The Anacreontea (Ἀνακρεόντεια) is the title given to a collection of some 60 Hellenic poems on the topics of wine, beauty, erotic love, Dionysus, nd many others. The poems date to between the 1st century BC and the 6th century AD, and are attributed pseudepigraphically to Anacreon. The collection is preserved in the same 10th-century manuscript as the 'Anthologia Palatina', together with some other poetry.

Anacreon (Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος) was alive from 582 to 485 BC. He was a Hellenic lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns. Later Hellenes included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. Anacreon was born at Teos, an Ionian city on the coast of Asia Minor. For a long time, Anacreon was popular in Athens, where his statue was to be seen on the Acropolis, together with that of his friend Xanthippus, the father of Pericles. On several coins from Teos he is represented holding a lyre in his hand, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing. A marble statue found in 1835 in the Sabine district, and now in the Galleria Borghese, is said to represent Anacreon. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early lyric poetry, it was composed to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of music, usually the lyre. Anacreon's verses were primarily in the form of monody rather than for a chorus.

Today I would like to share one of his poems, a hymn to Artemis, although it was meant to be recited, not sung. I am always looking for new hymns, new ancient words to use in PAT rituals and my own practice. And I think Anacreon's words fit the bill nicely. It was probably Magnesia on whose behalf the poet supplicates the Goddess, which was situate on the river Lethe, near Ephesus. It is thought that this hymn was written on the occasion of some battle wherein the Magnesians were defeated. 


Anacreon - A Prayer to Artemis 

On my knees do I entreat thee, O Pheraean 
Goddess golden - helmed, of wild beasts huntress. 
Come with all thy train of nymphs Pelasgian 
To Lethe's whirlpools. 

Daughter of Zeus, swift slayer of the mountain Deer,
View propitiously this suffering city.
Cheer thy stricken people; no barbarous citizens 
Crave thy divine aid.