The Homeric Hymns Coloring Pages
The Homeric Hymns are 33 ancient Greek poems, each one written by Homer to honor a god or goddess. Traveling poets would sing a hymn to warm up the crowd before performing a longer story, a bit like an opening act.
The ancient Greeks believed Homer wrote them, which is how they got their name. Today, scholars think they were written by several different poets over a few hundred years, all using Homer's style. Most of the hymns are only a few lines long, but a handful tell wonderful stories about the gods, and those are the ones I've done my best to retell here.
Jump to: Demeter | Apollo | Hermes | Aphrodite | Dionysus | Pan | Athena | All 33 Hymns
Tap any image to open the full-size printable, then download or print it.
The hymns here are based on Hugh G. Evelyn-White's 1914 English translation, "Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica" rewritten by Leanne Guenther (me) in 2026 to simplify and modernize the language a little.
Hymn to Demeter: Why We Have Winter
I will sing of Demeter, the goddess with lovely hair, and of her daughter Persephone.
Persephone was playing in a soft meadow with her friends, the daughters of the Ocean, gathering roses and crocuses, violets, irises and hyacinths. Then she saw a flower more wonderful than all the rest, a narcissus with a hundred blossoms growing from one root. Its scent was so sweet that the wide sky above and the earth below and the salty sea all laughed for joy.
She reached out both hands to pick it, and the ground split open. Up from below came Hades, lord of the dead, in a golden chariot pulled by deathless horses. He swept her up beside him and drove away. Persephone cried out for her mother, and her voice echoed across the mountaintops and down to the bottom of the sea.
Demeter heard her. Pain gripped her heart. She threw a dark cloak over her shoulders and flew like a bird over land and sea, searching. For nine days she wandered the earth carrying blazing torches. She would not eat or drink or wash, she was so full of grief. At last Helios, the sun, who sees everything, told her where her daughter had gone.
Then Demeter hid herself away, and she would not let a single seed sprout. The oxen dragged their plows through the fields for nothing. Nothing grew, and the people began to go hungry, and the gods began to worry.
So Zeus sent Hermes down into the darkness to bring Persephone home. Hades let her go, but first he slipped her a sweet pomegranate seed to eat. Hermes drove her up in the golden chariot, and when Demeter saw her daughter, she ran to her like a wild thing racing down a mountain, and they held each other all day long.
But because Persephone had eaten in the land of the dead, she must go back each year and spend part of it below. And each time she returns, the whole earth blooms with the flowers of spring. Demeter filled the fields with grain again, and the wide earth grew heavy with leaves and flowers.
Hail to you, Demeter, giver of good gifts, and to your lovely daughter! Be kind to me for my song. And now I will remember you as I begin another song.
Demeter coloring pages Persephone coloring pages
Hymn to Apollo: The Island and the Dolphin
I will sing of Apollo, the archer who shoots from far away. When he walks through the halls of Zeus, the gods all jump up from their seats as he bends his shining bow.
Before he was born, his mother Leto wandered from land to land, looking for a place to have her baby. But every land was afraid of the mighty god he would become, and they all turned her away. Only tiny Delos, a rocky island in the sea, agreed to take her in, if Leto promised her son would build a great temple there one day.
Leto waited nine days and nine nights. At last she wrapped her arms around a palm tree and knelt in the soft grass, and the earth smiled beneath her as Apollo was born. The goddesses washed him in clear water and wrapped him in white cloth with a band of gold. They fed him nectar and ambrosia, the food of the gods, and in a moment he burst out of his wrappings and stood up. "The lyre and the curved bow will always be dear to me," he said, "and I will tell people the will of Zeus." Then all of Delos blossomed with gold, like a hilltop covered in wildflowers.
When he grew up, Apollo went looking for a home for his temple. Beneath snowy Mount Parnassus, he found the place, and he shot a great serpent that guarded the land. Then he needed priests. Far out at sea, he spotted a ship of sailors from Crete.
