Proklos' Hymn to Aphrodite

Proklos (Πρόκλος) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He was alive from 8 February 412 AD to 17 April 485 AD, and amongst other things, he wrote five beautiful hymns about the Roman Gods, which can be interpreted for the Hellenic ones as well. The surviving works consist of two hymns to Venus (Aphrodite), one to the Sun (Helios), one to the Muses, and one to Minerva (Athena). Today, you are getting his hymn to the Muses, because I pray they give my mind and words wings today. Today, because one can never have enough love in their life, I'm sharing his hymn to Aphrodite (or Venus).

A CELEBRATED royal fount I sing,

From foam begotten, and of Loves the spring,

Those winged, deathless powers, whose gen'ral sway

In diff'rent modes all mortal tribes obey.

With mental darts some pierce the god-like soul,

And freedom rouse unconscious of control;

That anxious hence the centre to explore

Which leads on high from matter's stormy shore,

The ardent soul may meditate her flight,

And view their mother's palaces of light.

But others, watchful of their father's will,

Attend his councils and his laws fulfil,

His bounteous providence o'er all extend,

And strengthen generation without end.

And others last, the most inferior kind,

Preside o'er marriage, and its contracts bind,

Intent a race immortal to supply

From man calamitous and doomed to die.

While all Cythera's high commands obey,

And bland attention to her labours pay.

O venerable goddess! hear my prayer,

For nought escapes thine universal ear:

Whether t'embrace the mighty heav'n is thine,

And send the world from thence a soul divine;

Or whether, seated in th'aetherial plain

Above these seven-fold starry orbs you reign,

Imparting to our ties, with bounteous mind,

A power untamed, a vigour unconfined;—

Hear me, O goddess, and my life defend,

With labours sad, and anxious for their end;

Transfix my soul with darts of holy fire,

And avert the flames of base desire.

• Friday, June 7, 2019
  Aphrodite hymns poetry blogging Proklos

Proklos' Hymn to Aphrodite

Proklos (Πρόκλος) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He was alive from 8 February 412 AD to 17 April 485 AD, and amongst other things, he wrote five beautiful hymns about the Roman Gods, which can be interpreted for the Hellenic ones as well. The surviving works consist of two hymns to Venus (Aphrodite), one to the Sun (Helios), one to the Muses, and one to Minerva (Athena). Today, you are getting his hymn to the Muses, because I pray they give my mind and words wings today. Today, because one can never have enough love in their life, I'm sharing his hymn to Aphrodite (or Venus).

A CELEBRATED royal fount I sing,

From foam begotten, and of Loves the spring,
Those winged, deathless powers, whose gen'ral sway
In diff'rent modes all mortal tribes obey.
With mental darts some pierce the god-like soul,
And freedom rouse unconscious of control;
That anxious hence the centre to explore
Which leads on high from matter's stormy shore,
The ardent soul may meditate her flight,
And view their mother's palaces of light.
But others, watchful of their father's will,
Attend his councils and his laws fulfil,
His bounteous providence o'er all extend,
And strengthen generation without end.
And others last, the most inferior kind,
Preside o'er marriage, and its contracts bind,
Intent a race immortal to supply
From man calamitous and doomed to die.
While all Cythera's high commands obey,
And bland attention to her labours pay.
O venerable goddess! hear my prayer,
For nought escapes thine universal ear:
Whether t'embrace the mighty heav'n is thine,
And send the world from thence a soul divine;
Or whether, seated in th'aetherial plain
Above these seven-fold starry orbs you reign,
Imparting to our ties, with bounteous mind,
A power untamed, a vigour unconfined;—
Hear me, O goddess, and my life defend,
With labours sad, and anxious for their end;
Transfix my soul with darts of holy fire,
And avert the flames of base desire.

• Sunday, March 19, 2017
  Aphrodite hymns poetry blogging Proklos

Proklos' hymn to the Muses

I have a job assessment today that I need to prepare for, meaning I have literally no time to put something together. Re-try for tomorrow, but today you get to enjoy a beautiful hymn written by Proklos, so this post is not a loss for sure.

