slug: "hymns/persephone"
lang: en
title: "Orphic Hymn to Persephone"
pageCreated: "2026-04-23"
extends ../../../views/hymns/hymnsheet.pug
block navbar
ul
li.nav-arrow.nav-arrow-left: a(href="/hymns/hermes") #[span.dingbat ☙] #[b(lang="grc") Ερμου] #[i To Hermes]
li.nav-current ΚΘʹ · XXIX
li.nav-arrow.nav-arrow-right: a(href="/hymns/dionysos") #[i To Dionysos] #[b(lang="grc") Διονυσου] #[span.dingbat ❧]
block ancient-pic
img(src="/hymns/thumbnails/persephone-ancient.jpg" alt="Ancient pottery of Persephone")
block modern-pic
img(src="/hymns/thumbnails/persephone-modern.jpg" alt="Modern painting of Persephone")
block greek
h1 Ὓμνος Φερσεφόνης
p.hymn-greek
:format-hymn
Φερσεφόνη, θυγάτερ μεγάλου Διός, ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα,
μουνογένεια Θεά, κεχαρισμένα δ’ ἱερὰ δέξαι,
Πλούτωνος πολύτιμε δάμαρ, κεδνή, βιοδῶτι,
ἣ κατέχεις Ἀίδαο πύλας ὑπὸ κεύθεα γαίης,
Πραξιδίκη, ἐρατοπλόκαμε, Δηοῦς θάλος ἁγνόν,
Εὐμενίδων γενέτειρα, καταχθονίων βασίλεια,
ἣν Ζεὺς ἀρρήτοισι γοναῖς τεκνώσατο κούρην,
μῆτερ ἐριβρεμέτου πολυμόρφου Εὐβουλῆος,
Ὡρῶν συμπαίκτειρα, φαεσφόρος, ἀγλαόμορφε·
σεμνή, παντοκράτειρα, κόρη καρποῖσι βρύουσα,
εὐφεγγής, κερόεσσα, μόνη θνητοῖσι ποθεινή,
ἐαρινή, λειμωνιάσιν χαίρουσα πνοῇσιν,
ἱερὸν ἐκφαίνουσα δέμας βλαστοῖς χλοοκάρποις,
ἁρπαγιμαῖα λέχη μετοπωρινὰ νυμφευθεῖσα·
ζωὴ καὶ θάνατος μούνη θνητοῖς πολυμόχθοις,
Φερσεφόνη· φέρβεις γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ πάντα φονεύεις.
κλῦθι, μάκαιρα Θεά, καρποὺς δ’ ἀνάπεμπ’ ἀπὸ γαίης
εἰρήνῃ θάλλουσα καὶ ἠπιοχείρ’ ὑγιείῃ
καὶ βίῳ εὐόλβῳ λιπαρὸν γῆρας κατάγοντι
πρὸς Σὸν χῶρον, ἄνασσα, καὶ εὐδύνατον Πλούτωνα.
block english
h1 To Perſephone
div.offering A hymn
p.hymn-english Daughter of #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jove], almighty and divine,#[br]come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:#[br]only-begotten#[+sn(1)], #[span.theonym(greek="Plouton’s") Pluto’s] honour’d wife,#[br]O venerable Goddess, source of life:#[br]’tis Thine in earth’s profundities to dwell,#[br]fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:#[br]#[span.theonym(greek="Zeus’") Jove’s] holy offspring, of a beauteous mien,#[br]fatal, with lovely locks, infernal queen:#[br]source of the furies, whose blest frame proceeds#[br]from #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus’") Jove’s] ineffable and secret seeds:#[br]mother of #[span.theonym(greek="Dionysos") Bacchus], sonorous, divine,#[br]and many-form’d, the parent of the vine:#[br]the dancing Hours attend Thee, essence bright,#[br]all-ruling virgin, bearing heav’nly light:#[br]illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind,#[br]alone desir’d by those of mortal kind.#[br]O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight,#[br]sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:#[br]whose holy form in budding fruits we view,#[br]Earth’s vig’rous offspring of a various hue:#[br]espous’d in Autumn#[+sn(2)]: life and death alone#[br]to wretched mortals from Thy power is known:#[br]for Thine the task according to Thy will,#[+sn(3)]#[br]life to produce, and all that lives to kill.#[br]Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase#[br]of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;#[br]send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life#[br]with blest abundance, free from noisy strife;#[br]last in extreme old age the prey of Death,#[br]dismiss we willing to the realms beneath,#[br]to Thy fair palace, and the blissful plains#[br]where happy spirits dwell, and #[span.theonym(greek="Pluto") Plouton] reigns.
+sn(1)
p #[i(lang="grc") Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεολογός την κόρην #[b μουνογένειαν] ἔιαθε προσαγορεύειν.] #[abbr.cite(title="Proclus, In Platonis Timæum commentarii, book two, page 139") Proc. Tim. 2 extra p. 139], #[i i.e.] “I see that the theologist (meaning Orpheus) calls #[span.theonym(greek="Persephone") Proserpine], ‘Only-begotten’.”
+sn(2)
p We have already observed in the Dissertation, that the Orphic theologers considered a difference of sex in the divinities; attributing the male to some, and the female to others. Now the mutual commerce and energy subsisting between these Gods and Goddesses, they denominated #[i(lang="grc") Ἱεροὶ Γάμοι], #[i i.e.] “holy marriages:” or according to Proclus, on the #[i Parmenides] of Plato, as cited by Eschenbach, in #[abbr.cite(title="Epigrams, page 59") Epig. p. 59.] they mystically called, the simple kindred conjunction, and communion of divine causes, a marriage. And #[span.theonym(greek="Persephone") Proserpine], or the animating part of the earth's soul, may he considered as resting in Autumn, from all farther productions; her powers at that time having attained their full perfection.
p Hence at this period may we not say, that she is wholly abstracted from the animal life, and secretly united with #[span.theonym(greek="Haides") Pluto], or the intellectual part of the earth's soul; from whom she receives the divine light of mind, and copious streams of the nectar of divine knowledge.
+sn(3)
p Proclus, in #[abbr.cite(title="Theology of Plato, page 371") Theol. Plat. p. 371], informs us, that, according to the Eleusinian mysteries, #[span.theonym(greek="Persephone") Proserpine] together with #[span.theonym(greek="Haides") Pluto], governs terrestrial concerns, and the recesses of the earth: that she supplies life to the extreme parts of the universe, and imparts soul to those, who, by her power, are rendered inanimate and dead. This is perfectly agreeable to the 23#[sup d] and following line.