Apollo turned himself into a huge dolphin and leaped onto their deck. The sailors were terrified. Each time they tried to push him off, he shook the whole ship from end to end. So they sat still and let him be, and a strong wind carried them over the waves until they came to Apollo's temple. There, the dolphin leaped from the ship like a shooting star at noon, with sparks flying, and its light filled the sky. Then Apollo appeared to them as a strong young man with long flowing hair, and he told them they would be his priests. They followed him up the mountain, singing.
Farewell, Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto! And now I will remember you as I begin another song.
Hymn to Hermes: The Busiest Baby on Olympus
I will sing of Hermes, son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, the clever messenger of the gods who brings good luck.
He was born at dawn in a shadowy cave on Mount Cyllene. By noon he was playing music, and by evening he had stolen his big brother Apollo's cattle. That was his very first day.
He didn't stay in his cradle long. At the door of the cave he found a tortoise munching grass, and he laughed out loud. "What luck!" he said. He scooped out the shell, stretched a cowhide over it, added seven strings, and made the very first lyre. When he strummed it, it rang out sweetly, and he sang to it about his own mother and father.
As the sun went down, he ran off to the mountain meadows where Apollo's cattle grazed and cut fifty cows from the herd. To trick anyone who followed, he drove them backward, so their hoof prints pointed the wrong way, and he tied twigs and leaves to his own feet so no one could tell his tracks either. He hid the cows in a cave, then slipped home through the keyhole like a puff of autumn mist and climbed back into his cradle, as innocent as can be.
In the morning Apollo came storming in. Baby Hermes curled up in his blankets like a glowing coal hidden in ashes. "Me? Steal cows?" he said. "I was born yesterday! My feet are soft and the ground is rough. I don't even know what a cow is!"
So they went to Zeus to settle it, and when Hermes told his story with a perfectly straight face, Zeus laughed out loud. He told the brothers to make peace. Then Hermes picked up his lyre and played, and the music was so lovely that Apollo's heart melted. "That's worth fifty cows!" he said. So Hermes gave Apollo the lyre, and Apollo gave Hermes the cattle and a shining golden staff. From that day on, the two brothers were the best of friends.
Farewell, Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia! And now I will remember you as I begin another song.
Hymn to Aphrodite: Born from the Sea Foam
I will sing of Aphrodite, golden-crowned and beautiful, who rules the island of Cyprus where the sea runs all the way around.
She was born where the waves roll and roar. The soft breath of the west wind carried her over the water, cradled in white sea foam, all the way to Cyprus. There the Seasons were waiting on the shore, wearing bands of gold in their hair, and they welcomed her with joy.
They dressed her in clothes made in heaven. They set a crown of gold on her head, hung earrings of shining metal and gold in her ears, and draped golden necklaces around her neck. These were the same jewels the Seasons wore themselves whenever they went to their father's house to dance with the gods.
When she was ready, they brought her up to Mount Olympus. The gods all stood to greet her and reached out their hands to welcome her. Every one of them wished she would be his bride, they were so amazed by the beauty of the goddess with violets in her crown.
Hail to you, sweet and smiling goddess! Help me sing my very best today. And now I'll remember you as I begin another song.
Hymn to Dionysus: The God and the Pirates
I will sing of Dionysus, son of Semele, and how he appeared one day on a rocky point beside the sea. He looked like a young man, with thick dark hair blowing in the wind and a purple cloak around his strong shoulders.
Out on the water, a band of pirates sailed by in a swift ship. They saw him, nodded to one another, and leaped ashore. They grabbed him and dragged him aboard, delighted, sure he was the son of some rich king. But when they tried to tie him up, the ropes wouldn't hold. They slipped right off his hands and feet, and he just sat there, smiling, with his dark eyes shining.
Only the helmsman understood. "You fools!" he cried. "This is a god! Let him go, before he sends a storm against us!" But the captain only laughed at him, and they raised the sail, and the wind carried them out to sea.
