# Hymen (god)

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{{Short description|Ancient Greek god of marriage ceremonies}}
{{other uses|Hymen (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Hymenaios Terme di Nettuno Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|Hymen depicted on a Roman mosaic, [Ostia Antica](/source/Ostia_Antica)]]

[[File:Poussin - hymenaeus01.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[Nicolas Poussin](/source/Nicolas_Poussin), ''Hymenaios Disguised as a Woman During an Offering to Priapus,'' 1634, [São Paulo Museum of Art](/source/S%C3%A3o_Paulo_Museum_of_Art)]]

In [Greek mythology](/source/Greek_mythology), '''Hymen''' ({{langx|grc|Ὑμήν|Humḗn}}), '''Hymenaios''' or '''Hymenaeus''' (Ὑμέναιος), is a god of [marriage ceremonies](/source/marriage_ceremonies) who inspires feasts and song. Related to the god's name, a ''hymenaios'' is a genre of [Greek lyric poetry](/source/Greek_lyric_poetry) that was sung during the procession of the bride to the groom's house in which the god is addressed, in contrast to the ''[Epithalamium](/source/Epithalamium)'', which is sung at the nuptial threshold.

[[File:Napoleonic Wedding Medal Fontainebleau 1807, Reverse.jpg|thumb|right|[Cupid](/source/Cupid) standing (left), and Hymen sitting (right). Hymen's burning torch on a Napoleonic wedding [medal](/source/medal) of 1807. It commemorates the marriage of [Napoleon](/source/Napoleon)'s youngest brother [Jérôme Bonaparte](/source/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Bonaparte) to Princess [Catharina of Württemberg](/source/Catharina_of_W%C3%BCrttemberg) at [Fontainebleau](/source/Fontainebleau).]]

==Etymology==
Hymen's name is derived from the [Proto-Indo-European](/source/Proto-Indo-European) root *''syuh₁-men''-, "to sew together," hence, "joiner;" it is also recorded in [Doric Greek](/source/Doric_Greek) as {{lang|grc|Ὑμάν}} (''Humán''). The term ''hymen'' was also used for a thin skin or membrane such as [that which covers the vaginal opening](/source/Hymen) and was traditionally supposed to be broken by [sexual intercourse](/source/sexual_intercourse) after a woman's (first) marriage. The membrane's name was, therefore, not directly connected to that of the god, but they shared the same root and in [folk etymology](/source/folk_etymology) were sometimes supposed to be related.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/hymen#:~:text=hymen%20(n.)&text=1580s%2C%20Greek%20god%20of%20marriage,two%20together)%3B%20see%20hymen.|title = Hymen &#124; Origin and meaning of hymen by Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYqt2rBOUqsC&q=%22syu-men%22+hymen|title=The Incredibles|first=Disney|last=Staff|date=March 19, 2004|publisher=Scholastic|isbn=9780717277612|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Y0DAAAAQAAJ&q=hymen+dictionary&pg=PA176|title=An Illustrated Dictionary of Scientific Terms|first=William|last=Rossiter|date=March 19, 1879|publisher=William Collins, Sons, and Company|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.etymologynerd.com/1/post/2020/11/sewing-hymens.html|title=SEWING HYMENS|website=THE ETYMOLOGY NERD}}</ref>

==Function and representation==
Hymen is supposed to attend every wedding. If he did not, the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous and so the Greeks would run about calling his name aloud. He presided over many of the weddings in [Greek mythology](/source/Greek_mythology), for all the deities and their children.

Hymen is celebrated in the ancient marriage song of unknown origin (called a Hymenaios) ''Hymen o Hymenae, Hymen'' delivered by [Catullus](/source/G._Valerius_Catullus).[[File:George Rennie Cupid Rekindling the Torch of Hymen at the V and A 2008.jpg|thumb|''Cupid Rekindling the Torch of Hymen'', a sculpture by [George Rennie](/source/George_Rennie_(sculptor))]]

==Mythology==
Hymen was mentioned in [Euripides](/source/Euripides)'s ''[The Trojan Women](/source/The_Trojan_Women)'' in which [Cassandra](/source/Cassandra) says:
{{blockquote|Bring the light, uplift and show its flame! I am doing the god's service, see! I making his shrine to glow with tapers bright. O Hymen, king of marriage! blest is the bridegroom; blest am I also, the maiden soon to wed a princely lord in Argos. Hail Hymen, king of marriage!}}

