WIP of Zeus Meilichios, the mild and gracious 🐍
I'd like to share one of my favorite hymns of the great Thundering King of the deathless gods.
Orphic Hymn 19 - Thundering Zeus
Father Zeus, sublime is the course
of the blazing cosmos you drive on,
ethereal and lofty
the flash of your lightning
as you shake the seat of the gods with a god’s thunderbolts.
The fire of your lightning
emblazons the rain clouds,
you bring storms and hurricanes,
you bring mighty gales,
you hurl roaring thunder, a shower of arrows.
Horrific might and strength
sets all aflame, dreadful missile
makes hearts pound and hair bristle.
Holy and invincible, it comes with a sudden crash,
an endless spiral of noise,
omnivorous in its drive,
unbreakable and threatening,
ineluctable, too, the gale’s
sharp and smoke-filled shafts swoop down
with a flash dreaded
by land and sea.
Wild beasts cringe
when they hear the noise,
faces reflect the brilliance of thunder roaring
in the celestial hollows.
You tear the robe
that cloaks heaven,
you hurl the fiery thunderbolt.
O blessed one … the anger of the sea waves,
the anger of the mountain peaks—we all know your power.
Enjoy this libation and give all things
pleasing to the heart:
a life of prosperity, queenly health,
divine peace that nurtures youths,
crowned with honors,
a life ever blooming
with cheerful thoughts.