Then wonders began. Sweet wine came bubbling up and ran all through the ship, and the air filled with a heavenly smell. A grapevine spread along the top of the sail, heavy with hanging bunches of grapes. Dark ivy climbed the mast, covered in flowers and berries. The frightened sailors begged the helmsman to steer for land.
But the god turned into a roaring lion at the front of the ship, and in the middle of the deck he made a great shaggy bear appear. The lion leaped at the captain, and the terrified sailors jumped overboard into the shining sea. As they hit the water, they turned into dolphins.
Dionysus took pity on the kind helmsman and kept him safe. "Take heart," he told him. "I am Dionysus, the god of the joyful shout."
Hail to you, Dionysus! No one who forgets you can ever sing a sweet song.
Hymn to Pan: A Surprising Baby
I will sing of Pan, the dear son of Hermes, with his goat feet and two little horns, who loves a merry noise.
He wanders through the forest glades with the dancing nymphs, over snowy hilltops and rocky peaks. Sometimes he follows a soft stream, and sometimes he climbs the highest crag to look out over the flocks of sheep. All day long he roams the mountains.
But in the evening, when he comes home, he plays sweet, soft music on his pipes of reed. Not even the nightingale singing in the spring leaves can sing more sweetly. Then the nymphs gather by a dark spring and dance, and Echo calls back from the mountaintop, and Pan skips in and out of their circle with his quick goat feet. He wears a spotted lynx skin on his back, and all around them in the soft meadow, crocuses and sweet hyacinths bloom in the grass.
And the nymphs sing about how Pan was born. Hermes fell in love with a nymph in the hills of Arcadia, and she had a baby boy who was a wonder to see. He had goat feet and two horns and a full beard, and he was noisy and laughing from the very start. When his nurse saw his strange little bearded face, she jumped up and ran away!
But Hermes took the baby in his arms, and his heart was full of joy. He wrapped him snugly in the warm skins of mountain hares and carried him straight up to the home of the gods. He set him down beside Zeus and showed him off to everyone. All the gods were delighted, and Dionysus most of all. They named him Pan, which sounds like the word for "all," because he delighted all their hearts.
Hail to you, Pan! I offer you my song. And now I will remember you as I begin another song.
Hymn to Athena: Born in Armor
I will sing of Athena, the glorious goddess with shining eyes, clever and brave and strong of heart, protector of cities.
Wise Zeus himself gave birth to her, right out of his own head. She sprang out already grown, dressed in armor of flashing gold, and every god who saw it was filled with wonder.
She leaped from her father's head and stood before him, shaking a sharp spear. Great Mount Olympus rocked and swayed at the power of the bright-eyed goddess. All around, the earth cried out, and the sea heaved and tossed with dark waves, and white foam burst up from the deep. Even Helios, the sun, stopped his swift horses in the middle of the sky and waited a long, long while, until Athena lifted the shining armor from her shoulders.
And wise Zeus was glad.
Hail to you, Athena, daughter of Zeus! And now I will remember you as I begin another song.
All 33 Homeric Hymns
Here's the full list. The hymns with links are the ones retold on this page. Some gods got more than one hymn, and the first hymn to Dionysus only survives in pieces.
- To Dionysus
- To Demeter
- To Apollo
- To Hermes
- To Aphrodite
- To Aphrodite
- To Dionysus
- To Ares
- To Artemis
- To Aphrodite
- To Athena
- To Hera
- To Demeter
- To the Mother of the Gods
- To Heracles
- To Asclepius
- To the Dioscuri
- To Hermes
- To Pan
- To Hephaestus
- To Apollo
- To Poseidon
- To Zeus
- To Hestia
- To the Muses and Apollo
- To Dionysus
- To Artemis
- To Athena
- To Hestia
- To Earth, Mother of All
- To Helios
- To Selene
- To the Dioscuri