Proklos (Πρόκλος) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He was alive from 8 February 412 AD to 17 April 485 AD, and amongst other things, he wrote five beautiful hymns about the Roman Gods, which can be interpreted for the Hellenic ones as well. The surviving works consist of two hymns to Venus (Aphrodite), one to the Sun (Helios), one to the Muses, and one to Minerva (Athena). Today, you are getting his hymn to the Muses, because I pra they give my mind and words wings today.

A SACRED light I sing, which leads on high

Jove's nine famed daughters, ruler of the sky,

Whose splendours beaming o'er this sea of life,

On souls hard struggling with its storms of strife,

Through mystic rites perfective and refined,

(From books which stimulate the sluggish mind)

From earth's dire evils leads them to that shore,

Where grief and labour can infest no more;

And well instructs them how, with ardent wing,

From Lethe's deep, wide-spreading flood to spring,

And how once more their kindred stars to gain,

And ancient seats in truth's immortal plain,

From whence they wand'ring fell, thro' mad desire

Of matter's regions and allotments dire.

In me this rage repress, illustrious Nine!

And fill my mental eye with light divine.                           

Oh may the doctrines of the wise inspire

My soul with sacred Bacchanalian fire,

Lest men, with filthy piety replete,

From paths of beauteous light divert my feet.

Conduct my erring soul to sacred light,

From wand'ring generation's stormy night:

Wise thro' your volumes hence, the task be mine,

To sing in praise of eloquence divine,

Whose soothing power can charm the troubled soul,

And throbbing anguish and despair control.

Hear, splendid goddesses, of bounteous mind,

To whom the helm of wisdom is assigned,

And who the soul with all-attractive flame

Lead to the blest immortals whence she came,

From night profound enabling her to rise,

Forsake dull earth, and gain her native skies,

And with unclouded splendour fill the mind,

By rites ineffable of hymns refin'd.

Hear, mighty saviours! and with holy light,

While reading works divine illume my sight,

And dissipate these mists, that I may learn

Immortal gods from mortals to discern;

Lest, plunged in drowsy Lethe's black abyss,

Some baneful daemon keep my soul from bliss;

And lest deep merged in Hyle's stormy mire,

Her powers reluctant suffer tortures dire,

And some chill Fury with her freezing chain,

In ling'ring lethargy my life detain.

All-radiant governors of wisdom's light,

To me now hast'ning from the realms of night,

And ardent panting for the coast of day,

Thro' sacred rites benignant point the way,

And mystic knowledge of my view disclose,

Since this for ever from your nature flows.

Thomas Taylor, who translated this version of the hymn, notes that Proklos, in his Scholia on the Cratylus, beautifully observes as follows, concerning the Muses:

"The whole world is bound in indissoluble bonds from Apollo and the Muses, and is both one and all-perfect, through the communications of these divinities; possessing the former through the Apollonical monad, + but its all-perfect subsistence through the number of the Muses. For the number nine, which is generated from the first perfect number, (that is, three) is, through similitude and sameness, accommodated to the multiform causes of the mundane order and harmony; all of them at the same time being collected into one summit for the purpose of producing one consummate perfection; for the Muses generate the variety of reasons with which the world is replete; but Apollo comprehends in union all the multitude of these. And the Muses give subsistence to the harmony of soul; but Apollo is the leader of intellectual and indivisible harmony. The Muses distribute the phenomena according to harmonical reasons; but Apollo comprehends unapparent and separate harmony. And though both give subsistence to the same things, yet the Muses effect this according to number, but Apollo according to union. And the Muses indeed distribute the unity of Apollo; but Apollo unites and contains harmonic multitude: for the multitude of the Muses proceeds from the essence of Musagetes, which is both separate and subsists according to the nature of the one."

