  20. and wealth rich in blessings, together with sovereign Health.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

20 Greek lines
  1. Δηοῖ, παμμήτειρα θεά, πολυώνυμε δαῖμον,dhee-EE, pah-MEE-tee-rah theh-AH, poh-lee-OH-nee-meh DHEH-mohn,
  2. σεμνὴ Δήμητερ, κουροτρόφος, ὀλβιοδῶτι,sehm-NEE DHEE-mee-tehr, koo-roh-TROH-fohs, ohl-vee-oh-DHOH-tee,
  3. πλουτοδότειρα θεά, σταχυοτρόφε, παντοδότειρα,ploo-toh-DHOH-tee-rah theh-AH, stah-hyee-oh-TROH-feh, pahn-doh-DHOH-tee-rah,
  4. εἰρήνῃ χαίρουσα καὶ ἐργασίαις πολυμόχθοις,ee-REE-nee HYEH-roo-sah KEH ehr-ghah-SEE-ehs poh-lee-MOHKH-thees,
  5. σπερμείη, σωρῖτις, ἀλωαίη, χλοόκαρπε,spehr-MEE-ee, soh-REE-tees, ah-loh-EH-ee, khloh-OH-kahr-peh,
  6. ἣ ναίεις ἁγνοῖσιν Ἐλευσῖνος γυάλοισιν,EE NEH-ees ahgh-NEE-seen eh-lehf-SEE-nohs yee-AH-lee-seen,
  7. ἱμερόεσσ’, ἐρατή, θνητῶν θρέπτειρα προπάντων,ee-meh-ROH-ehs’, eh-rah-TEE, thnee-TOHN THREHP-tee-rah proh-PAHN-dohn,
  8. πρώτη ὑποζεύξασα βοῶν ἀροτῆρα τένονταPROH-tee ee-poh-ZEHFK-sah-sah voh-OHN ah-roh-TEE-rah TEH-nohn-dah
  9. καὶ βίον ἱμερόεντα βροτοῖς πολύολβον ἀνεῖσα,KEH VEE-ohn ee-meh-ROH-ehn-dah vroh-TEES poh-LEE-ohl-vohn ah-NEE-sah,
  10. αὐξιθαλές, Βρομίοιο συνέστιος, ἀγλαότιμος,ahfk-see-thah-LEHS, vroh-MEE-ee-oh see-NEH-stee-ohs, ah-ghlah-OH-tee-mohs,
  11. λαμπαδόεσσ’, ἁγνή, δρεπάνοις χαίρουσα θερείοις·lahm-bah-DHOH-ehs’, ahgh-NEE, dhreh-PAH-nees HYEH-roo-sah theh-REE-ees·
  12. σὺ χθονίη, σὺ δὲ φαινομένη, σὺ δὲ πᾶσι προσηνής·SEE khthoh-NEE-ee, SEE DHEH feh-noh-MEH-nee, SEE DHEH PAH-see proh-see-NEES·
  13. εὔτεκνε, παιδοφίλη, σεμνή, κουροτρόφε κούρη,EHF-tehk-neh, peh-dhoh-FEE-lee, sehm-NEE, koo-roh-TROH-feh KOO-ree,
  14. ἅρμα δρακοντείοισιν ὑποζεύξασα χαλινοῖςAHR-mah dhrah-kohn-DEE-ee-seen ee-poh-ZEHFK-sah-sah khah-lee-NEES
  15. ἐγκυκλίοις δίναις περὶ σὸν θρόνον εὐαζόντων,ehn-gee-KLEE-ees DHEE-nehs peh-REE SOHN THROH-nohn eh-vah-ZOHN-dohn,
  16. μουνογενής, πολύτεκνε θεά, πολυπότνια θνητοῖς,moo-noh-yeh-NEES, poh-LEE-tehk-neh theh-AH, poh-lee-POHT-nee-ah thnee-TEES,
  17. ἧς πολλαὶ μορφαί, πολυάνθεμοι, ἱεροθηλεῖς.EES poh-LEH mohr-FEH, poh-lee-AHN-theh-mee, ee-eh-roh-thee-LEES.
  18. ἐλθέ, μάκαιρ’, ἁγνή, καρποῖς βρίθουσα θερείοις,ehl-THEH, MAH-kehr’, ahgh-NEE, kahr-PEES VREE-thoo-sah theh-REE-ees,
  19. εἰρήνην κατάγουσα καὶ εὐνομίην ἐρατεινὴνee-REE-neen kah-TAH-ghoo-sah KEH ehv-noh-MEE-een eh-rah-tee-NEEN
  20. καὶ πλοῦτον πολύολβον, ὁμοῦ δ’ ὑγίειαν ἄνασσαν.KEH PLOO-tohn poh-LEE-ohl-vohn, oh-MOO dh’ ee-YEE-ee-ahn AH-nah-sahn.
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

Demeter’s gifts unite the seed, the harvest, the labor of cultivation, and human civilization. She is hidden within the earth and manifest in its fruits, a mother both singular and manifold. The concluding prayer gathers abundance together with peaceful and well-ordered life.

Ancient offering rubric: Storax.

Textual note

Bromios is a title of Dionysus. Verse 15 has a compressed plural participle: the translation preserves the circling sacred acclamation without inventing named participants.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 80. 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 124330; 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.