Hymen is also mentioned in [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s ''[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)'' and in seven plays by [William Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare): ''[Hamlet](/source/Hamlet)'',<ref>ln. 3.2.147.</ref> ''[The Tempest](/source/The_Tempest_(play))'', ''[Much Ado about Nothing](/source/Much_Ado_about_Nothing)'',<ref>In 5.3.</ref> ''[Titus Andronicus](/source/Titus_Andronicus)'', ''[Pericles, Prince of Tyre](/source/Pericles%2C_Prince_of_Tyre)'', ''[Timon of Athens](/source/Timon_of_Athens)'' and ''[As You Like It](/source/As_You_Like_It)'', where he joins the couples at the end&nbsp;—
{{blockquote|Tis Hymen peoples every town;<br />High wedlock then be honoured.<br />Honour, high honour, and renown,<br />To Hymen, god of every town!}}

Hymen also appears in the work of the 7th- to 6th-century BCE Greek poet [Sappho](/source/Sappho) (translation: [M. L. West](/source/M._L._West), ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Oxford University Press):
{{blockquote|High must be the chamber&nbsp;–<br />Hymenaeum!<br />Make it high, you builders!<br />A bridegroom's coming&nbsp;–<br />Hymenaeum!<br />Like the War-god himself, the tallest of the tall!}}

Hymen is most commonly the son of [Apollo](/source/Apollo) and one of the [Muses](/source/Muses), [Clio](/source/Clio) or [Calliope](/source/Calliope) or [Urania](/source/Urania) or [Terpsichore](/source/Terpsichore).<ref name="auto3">Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 33.67</ref><ref name="auto1">Vatican Scholiast on Euripides' Rhesus, 895 (ed. Dindorf)</ref><ref name="auto">Scholiast on Pindar's Pythian Odes 4.313</ref><ref name="auto2">Alciphron, ''Epistles'' 1.13.3</ref><ref name="auto4">Tzetzes. ''Chiliades'' 8.599</ref> In [Seneca](/source/Seneca_the_Younger)'s play ''[Medea](/source/Medea_(Seneca))'', he is stated to be the son of [Dionysus](/source/Dionysus).<ref name="Medea">Seneca, ''Medea'' 56 ff</ref> [Servius](/source/Servius_the_Grammarian) calls him the son of Dionysus by [Aphrodite](/source/Aphrodite).<ref>Hard, pp. 223, 630 n. 111.</ref>

Other stories give Hymen a legendary origin. In one of the surviving fragments of the ''[Megalai Ehoiai](/source/Megalai_Ehoiai)'' attributed to [Hesiod](/source/Hesiod), it's told that [Magnes](/source/Magnes_(son_of_Argos)) "had a son of remarkable beauty, Hymenaeus. And when Apollo saw the boy, he was seized with love for him, and wouldn't leave the house of Magnes".<ref name="Metamorphoses">[Antoninus Liberalis](/source/Antoninus_Liberalis), ''Metamorphoses'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#23 23] [= [Hesiod](/source/Hesiod), ''[Megalai Ehoiai](/source/Megalai_Ehoiai)'' fr. 16].</ref>

[Aristophanes](/source/Aristophanes)' ''Peace'' ends with Trygaeus and the Chorus singing the wedding song, with the repeated phrase "Oh Hymen! Oh Hymenaeus!",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Nonfiction/Drama/Aristophanes/Peace/Aristophanes_PeaceP12.htm |title=Peace Page 12 |access-date=2005-11-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051201140548/http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Nonfiction/Drama/Aristophanes/Peace/Aristophanes_PeaceP12.htm |archive-date=2005-12-01 }}</ref> a typical refrain for a wedding song.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, ''hymen''.</ref>

According to [Athenaeus](/source/Athenaeus), [Likymnios of Chios](/source/Likymnios_of_Chios), in his ''Dithyrambics'', says that Hymenaeus was the ''[erastes](/source/Erastes_(Ancient_Greece))'' of [Argynnus](/source/Argynnus), a boy from [Boeotia](/source/Boeotia).<ref name=Athenaeus1380>[Athenaeus](/source/Athenaeus), ''Deipnosophists'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ath.+13.80&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2013.01.0003 13.80]</ref>