• Wednesday, March 5, 2014
  hymns Muses Proklos

Proklos' Hymn to Athena

Hi everyone, forgive me, I literally have zero time to write today, and didn't realize that yesterday, so I didn't write anything then either. Please forgive me and come back tomorrow when there will be an actual post. For today, let me leave you with Proklos' beautiful Hymn to Minerva (Athena).

Proklos (Πρόκλος) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He was alive from 8 February 412 AD to 17 April 485 AD), and amongst other things, he wrote five beautiful hymns about the Roman Gods, which can be interpreted for the Hellenic ones as well. The surviving works consist of two hymns to Venus (Aphrodite), one to the Sun (Helios), one to the Muses, and one to Minerva.

Daughter of ægis-bearing Jove, divine,

Propitious to thy vot’ries prayer incline;

From thy great father’s fount supremely bright,

Like fire resounding, leaping into light.

Shield-bearing goddess, hear, to whom belong

A manly mind, and power to tame the strong!

Oh, sprung from matchless might, with joyful mind

Accept this hymn; benevolent and kind!

The holy gates of wisdom by thy hand

Are wide unfolded; and the daring band

Of earth-born giants, that in impious fight

Strove with thy fire, were vanquish’d by thy might.

Once by thy care, as sacred poets sing,

The heart of Bacchus, swiftly-slaughter’d king,

Was sav’d in æther, when, with fury fir’d,

The Titans fell against his life conspir’d;

And with relentless rage and thirst for gore,

Their hands his members into fragments tore:

But ever watchful of thy father’s will,

Thy pow’r preserv’d him from succeeding ill,

Till from the secret counsels of his sire,

And born from Semele through heav’nly fire,

Great Dionysius to the world at length

Again appear’d with renovated strength.

Once, too, thy warlike axe, with matchless sway,

Lopp’d from their savage neck the heads away

Of furious beasts, and thus the pests destroy’d

Which long all-seeing Hecate annoy’d.

By thee benevolent great Juno’s might

Was rous’d, to furnish mortals with delight:

And through life’s wide and various range ’tis thine

Each part to beautify with arts divine:

Invigorated hence by thee, we find

A demiurgic impulse in the mind.

Towers proudly rais’d, and for protection strong,

To thee, dread guardian, deity belong,

As proper symbols of th’ exalted height

Thy series claims amidst the courts of light.

Lands are belov’d by thee to learning prone,

And Athens, O Athena, is thy own!

Great goddess, hear! and on my dark’ned mind

Pour thy pure light in measure unconfin’d;—

That sacred light, O all-protecting queen,

Which beams eternal from thy face serene:

My soul, while wand’ring on the earth, inspire

With thy own blessed and impulsive fire;

And from thy fables, mystic and divine,

Give all her powers with holy light to shine.

Give love, give wisdom, and a power to love,

Incessant tending to the realms above;

Such as, unconscious of base earth’s control,

Gently attracts the vice-subduing soul;

From night’s dark region aids her to retire,

And once more gain the palace of her sire:

And if on me some just misfortune press,

Remove th’ affliction, and thy suppliant bless.

All-saving goddess, to my prayer incline!

Nor let those horrid punishments be mine

Which guilty souls in Tartarus confine,

With fetters fast’ned to its brazen floors,

And lock’d by hell’s tremendous iron doors.

Hear me, and save (for power is all thy own)

A soul desirous to be thine alone.

• Tuesday, November 19, 2013
  Athena hymns poetry blogging Proklos this is not a real post

The Niketeria

We are coming upon another festival celebrated in ancient Athens: the Niketeria. Surviving sources date the festival to the second of Boudromion, and it was in honor of one of the most important events in Athens' history: its naming and tutelage by Athena.

