Orphic Hymns · Hymn 56
Adonis
Ἀδώνιδος
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 the renewal of flourishing life and the return of the earth’s fruits through Adonis’s seasonal passage.
Recite the hymn alone as a prayer for renewal after a period of loss or dormancy. It may also accompany a seasonal, fertility, or Aphrodite-related rite, following the request that Adonis bring fruits from the earth to the initiates.
English hieratic rendering
Hymn 56 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.
- Hear me praying, many-named and most excellent divine power,
- soft-haired lover of solitude, abounding in the longed-for seasons,
- Eubouleus, many-formed, manifest nourisher of all,
- maiden and youth, ever a blossom shining upon all, O Adonis,
- extinguished and shining in the beautiful circling seasons,
- raiser of growth, two-horned, much-beloved, honored with tears,
- of splendid form, delighting in the hunt, with abundant hair,
- desire-stirring, sweet blossom of Kypris, shoot of love,
- born in the bed of Persephone of lovely tresses,
- you who at one time dwell beneath misty Tartarus,
- and again bring your season-fruiting body toward Olympus:
- come, blessed one, bringing the initiates fruits from the earth.
Ancient Greek & pronunciation
Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.
- Κλῦθί μευ εὐχομένου, πολυώνυμε, δαῖμον ἄριστε,KLEE-THEE mehv ehf-khoh-MEH-noo, poh-lee-OH-nee-meh, DHEH-mohn AH-ree-steh,
- ἁβροκόμη, φιλέρημε, βρύων ὥρῃσι ποθειναῖς,ah-vroh-KOH-mee, fee-LEH-ree-meh, VREE-ohn OH-ree-see poh-thee-NEHS,
- Εὐβουλεῦ, πολύμορφε, τροφὸς πάντων ἀρίδηλε,eh-voo-LEHV, poh-LEE-mohr-feh, troh-FOHS PAHN-dohn ah-REE-dhee-leh,
- κούρη καὶ κόρε, πασιφαὲς θάλος αἰέν, Ἄδωνι,KOO-ree KEH KOH-reh, pah-see-fah-EHS THAH-lohs eh-EHN, AH-dhoh-nee,
- σβεννύμενος λάμπων τε καλαῖς ἐν κυκλάσιν ὥραις,zveh-NEE-meh-nohs LAHM-bohn teh kah-LEHS ehn kee-KLAH-seen OH-rehs,
- αὐξιθαλές, δίκερως, πολυήρατε, δακρυότιμε,ahfk-see-thah-LEHS, DHEE-keh-rohs, poh-lee-EE-rah-teh, dhah-kree-OH-tee-meh,
- ἀγλαόμορφε, κυνηγεσίαις χαίρων, βαθυχαῖτα,ah-ghlah-OH-mohr-feh, kee-nee-yeh-SEE-ehs HYEH-rohn, vah-thee-HYEH-tah,
- ἱμερόνους, Κύπριδος γλυκερὸν θάλος, ἔρνος ἔρωτος,ee-meh-ROH-noos, KEE-pree-dhohs ghlee-keh-ROHN THAH-lohs, EHR-nohs EH-roh-tohs,
- Φερσεφόνης ἐρασιπλοκάμου λέκτροισι λοχευθείς,fehr-seh-FOH-nees eh-rah-see-ploh-KAH-moo LEHK-tree-see loh-hyehf-THEES,
- ὃς ποτὲ μὲν ναίεις ὑπὸ Τάρταρον ἠερόεντα,OHS poh-TEH MEHN NEH-ees ee-POH TAHR-tah-rohn ee-eh-ROH-ehn-dah,
- ἠδὲ πάλιν πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἄγεις δέμας ὡριόκαρπον·ee-DHEH PAH-leen PROHS OH-leem-bohn AH-yees DHEH-mahs oh-ree-OH-kahr-pohn·
- ἐλθέ, μάκαρ, μύστῃσι φέρων καρποὺς ἀπὸ γαίης.ehl-THEH, MAH-kahr, MEE-stee-see FEH-rohn kahr-POOS ah-POH YEH-ees.
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.
| Spelling | Sound to make |
|---|---|
| ah · eh · ee · oh · oo | father · met · see · go without its final glide · moon. Keep these vowels clear in unstressed syllables too. |
| th · dh | The unvoiced th in thin · the voiced th in this. Thus DHEE begins with the sound in “thee.” |
| kh | The ch in Scottish loch or German Bach: let air pass at the back of the mouth, without closing it into a k. |
| hy | The 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.” |
| gh | Make the kh sound above, then add voice. Keep the passage open; this is a flowing sound, not a hard g. |
| y · g | y as in yes, with gentle friction · always a hard g as in get. |
| r | Tap the tongue lightly behind the upper teeth, or use a light roll. |
| ks · ps | Sound both consonants, even at the beginning of a word: ks as in backs, ps as in lips. |
| n-g · m-b · n-d | Sound 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
Adonis’s beauty and generative power move between darkness and light, Tartarus and Olympus. The hymn preserves his double address as maiden and youth and joins his birth to Persephone’s bed. Grief and flourishing meet in his seasonal return, which the final prayer asks to become abundance for the initiates.
Ancient offering rubric: Aromatic substances.
Textual note
The printed verse 4 reads πασιφαὲς θάλος, “a blossom shining upon all,” rather than the digital σὺ πᾶσιν θάλος. Both “maiden” and “youth” are preserved. Kypris is Aphrodite.
Text and attribution
Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 88. 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 124397; 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.