Artemis Returns

In honour of the goddess

To Homer was attributed a series of ancient hymns dating from around 700 to 500 BC, addressed to the Olympian gods, in hexameter verse. The recent voyage of Artemis II, the rocket that flew around the moon, brought to my mind the Homeric Hymn to Artemis, goddess of the hunt:

Of Artemis sing, Muse, the sister of the god Far-shooting, 
Virgin of copious arrows, fellow nursling of Apollo; 
who waters first her horses by the reedy river Meles
then swiftly drives her chariot wholly made of gold through Smyrna
to Claros rich in terraced vines, where silver-bowed Apollo 
sits waiting for the Shooting-far Goddess of Copious Arrows.
So I salute you, and with you all goddesses along:   
of you I sing, and from you first of all I raise my song.

Ἄρτεμιν ὕμνει, Μοῦσα, κασιγνήτην Ἑκάτοιο,
παρθένον ἰοχέαιραν, ὁμότροφον Ἀπόλλωνος,
ἥ θ᾿ ἵππους ἄρσασα βαθυσχοίνοιο Μέλητος
ῥίμφα διὰ Σμύρνης παγχρύσεον ἅρμα διώκει
ἐς Κλάρον ἀμπελόεσσαν, ὅθ᾿ ἀργυρότοξος Ἀπόλλων
ἧσται μιμνάζων ἑκατηβόλον Ἰοχέαιραν.
καὶ σὺ μὲν οὕτω χαῖρε θεαί θ᾿ ἅμα πᾶσαι ἀοιδῆι·
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ σέ τε πρῶτα καὶ ἐκ σέθεν ἄρχομ᾿ ἀείδειν.