To Foreigners

Εἰς ξένους

"To Foreigners" is a brief anonymous hymn preserved within a collection of Greek religious poetry. The work, identified in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, takes the form of a direct poetic address to strangers or outsiders. Its opening lines invoke reverence from those who dwell in the steep city of the lovely-eyed goddess Hera, drinking the ambrosial water of the fair-flowing golden river Hermus. The hymn's survival, though minimal in extent, attests to the breadth of anonymous cultic poetry in antiquity. Its specific focus on addressing foreigners suggests a possible ritual function or theological concern regarding the place of outsiders within a particular religious context, reflecting a facet of ancient Greek religious practice now only glimpsed through this fragmentary text.