Homeric Hymns (Collection of Greek epic hymns and cult poetry, c. 7th–3rd century BCE)

1. Likely earliest hymns composed in Archaic Greece

   Jan 1, 700 BCELabels: Homeric Hymns, Archaic Greece

   • Britannica
   • Oxford Academic

2. Hymn to Demeter composed (approximate)

   Jan 1, 600 BCELabels: Hymn to, Eleusis

   • Coll ge France
   • Britannica

3. Hymn to Aphrodite composed (approximate)

   Jan 1, 550 BCELabels: Hymn to

   • Britannica
   • CHS

4. Hymn to Hermes composed (approximate)

   Jan 1, 525 BCELabels: Hymn to

   • UMich DeepBlue
   • IME

5. Hymn to Apollo associated with rhapsodic tradition

   Jan 1, 500 BCELabels: Hymn to, Delian Pythian

   • IME
   • Britannica

6. Hymns widely known by early Hellenistic era

   Jan 1, 300 BCELabels: Hymns Collection, Hellenistic Era

   • Oxford Academic

7. Hymn collection transmitted in Byzantine manuscripts

   Jan 1, 1200Labels: Byzantine Manuscripts

   • Wikipedia

8. Cardinal Bessarion commissions important hymn manuscript

   Jan 1, 1460Labels: Cardinal Bessarion, Manuscript V

   • Wikipedia

9. Editio princeps prints Homer with the Hymns

   Jan 13, 1489Labels: Editio Princeps, Demetrios Chalkokondyles

   • Wikipedia
   • Wikipedia

10. Estienne edition adds Latin translation and line numbers

    Jan 1, 1566Labels: Estienne Edition, Henri Estienne

    • Wikipedia

11. Matthaei discovers Codex Mosquensis and Hymn to Demeter

    Jan 1, 1777Labels: Codex Mosquensis, Christian Matthaei

    • Wikipedia

12. Ilgen publishes first modern separate edition of the Hymns

    Jan 1, 1796Labels: Ilgen Edition, Karl Ilgen

    • Wikipedia

13. Gemoll issues influential German edition

    Jan 1, 1886Labels: Gemoll Edition, Albert Gemoll

    • Wikipedia

14. Corpus described as 34 poems in modern reference works

    Feb 28, 2026Labels: Corpus Count, Homeric Hymns

    • Britannica
    • Theoi