Many of us know there was a contest between Poseidon and Athena over who would rule the growing city of Athens (in the name it had before being called 'Athens'), and it is clear who won that contest. The earliest reference to this event we still have access to is from the fourth century BC by Plato, but it does not quite have the poetic touch Ovid's account has. For that reason, I will give the account of Ovid, and build from there. From the Metamorphoses, (trans. Melville):

"The rock of Mavors [Ares] in Cecrops' citadel is Pallas' [Athena's] picture [in her weaving contest with Arakhne] and that old dispute about he name of Athens. Twelve great gods, Jove [Zeus] in their midst, sit there on lofty thrones, grave and august, each pictured with his own familiar features: Jove [Zeus] in regal grace, the Sea-God [Poseidon] standing, striking the rough rock with his tall trident, and the wounded rock gushing sea-brine, his proof to clinch his claim. Herself she gives a shield, she gives a spear sharp-tipped, she gives a helmet for her head; the aegis guards her breast, and from the earth struck by her spear, she shows an olive tree, springing pale-green with berries on the boughs; the gods admire; and Victoria [Nike] ends the work." [6. 70]

Ancient Hellenic Neoplatonist philosopher Proklos (Πρόκλος) in 'On the Timaeus of Plato' speaks of this event as well, and notes that there is still a festival held to commemorate this event in his time (between 412 and 485 AD)

 Farther still, the victories of Minerva are celebrated by the Athenians, and there is a festival sacred to the Goddess, in consequence of her having vanquished Neptune, and from the genesiurgic being subdued by the intellectual order, and those that inhabit this region betaking themselves to a life according to intellect, after the procurement of necessaries. For Neptune presides over generation; but Minerva is the inspective guardian of an intellectual life." [p. 153]

When this was celebrated, Proklos does not mention, but Plutarch does. One of these is in the Quaestiones Convivales, from the Moralia. Here, he answers the question: 'What is Signified by the Fable About the Defeat of Neptune? And Also, Why Do the Athenians Omit the Second Day of the Month Boedromion?'.

"While all were making a disturbance, Menephylus, a Peripatetic philosopher, addressing Hylas: You see, he said, how this investigation is no foolery nor insolence. But leave now, my dear fellow, that obstinate Ajax, whose name is ill-omened, as Sophocles says, and side with Poseidon, whom you yourself are wont to tell has often been overcome, once by Athene here, in Delphi by Apollo, in Argos by Here, in Aegina by Zeus, in Naxos by Bacchus, yet in his misfortunes has always been mild and amiable. Here at least he shares a temple in common with Athene, in which there is an altar dedicated to Lethe. And Hylas, as if he had become better tempered: One thing has escaped you, Menephylus, that we have given up the second day of September [Boudromion], not on account of the moon, but because on that day the gods seemed to have contended for the country." [Book 9, question 5]

Because of this, I say that the festival of Niketeria--'Victory'--was celebrated not on the second of Boudromion, but on the third. The second day, after all, was no longer a part of the month. The question remains why the victory of one Goddess over one God was commemorated at all, and there is no adequate ancient explination. None of the surviving works mention why and how the festival was celebrated. All we know is that it was noted--it might not even have been a true festival at all. My guess--and this is truly a guess, not even UPG--is that by omitting the second day, the defeat of Poseidon was omitted, so as not to anger Him. A day later--in a somewhat unrelated fashion to Poseidon's defeat--there was a (possibly somewhat subdued--celebration of the victory of Athena, with sacrifices to Athena, Niké, and perhaps even Poseidon for the many wonderful gifts They had provided--and would hopefully continue to provide--for the city of Athens.

Of course, none of this tells us anything about how to celebrate this festival ourselves. Perhaps, to those who do not currently live in Athens, this celebration is not of interest at all. All I can tell you is that I will be making sacrifices to Athena, Niké, and Poseidon to thank Them for Their gifts to humanity. As a non-Athenian who does wish to honor the Gods on the days They were originally honored, this seems to be the way to do it. I will also not be doing this today, but tomorrow, as I am inspired to do by Plutarch.

• Sunday, September 8, 2013
  Athena Athens festivals Nike Ovid Plutarch Poseidon Proklos