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Home/Catalog/greek/Prayer to Aphrodite, Eros, Peitho, Adonis, Moirai, Ananke, Nymphs
hymn · greek

Prayer to Aphrodite, Eros, Peitho, Adonis, Moirai, Ananke, Nymphs

Aphrodite · Eros · Peitho · Adonis · Moirai · Ananke · Nymphs
Ourania, illustrious, laughter-loving queen, sea-born, night-loving, of awful mien; crafty, from whom Ananke first came, producing, nightly, all-connecting dame. 'Tis thine the world with harmony to join, for all things spring from thee, O power divine. The triple Moirai are ruled by thy decree, and all productions yield alike to thee: whatever the heavens, encircling all, contain, earth fruit-producing, and the stormy main, thy sway confesses, and obeys thy nod, awful attendant of Bakkhos God. Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight, mother of the Erotes, whom banquetings delight; source of Peitho, secret, favouring queen, illustrious born, apparent and unseen; spousal Lukaina, and to men inclined, prolific, most-desired, life-giving, kind. Great sceptre-bearer of the Gods, 'tis thine mortals in necessary bands to join; and every tribe of savage monsters dire in magic chains to bind through mad desire. Come, Kyprogenes, and to my prayer incline, whether exalted in the heavens you shine, or pleased in odorous Syria to preside, or over the Aigyptian plains thy care to guide, fashioned of gold; and near its sacred flood, fertile and famed, to fix thy blest abode; or if rejoicing in the azure shores, near where the sea with foaming billows roars, the circling choirs of mortals thy delight, or beauteous Nymphai with eyes cerulean bright, pleased by the sandy banks renowned of old, to drive thy rapid two-yoked car of gold; or if in Kypros thy famed mother fair, where Nymphai unmarried praise thee every year, the loveliest Nymphai, who in the chorus join, Adonis pure to sing, and thee divine. Come, all-attractive, to my prayer inclined, for thee I call, with holy, reverent mind.
Fons · Source
AuthorAnonymous (Orphic corpus)
WorkOrphic Hymns
Section55 (to Aphrodite)
PeriodHellenistic to Roman imperial (3rd c. BC – 2nd c. AD)
OccasionOrphic hymn to Aphrodite Ourania — invocation of the celestial Aphrodite as cosmic harmony and ruler of Fates, with appeals across all her cult sites
Classificatio · Taxonomy
Culturegreek
Formhymn
DeitiesAphrodite, Eros, Peitho, Adonis, Moirai, Ananke, Nymphs
Functionsinvocation · petition
Spherefertility · domestic