Muses' Whisper

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Homeric Hymns

Homeric tradition

Hymn 20 | Primary edition: Hugh G. Evelyn-White

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Sing, clear-voiced Muses, of Hephaestus famed for inventions. With bright-eyed Athene he taught men glorious gifts throughout the world, -- men who before used to dwell in caves in the mountains like wild beasts. But now that they have learned crafts through Hephaestus the famed worker, easily they live a peaceful life in their own houses the whole year round. Be gracious, Hephaestus, and grant me success and prosperity!

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Text notes and edition context

Work

Homeric Hymns

The Homeric Hymns range from brief invocations to extended mythic narratives, offering one of the clearest bridges between epic diction and cult praise.

Hymns | Original language: Ancient Greek

Archaic and later Greek hymn tradition, with core material commonly dated between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE

You are reading Hymn 20.

Primary Edition

Hugh G. Evelyn-White

English | Prose

Early 20th-century English prose translation

Evelyn-White's Loeb-era translation is a standard public-domain access edition for early Greek hymn material.

This edition preserves canonical hymn numbering and line-span references while reading smoothly in English prose.

Source family: English aggregate translations

Project Gutenberg / Internet Archive / Theoi | Public-domain source texts

English prose and verse classics consolidated into a single aggregate dataset.

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Primary source: English aggregate translations | Project Gutenberg / Internet Archive / Theoi.