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Venus stands on a shell between wind-blown figures and a woman bringing her a mantle.
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1485. Venus is the Roman counterpart of Aphrodite.Sandro Botticelli; Uffizi Galleries. Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. · Source · Public domain. Full image shown.

Hymns of Proclus · Hymn 02

Aphrodite, Source of the Loves

Ὕμνος εἰς Ἀφροδίτην

Proclus · 21 lines · Aphrodite

LoveWisdomPurification

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 love that orders life rightly and draws the soul toward its divine source.

Pray the complete hymn when asking Aphrodite to purify and guide desire. It may supplement a rite devoted to love or the soul’s ascent, keeping the closing petition that unholy desires be stilled by the Goddess’s just arrows.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 02 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. We hymn the many-named divine series of the Foam-born Goddess
  2. and her great royal source, from which all
  3. the immortal, winged Loves have blossomed.
  4. Some let fly the arrows of Intellect
  5. into souls, so that, receiving the upward-leading goads of longing,
  6. they may yearn to behold their Mother's halls of fiery light.
  7. Others, through the Father's counsels and providence that averts evil,
  8. desiring to increase the boundless cosmos through acts of generation,
  9. awakened in souls a longing for life upon the earth.
  10. Others again, along the many paths of marriage's intimate converse,
  11. ever keep vigil, that from mortal seed
  12. they may make undying the race of humankind that bears affliction.
  13. All are concerned with the works of Cythereia, who gives birth to Love.
  14. But, O Goddess, for everywhere your ear hears clearly,
  15. whether you embrace the great heaven, where they say
  16. you are the divine Soul of the ever-flowing cosmos,
  17. or dwell in aether above the rims of the seven circles,
  18. pouring unconquerable powers into your divine series,
  19. hear, and direct my life's much-toiling journey,
  20. O Sovereign, with your most righteous arrows,
  21. stilling the chilling rush of unholy desires.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

21 Greek lines
  1. Ὑμνέομεν σειρὴν πολυώνυμον Ἀφρογενείηςeem-NEH-oh-mehn see-REEN poh-lee-OH-nee-mohn ah-froh-yeh-NEE-ees
  2. καὶ πηγὴν μεγάλην βασιλήιον, ἧς ἄπο πάντεςKEH pee-YEEN meh-GHAH-leen vah-see-LEE-ee-ohn, EES AH-poh PAHN-dehs
  3. ἀθάνατοι πτερόεντες ἀνεβλάστησαν Ἔρωτες,ah-THAH-nah-tee pteh-ROH-ehn-dehs ah-neh-VLAH-stee-sahn EH-roh-tehs,
  4. ὧν οἳ μὲν νοεροῖσιν ὀιστεύουσι βελέμνοιςOHN EE MEHN noh-eh-REE-seen oh-ee-STEH-voo-see veh-LEHM-nees
  5. ψυχάς, ὄφρα πόθων ἀναγώγια κέντρα λαβοῦσαιpsee-KHAHS, OH-frah POH-thohn ah-nah-GHOH-yee-ah KEHN-drah lah-VOO-seh
  6. μητέρος ἰσχανόωσιν ἰδεῖν πυριφεγγέας αὐλάς·mee-TEH-rohs ees-khah-NOH-oh-seen ee-DHEEN pee-ree-fehn-GEH-ahs ah-VLAHS·
  7. οἳ δὲ πατρὸς βουλῇσιν ἀλεξικάκοις τε προνοίαιςEE DHEH pah-TROHS voo-LEE-seen ah-lehk-see-KAH-kees teh proh-NEE-ehs
  8. ἱέμενοι γενεῇσιν ἀπείρονα κόσμον ἀέξεινee-EH-meh-nee yeh-neh-EE-seen ah-PEE-roh-nah KOH-zmohn ah-EHK-seen
  9. ψυχαῖς ἵμερον ὦρσαν ἐπιχθονίου βιότοιο.psee-HYEHS EE-meh-rohn OHR-sahn eh-peekh-thoh-NEE-oo vee-OH-tee-oh.
  10. ἄλλοι δ’ αὖ γαμίων ὀάρων πολυειδέας οἴμουςAH-lee dh’ AHV ghah-MEE-ohn oh-AH-rohn poh-lee-ee-DHEH-ahs EE-moos
  11. αἰὲν ἐποπτεύουσιν, ὅπως θνητῆς ἀπὸ φύτληςeh-EHN eh-pohp-TEH-voo-seen, OH-pohs thnee-TEES ah-POH FEET-lees
  12. ἀθάνατον τεύξωσι δυηπαθέων γένος ἀνδρῶν·ah-THAH-nah-tohn TEHFK-soh-see dhee-ee-pah-THEH-ohn YEH-nohs ahn-DHROHN·
  13. πᾶσιν δ’ ἔργα μέμηλεν ἐρωτοτόκου Κυθερείης.PAH-seen dh’ EHR-ghah MEH-mee-lehn eh-roh-toh-TOH-koo kee-theh-REE-ees.
  14. ἀλλά, θεά, πάντῃ γὰρ ἔχεις ἀριήκοον οὖας,ah-LAH, theh-AH, PAHN-dee GHAHR EH-hyees ah-ree-EE-koh-ohn OO-ahs,
  15. εἴτε περισφίγγεις μέγαν οὐρανόν, ἔνθα σέ φασιEE-teh peh-ree-SFEEN-gees MEH-ghahn oo-rah-NOHN, EHN-thah SEH fah-see
  16. ψυχὴν ἀενάοιο πέλειν κόσμοιο θεείην·psee-HYEEN ah-eh-NAH-ee-oh PEH-leen KOH-zmee-oh theh-EE-een·
  17. εἴτε καὶ ἑπτὰ κύκλων ὑπὲρ ἄντυγας αἰθέρι ναίειςEE-teh KEH ehp-TAH KEE-klohn ee-PEHR AHN-dee-ghahs eh-THEH-ree NEH-ees
  18. σειραῖς ὑμετέραις δυνάμεις προχέουσ’ ἀδαμάστους·see-REHS ee-meh-TEH-rehs dhee-NAH-mees proh-HYEH-oos’ ah-dhah-MAH-stoos·
  19. κέκλυθι καὶ πολύμοχθον ἐμὴν βιότοιο πορείηνKEH-klee-thee KEH poh-LEE-mohkh-thohn eh-MEEN vee-OH-tee-oh poh-REE-een
  20. ἰθύνοις σέο, πότνα, δικαιοτάτοισι βελέμνοιςee-THEE-nees SEH-oh, POHT-nah, dhee-keh-oh-TAH-tee-see veh-LEHM-nees
  21. οὐχ ὁσίων παύουσα πόθων κρυόεσσαν ἐρωήν.ookh oh-SEE-ohn PAH-voo-sah POH-thohn kree-OH-eh-sahn eh-roh-EEN.
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

Aphrodite’s divine series gives rise to the winged Loves, whose works extend from the ascent of souls to generation and marriage. Their different tasks remain united in service to the Goddess. The final prayer asks that the soul’s journey be governed by the justice of divine love rather than by desires that carry it away from holiness.

Textual note

Abel II, printed pp. 278–279. Complete in this edition, 21 verses. The hymn distinguishes Loves that lift souls upward, Loves that sustain generation, and Loves that oversee marriage. These functions have not been collapsed into one kind of desire.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 278, 279. The text follows the printed main reading of this edition; source-specific variants are recorded where relevant. Read the digitised edition. Greek source. Manual transcription collated against Abel’s printed main text. 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.