[Maurus Servius Honoratus](/source/Maurus_Servius_Honoratus), in his commentaries on [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s ''[Eclogues](/source/Eclogues)'', mentions that [Hesperus](/source/Hesperus), the Evening Star, inhabited [Mount Oeta](/source/Mount_Oeta) in [Thessaly](/source/Thessaly) and that there he had loved the young Hymenaeus, son of [Apollo](/source/Apollo) with a similar singing voice, which he was said to have lost at the wedding of [Dionysus](/source/Dionysus) and [Ariadne](/source/Ariadne).<ref name=ServEclg>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0091%3Apoem%3D8%3Acommline%3D30 Serv. Ecl. 8.30]</ref>

===Later story of origin===
According to a later romance, Hymen was an Athenian youth of great beauty but low birth who fell in love with the daughter of one of the city's wealthiest women. Since he could not speak to her or court her because of his social standing, he instead followed her wherever she went.<ref name="befd">Berens, E.M. The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome. New York: Maynard, Merril, & Co., 1880.</ref>

Hymen [disguised himself as a woman](/source/Cross-dressing) in order to join one of those processions, a [religious rite at Eleusis](/source/Eleusinian_Mysteries) in which only women went. The assemblage was captured by pirates, Hymen included. He encouraged the women and plotted strategy with them, and together, they killed their captors. He then agreed with the women to go back to [Athens](/source/Athens) and win their freedom if he were allowed to marry one of them. He thus succeeded in both the mission and the marriage, and his marriage was so happy that Athenians instituted festivals in his honour, and he came to be associated with marriage.<ref name="befd"/>

According to [Apollodorus](/source/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)), "the Orphics report" that Hymenaeus was among those resurrected by [Asclepius](/source/Asclepius).<ref>[Apollodorus](/source/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D3 3.10.3].</ref>

== In popular culture ==
[[File:Austria Silver Medal 1881 Wedding of Crown Prince Rudolf & Stephanie of Belgium, reverse.jpg|thumb|left|Hymen on the reverse of the 1881 wedding medal of Crown Prince [Rudolf of Habsburg](/source/Rudolf%2C_Crown_Prince_of_Austria) & [Stephanie of Belgium](/source/Princess_St%C3%A9phanie_of_Belgium) by [Tautenhayn](/source/Josef_Hermann_Tautenhayn)]]
At least since the [Italian Renaissance](/source/Italian_Renaissance), Hymen was generally represented in art as a young man wearing a garland of flowers and holding a burning torch in one hand.

Hymen appears as a character in the final scene of [William Shakespeare's](/source/William_Shakespeare) pastoral [comedy](/source/Shakespearean_comedy) ''[As You Like It](/source/As_You_Like_It)'' in which he presides over the rites for four weddings.  These include a dance of harmony for the eight characters entering their unions, including the play's protagonist and heroine [Rosalind](/source/Rosalind_(As_You_Like_It)) with her beloved [Orlando](/source/Orlando_(As_You_Like_It)).

In 1817, [John Wolcot](/source/John_Wolcot) coined the term [Hymen's war terrific](/source/Hymen's_war_terrific) to describe the race among the children of [King George III](/source/George_III) to marry and produce sons, done in order to avoid a succession crisis in the [British monarchy](/source/Monarchy_of_the_United_Kingdom).

''Hymen'' (1921) is an early book of poetry by the American modernist poet [H.D.](/source/H.D.) The eponymous long poem of the collection imagines an ancient Greek women's ritual for a bride.

==Sister project==
{{commons category-inline}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
* [Apollodorus](/source/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)), ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, [Harvard University Press](/source/Harvard_University_Press); London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [Catullus](/source/Catullus), Poem 62.
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}.
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', London and New York, Routledge, 2004. {{ISBN|020344633X}}. {{doi|10.4324/9780203446331}}.
* [Schmitz, Leonhard](/source/Leonhard_Schmitz), "[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dhymen-bio-1 HYMEN]." In [Smith, William](/source/William_Smith_(lexicographer)), (ed.) ''[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology](/source/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Biography_and_Mythology)'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Maas, P. "Hymenaios" ''REF'' '''9''' (1916) pp.&nbsp;130–34.
* [Ovid](/source/Ovid). ''[Medea](/source/Medea)'' in ''[Metamorphoses](/source/Metamorphoses_(poem))'', 12.
* [Virgil](/source/Virgil), ''[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)'', Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Music and singing gods
Category:Greek love and lust gods
Category:Marriage deities
Category:Personifications in Greek mythology
Category:Male lovers of Apollo
Category:Children of Apollo
Category:Children of Dionysus
Category:Deities in the Aeneid
Category:Ancient Greek wedding hymns

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hymen (god)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymen_(god)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymen_(god)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.