eul_wid: upu-bg
DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20335421 PDFMarkdown

To Foreigners by Hymnic Collection Anonymous

"To Foreigners" is a brief anonymous hymn preserved within a collection of Greek religious poetry. The work 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.

Εἰς Ξένους
Αἰδεῖσθε ξενίων κεχρημένον ἠδὲ δόμοιο
οἳ πόλιν αἰπεινὴν νύμφης ἐρατώπιδος Ἥρης
ναίετε, Σαιδήνης πόδα νείατον ὑψικόμοιο,
ἀμβρόσιον πίνοντες ὕδωρ ξανθοῦ ποταμοῖο
Ἕρμου καλὰ ῥέοντος ὃν ἀθάνατος τέκετο Ζεύς.