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Homeric Hymns (Penguin Classics) Paperback – October 28, 2003

by Homer (Author), Nicholas Richardson (Editor, Introduction), Jules Cashford (Translator)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 128 ratings
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Composed for recitation at festivals, these 33 songs were written in honour of the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek pantheon. They recount the key episodes in the lives of the gods, and dramatise the moments when they first appear before mortals. Together they offer the most vivid picture we have of the Greek view of the relationship between the divine and human worlds.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    174 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    October 28, 2003
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    7.78 x 5.08 x 0.56 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0140437827
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0140437829
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The purest expression of ancient Greek religion we possess. Jules Cashford is attuned to the poetry of the Hymns." (Nigel Spivey, Cambridge University)

About the Author

Originally attributed to Homer because of their style and quality, the hymns are now thought to have been written by of a number of different poets of the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

Jules Cashford is a writer and lecturer on Mythology. She is the author of The Myth of the Goddess (Arkana, 1991) & The Myth of the Moon (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, forthcoming.

 Dr Nicholas Richardson is a Fellow in English at Merton College, Oxford

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; 4th Printing edition (October 28, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 174 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140437827
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140437829
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.78 x 5.08 x 0.56 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 128 ratings

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  1. Homer

    Homer

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    Homer was probably born around 725BC on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives.

    He was one of a long line of bards, or poets, who worked in the oral tradition. Homer and other bards of the time could recite, or chant, long epic poems. Both works attributed to Homer - The Iliad and The Odyssey - are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time.

    In The Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller's tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.

    We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact 'Homer' may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps 'the hostage' or 'the blind one'. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years' time.

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  2. Susan Chadwick Shelmerdine

    Susan Chadwick Shelmerdine

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  3. Nicholas Richardson

    Nicholas Richardson

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
128 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A. A. Player- Mason
5.0 out of 5 stars Homeric Hymns. Recommended strongly.
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2014
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The reason that I purchased this book was to assist with my reading and understanding of Homer, specifically, in this case, the Lattimore translation. First of all, the pleasure derived through reading the pieces is richly enhanced by a fine introduction. In many ways looking at this time in Greek history/literature is like gazing through a rather tantalising veil: much is revealed, but not enough. It is, in another simile, like putting together a fascinating jigsaw puzzle, knowing that key pieces are missing. For anyone interested in Greek mythology, Greek history, culture, or literature, this is a recommended text. I would recommend the addition of The Oxford Classical Dictionary as an invaluable assisting text, as well as works by R. Janko and N.J. Richardson.
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Ian M. Slater
5.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: Not Your Ordinary Hymnal
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2003
This review concerns the Penguin Classics volume of "The Homeric Hymns," translated by Jules Cashford, with an Introduction and Notes by Nicholas Richardson -- just in case this is appearing with another translation, as was the case with two earlier reviews originally posted here, and since removed (at least one of which was of the version translated and annotated by Susan C. Shelmerdine, for the Focus Classical Library).

The Homeric Hymns themselves are a miscellaneous collection of 33 poems, differing in terms of age and likely function; what they have in common are the Greek gods who are their subject, and the epic hexameter. They are assigned to Homer in a manuscript tradition which includes the supposed works of the mythical poet Orpheus, which for starters does not inspire confidence in the attribution, along with literary hymns by the historical figures Callimachus and Proclus. The "Homeric" songs range from the reverential (the Hymn to Demeter) to the humorous (the first Hymn to Hermes) in tone, and the contents are variously lyric and narrative. The long hymns at the opening of the collection are of considerable importance to our knowledge of Greek myth and religion, but the following shorter hymns have a value of their own. The description as "hymns" is in some cases problematic (although it has attracted listings of Christian hymnals to some of the Amazon sites for other translations!). At least some of the shorter works seem to have been intended as introductory invocations to the gods at public performances of other works, including the Homeric epics. In these cases, despite their religious nature, I agree with the Classicists who argue that "proem" is probably the better term.

For some reason, the long-neglected collection has come in for a lot of attention from translators in Britain and America during the last quarter-century or so. Earlier translations, with the exception of Evelyn-White's bilingual volume in the Loeb Classical Library (itself very recently replaced by a new edition by M.L. West) had long since dropped out of print. Now the reader faces an abundance of riches, most with something different to offer. There is an interesting, rather aggressively modern, translation by Boer (1970; second edition, restoring missing text, preferred), and more conventional ones, with various sorts of commentaries, by Athanassakis (1976; second edition, 2004, not seen), Crudden (2001; Oxford World's Classics, 2002), Sargent (1973; very readable, but no commmentary), Shelmerdine (1995), and West (2003; with Greek text), with another, by Diane Rayor, published in 2004. [As of August 2004, I have reviewed the 1976 Athanassakis, West, and Rayor translations.] There have also been a number of treatments of single hymns, including one by Richardson.

