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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.The image represents Aphrodite; it is not identified as a surviving image of the Lycian cult addressed in this hymn.

Hymns of Proclus · Hymn 05

Lycian Aphrodite

Ὕμνος εἰς Λυκίην Ἀφροδίτην

Proclus · 15 lines · Lycian Aphrodite, Kouraphrodite

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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 soul’s ascent into beauty and the blessing of an ordered, fruitful life.

Recite this hymn as a prayer to Lycian Aphrodite, preserving the poet’s offering of sacred speech. It may accompany a rite devoted to divine beauty, love, or the sanctification of family life, with the final request directed toward release from unworthy desire.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 05 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. We hymn the Queen of the Lycians, Kouraphrodite,
  2. whose aid that averts evil once filled abundantly
  3. the God-instructed leaders of our native land,
  4. so that they established within the city a sacred image,
  5. bearing the symbols of an intellective marriage, the intellective wedding
  6. of fiery Hephaestus and heavenly Aphrodite.
  7. They named her the Olympian Goddess, through whose might
  8. they often escaped the mortal-destroying shaft of death,
  9. and kept their gaze on virtue; from unions that brought birth to fulfilment
  10. a steadfast race, glorious in counsel, sprang up like ripening grain,
  11. and everywhere the stillness of life was gentle in its gifts.
  12. But receive also, O Sovereign, the offering
  13. of our well-spoken hymn; for I too am of Lycian blood.
  14. Raise the soul again from ugliness into abundant beauty,
  15. when it has escaped the deadly frenzy of the earth-born rush of desire.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

15 Greek lines
  1. Ὑμνέομεν Λυκίων βασιληίδα, Κουραφροδίτην,eem-NEH-oh-mehn lee-KEE-ohn vah-see-lee-EE-dhah, koo-rah-froh-DHEE-teen,
  2. ἧς ποτ’ ἀλεξικάκοιο περιπλήθοντες ἀρωγῆςEES poht’ ah-lehk-see-KAH-kee-oh peh-ree-PLEE-thohn-dehs ah-roh-YEES
  3. πατρίδος ἡμετέρης θεοφράδμονες ἡγεμονῆεςpah-TREE-dhohs ee-meh-TEH-rees theh-oh-FRAHDH-moh-nehs ee-yeh-moh-NEE-ehs
  4. ἱερὸν ἱδρύσαντο κατὰ πτολίεθρον ἄγαλμα,ee-eh-ROHN ee-DHREE-sahn-doh kah-TAH ptoh-LEE-eh-throhn AH-ghahl-mah,
  5. σύμβολ’ ἔχον νοεροῖο γάμου, νοερῶν ὑμεναίωνSEEM-vohl’ EH-khohn noh-eh-REE-oh GHAH-moo, noh-eh-ROHN ee-meh-NEH-ohn
  6. Ἡφαίστου πυρόεντος ἰδ’ οὐρανίης Ἀφροδίτης·ee-FEH-stoo pee-ROH-ehn-dohs eedh’ oo-rah-NEE-ees ah-froh-DHEE-tees·
  7. καί ἑ θεὴν ὀνόμηναν Ὀλύμπιον, ἧς διὰ κάρτοςKEH eh theh-EEN oh-NOH-mee-nahn oh-LEEM-bee-ohn, EES dhee-AH KAHR-tohs
  8. πολλάκι μὲν θανάτοιο βροτοφθόρον ἔκφυγον ἰόν,poh-LAH-kee MEHN thah-NAH-tee-oh vroh-tohf-THOH-rohn EHK-fee-ghohn ee-OHN,
  9. ἐς δ’ ἀρετὴν ἔχον ὄμμα· τελεσσιγόνων δ’ ἀπὸ λέκτρωνehs dh’ ah-reh-TEEN EH-khohn OH-mah· teh-leh-see-GHOH-nohn dh’ ah-POH LEHK-trohn
  10. ἔμπεδος ἀγλαόμητις ἀνασταχύεσκε γενέθλη,EHM-beh-dhohs ah-ghlah-OH-mee-tees ah-nah-stah-HYEE-eh-skeh yeh-NEHTH-lee,
  11. πάντῃ δ’ ἠπιόδωρος ἔην βιότοιο γαλήνη.PAHN-dee dh’ ee-pee-OH-dhoh-rohs EH-een vee-OH-tee-oh ghah-LEE-nee.
  12. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμετέρης ὑποδέχνυσο, πότνα, θυηλὴνah-LAH KEH ee-meh-TEH-rees ee-poh-DHEHKH-nee-soh, POHT-nah, thee-ee-LEEN
  13. εὐεπίης· Λυκίων γὰρ ἀφ’ αἵματός εἰμι καὶ αὐτός.eh-veh-PEE-ees· lee-KEE-ohn GHAHR ahf’ EH-mah-TOHS ee-mee KEH ahf-TOHS.
  14. ψυχὴν δ’ ἂψ ἀνάειρον ἀπ’ αἴσχεος ἐς πολὺ κάλλος,psee-HYEEN dh’ AHPS ah-NAH-ee-rohn ahp’ EHS-hyeh-ohs ehs poh-LEE KAH-lohs,
  15. γηγενέος προφυγοῦσαν ὀλοίιον οἶστρον ἐρωῆς.yee-yeh-NEH-ohs proh-fee-GHOO-sahn oh-LEE-ee-ohn EE-strohn eh-roh-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.

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

The hymn recalls a sacred image bearing the symbols of the intellective marriage of fiery Hephaestus and heavenly Aphrodite. Their union is linked with deliverance, virtue, wise offspring, and a gentle peace of life. Proclus offers his own hymn as a Lycian and asks the Goddess to raise the soul from ugliness into abundant beauty.

Textual note

Abel V, printed pp. 280–281. Complete in this edition, 15 verses. Verse 13 speaks in Proclus’s own voice, “I too am of Lycian blood”; it is preserved as part of the ancient poem rather than altered into a biographical claim about every reciter. Abel’s Kouraphrodite is retained as a divine title.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 280, 281. 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.