Homeric Hymn to Hestia, 24

Hestia, you who tend the sacred house

Of Lord Apollo at holy Pytho,

Flowing (1) oil (2) always drips (3) down from your locks:

Come into this house, come, sharing a mind (4) with

Zeus the wise counselor: and bestow grace (5) on my song.

​​῾Εστίη, ἥ τε ἄνακτος Ἀπόλλωνος ἑκάτοιο

Πυθοῖ ἐν ἠγαθέῃ ἱερὸν δόμον ἀμφιπολεύεις,

αἰεὶ σῶν πλοκάμων ἀπολείβεται ὑγρὸν ἔλαιον:

ἔρχεο τόνδ᾽ ἀνὰ οἶκον, ἕν᾽ ἔρχεο θυμὸν ἔχουσα

σὺν Διὶ μητιόεντι: χάριν δ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ὄπασσον ἀοιδῇ.


Notes:

  1. “Liquid”

  2. Specifically olive oil

  3. I’m taking liberties with the tense here.

  4. Literally “having a mind along with”

  5. A hugely significant word referring to the unwritten rules of social exchange including gifts, favors, kind words, and hospitality. One of the most important cultural concepts in archaic Greece.

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Homeric Hymn to Hestia, 29