CLCV 2500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Homeric Hymns, Hexameter, Telesterion
18 Oct 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Homeric hymns: anonymous hymns, called homeric because they use the epic metre. They were possible written by the homeridai: a guild of singers who performed homer and other kinds of epic poetry, there are 33 hymns of varying length, they are a prelude. Composed for performances at feasts and festivals: hymns addressed to demeter, apollo, hermes, and aphrodite, hymn to athena. The first is about his birth, the second about the establishment of his cult at delphi: the concept of aetiology, searching for the reason or a cause. Mythological narratives use stories to explain why something exists the way it is. Its not always important that the stories make sense. Important that the stories show how we end up with a situation. Hymn to apollo: the hymn to delian apollo and pythian apollo, these are both places associated with apollo.
