Hymenaios
Statue
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"In Greek mythology, Hymenaios (also
Hymenaeus, Hymenaues, or Hymen) was a god of marriage ceremonies, inspiring
feasts and song. A hymenaios is also a genre of Greek lyric poetry sung during
the procession of the bride to the groom's house in which the god is addressed,
in contrast to the Epithalamium, which was sung at the nuptial threshold.
"Hymenaios was supposed to attend every wedding. If he didn't, then the
marriage would supposedly prove disastrous, so the Greeks would run about
calling his name aloud. He presided over many of the weddings in Greek
mythology, for all the deities and their children.
"Hymenaios was celebrated in the ancient marriage song of unknown origin
Hymen o Hymenae, Hymen delivered by G. Valerius Catullus. Both the term hymn and
hymen are derived from this celebration." |
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