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The marble statue of Themis of Rhamnous stands in an Athens museum gallery.
Themis of Rhamnous, NAMA 231. Chairestratos of Rhamnous, c. 300 BCE; photograph 2025.Themis of Rhamnous, National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photograph by Furius, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Source · CC0. Detail shown.Themis evokes the divine order invoked in the hymn to Nomos.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 64

Nomos, Divine Law

Ὕμνος Νόμου

Orphic tradition · 13 lines · Nomos

Cosmic orderJusticeRemembrance

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 remembrance of divine law and a life governed by upright judgment.

Use this hymn alone when dedicating conduct to divine order. It may supplement a ritual concerned with justice, the ordering of a household or community, or the faithful keeping of sacred obligations.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 64 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. I call upon the pure Lord of immortals and of mortals,
  2. heavenly Nomos, setter of the stars, the righteous seal
  3. of the sea's waters and of Earth, ever preserving Nature's steadfast order,
  4. unbending and free of discord, through his laws.
  5. By these he journeys, bearing the great heaven aloft,
  6. and drives worthless envy away with the force of a rushing blast.
  7. He also brings forth a noble fulfilment of life for mortals;
  8. for he alone holds fast the rudder of living beings,
  9. attending with judgments most upright, forever unperverted,
  10. primeval, greatly experienced, dwelling without harm beside all
  11. who keep the law, but bringing heavy suffering upon the lawless.
  12. Come, blessed one, all-honoured, bearer of blessing, desired by all;
  13. with a gracious heart send remembrance of yourself, O most excellent.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

13 Greek lines
  1. Ἀθανάτων καλέω καὶ θνητῶν ἁγνὸν ἄνακτα,ah-thah-NAH-tohn kah-LEH-oh KEH thnee-TOHN ahgh-NOHN AH-nahk-tah,
  2. οὐράνιον Νόμον, ἀστροθέτην, σφρηγῖδα δικαίηνoo-RAH-nee-ohn NOH-mohn, ah-stroh-THEH-teen, sfree-YEE-dhah dhee-KEH-een
  3. πόντου τ’ εἰναλίου καὶ γῆς, φύσεως τὸ βέβαιονPOHN-doo t’ ee-nah-LEE-oo KEH YEES, FEE-seh-ohs TOH VEH-veh-ohn
  4. ἀκλινὲς ἀστασίαστον ἀεὶ τηροῦντα νόμοισιν,ah-klee-NEHS ah-stah-SEE-ah-stohn ah-EE tee-ROON-dah NOH-mee-seen,
  5. οἷσιν ἄνωθε φέρων μέγαν οὐρανὸν αὐτὸς ὁδεύει,EE-seen AH-noh-theh FEH-rohn MEH-ghahn oo-rah-NOHN ahf-TOHS oh-DHEH-vee,
  6. καὶ φθόνον οὐτιδανὸν ῥοίζου τρόπον ἐκτὸς ἐλαύνει·KEH FTHOH-nohn oo-tee-dhah-NOHN REE-zoo TROH-pohn ehk-TOHS eh-LAHV-nee·
  7. ὃς καὶ θνητοῖσιν βιοτῆς τέλος ἐσθλὸν ἐγείρει·OHS KEH thnee-TEE-seen vee-oh-TEES TEH-lohs ehsth-LOHN eh-YEE-ree·
  8. αὐτὸς γὰρ μοῦνος ζῴων οἴηκα κρατύνειahf-TOHS GHAHR MOO-nohs ZOH-ohn EE-ee-kah krah-TEE-nee
  9. γνώμαις ὀρθοτάταις συνεών, ἀδιάστροφος αἰεί,GHNOH-mehs ohr-thoh-TAH-tehs see-neh-OHN, ah-dhee-AH-stroh-fohs eh-EE,
  10. ὠγύγιος, πολύπειρος, ἀβλάπτως πᾶσι συνοικῶνoh-YEE-yee-ohs, poh-LEE-pee-rohs, ah-VLAHP-tohs PAH-see see-nee-KOHN
  11. τοῖς νομίμοις, ἀνόμοις δὲ φέρων κακότητα βαρεῖαν.TEES noh-MEE-mees, ah-NOH-mees DHEH FEH-rohn kah-KOH-tee-tah vah-REE-ahn.
  12. ἀλλά, μάκαρ, πάντιμε, φερόλβιε, πᾶσι ποθεινέ,ah-LAH, MAH-kahr, PAHN-dee-meh, feh-ROHL-vee-eh, PAH-see poh-thee-NEH,
  13. εὐμενὲς ἦτορ ἔχων μνήμην σέο πέμπε, φέριστε.ehv-meh-NEHS EE-tohr EH-khohn MNEE-meen SEH-oh PEHM-beh, FEH-ree-steh.
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

Nomos sets the stars and holds sea, earth, and living beings within a stable order. Law is here a divine presence that steers life through right judgment and resists destructive envy. The concluding request is inward and enduring: send remembrance of yourself.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 92. 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 124450; 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.