The Cashford translation is in verse, but frequently breaks up the long hexameter lines into shorter, more "lyrical" English phrases; marginal numbers indicate five-line intervals in the underlying Greek text. This gives an initial impression of a very free translation, but spot-checking against West's recent Loeb edition shows an admirable fidelity to details of the Greek, even distinguishing epithets others consider synonyms. Boer uses a similar approach to the verse forms, but Cashford's English is more dignified, and generally suited to a very formal type of composition, which is what we seem to be dealing with, after all.

The Richardson annotations (pages 149 to 174) are useful, and usually to the point; they compare well with the different approaches taken by Athanassakis and Crudden, and all three have something to offer.

A glossary/index, like that offered by Crudden, would probably be very welcome to those readers unfamiliar with Greek myth and literature, if they happen to try this book. (Also to those who just want to locate something quickly!) Of course, if it is used as a textbook it will probably accompany one off the many available introductions to Greek mythology. (If not, Shelmerdine's almost chokingly annotated translation is out there, too.)

This is a welcome addition to the Penguin catalogue, and this reader hopes that it stays there for a good long time.

[Note: an interesting, very detailed, review of this translation by a professional classicist, Stephen Evans, has since become available on-line (posted in early 2004), through the "Bryn Mawr Classical Review," and can be located by the author (Cashford) or the reviewer in the site Archive.]
58 people found this helpful
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Kelsey Griggs
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Easier Greek Mythologies to Read
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2019
One of my favorite books. Much easier to read, I think, than Ovid's Metamorphosis, even though that is a fantastic read as well. Hymn to Hermes is a hoot to read.
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Ryan Kouroukis
5.0 out of 5 stars The Spirit of Ancient Greece
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2008
The Homeric Hymns represent the pinnacle of Poetic treatment.

They represent the highest aspiration of inspirational ideal...And are so relevant and immediate that they could even be used in worship today.

When I read these hymns I feel strangely that there is divine providence, and of mysteries beyond telling...

Perhaps the brilliance of these translations contributes to my feelings, but no other translations (save Thelma Sargent's) have made more of an impact about the Homeric Hymns that these ones!
7 people found this helpful
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Kathleen Marie
3.0 out of 5 stars good greek book
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2014
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some stories better than others.
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H. C.
2.0 out of 5 stars Missing bits.
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2015
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I'm giving this edition a low rating because mine happened to have about a fifth of it missing-- which was replaced by a portion of a random Victorian novel... I don't know if other readers have bought this version and experienced this, but I'd be careful when purchasing it.
Otherwise, I LOVED the translation-- it was beautiful.
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Joel E. Mitchell
3.0 out of 5 stars Mildly interesting poems translated into very unstructured "poetry"
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2014
This review is for the Penguin Classics edition translated by Jules Cashford.

Content of the hymns: The first hymns to Demeter, Apollo, and Hermes contain some interesting narrative, but most of the poems are relatively brief flattery of the gods mentioning their origin and/or a few basic characteristics. They seem to be composed as prologues to longer poems, and their interest lies more in terms of artistry than content. (If you are more interested in detailed information about the Greek pantheon, try  Hesiod's Theogony )

Introduction & end notes: The introduction and end notes are simple and helpful, providing basic background without going into flights of speculative interpretation or Freudian psychoanalysis.

Translation: This was the aspect of the book that I found very disappointing. Rather than translate into something resembling the original hexameter or even picking a consistent style, the translator claims to have been "loosely guided by the nature of the goddesses and gods as to what form the hymn should take." The result is uneven with some of it resembling nothing so much as prose with line breaks every few words. I do not much enjoy "free verse" in any context, but I find it particularly obnoxious when it is offered as a "translation" of poetry that has a degree of regularity/structure in the original language. The point of these poems seems to be artistry rather than content and I was underwhelmed by the artistry of the translation.
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Top reviews from other countries

C. J. C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice translations
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2017
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Nice collection of translations. A dip in and out kind of book
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eve
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on February 4, 2017
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good price, is what I need for school.
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