The following video includes a Hymn to Goddess Athena, written by Proclus Lycaeus. Proclus, who was also called the Successor (Greek: Πρόκλος ο Διάδοχος), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism. He became the head of Plato's famous Academy of Athens.
Proclus had a great devotion to the Goddess Athena, who he believed guided him at key moments in his life. Marinus reports that when christians removed the statue of the Goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to stay at his home.
Below the video, the lyrics of the Hymn are available in Ancient Greek and English.
Lyrics in Ancient Greek
Κλῦθί μευ, αἰγιόχοιο Διὸς τέκος, ἡ γενετῆρος πηγῆς ἐκπροθοροῦσα καὶ ἀκροτάτης ἀπὸ σειρῆς· ἀρσενόθυμε, φέρασπι, μεγασθενές, ὀβριμοπάτρη, Παλλάς, Τριτογένεια, δορυσσόε, χρυσεοπήληξ, κέκλυθι· δέχνυσο δ᾽ ὕμνον ἐύφρονι, πότνια, θυμῷ, μηδ᾽ αὔτως ἀνέμοισιν ἐμόν ποτε μῦθον ἐάσῃς, ἡ σοφίης πετάσασα θεοστιβέας πυλεῶνας καὶ χθονίων δαμάσασα θεημάχα φῦλα Γιγάντων· ἣ πόθον Ἡφαίστοιο λιλαιομένοιο φυγοῦσα παρθενίης ἐφύλαξας ἑῆς ἀδάμαντα χαλινόν· ἣ κραδίην ἐσάωσας ἀμιστύλλευτον ἄνακτος αἰθέρος ἐν γυάλοισι μεριζομένου ποτὲ Βάκχου Τιτήνων ὑπὸ χερσί, πόρες δέ ἑ πατρὶ φέρουσα, ὄφρα νέος βουλῇσιν ὑπ᾽ ἀρρήτοισι τοκῆος ἐκ Σεμέλης περὶ κόσμον ἀνηβήσῃ Διόνυσος· ἧς πέλεκυς, θήρεια ταμὼν προθέλυμνα κάρηνα, πανδερκοῦς Ἑκάτης παθέων ηὔνησε γενέθλην· ἣ κράτος ἤραο σεμνὸν ἐγερσιβρότων ἀρετάων· ἣ βίοτον κόσμησας ὅλον πολυειδέσι τέχναις δημιοεργείην νοερὴν ψυχαῖσι βαλοῦσα· ἣ λάχες ἀκροπόληα καθ᾽ ὑψιλόφοιο κολώνης, σύμβολον ἀκροτάτης μεγάλης σέο, πότνια, σειρῆς· ἣ χθόνα βωτιάνειραν ἐφίλαο, μητέρα βίβλων, πατροκασιγνήτοιο βιησαμένη πόθον ἱρόν, οὔνομα δ᾽ ἄστεϊ δῶκας ἔχειν σέο καὶ φρένας ἐσθλάς· ἔνθα μάχης ἀρίδηλον ὑπὸ σφυρὸν οὔρεος ἄκρον σῆμα καὶ ὀψιγόνοισιν ἀνεβλάστησας ἐλαίην, εὖτ᾽ ἐπὶ Κεκροπίδῃσι Ποσειδάωνος ἀρωγῇ μυρίον ἐκ πόντοιο κυκώμενον ἤλυθε κῦμα, πάντα πολυφλοίσβοισιν ἑοῖς ῥεέθροισιν ἱμάσσον. κλῦθί μευ, ἡ φάος ἁγνὸν ἀπαστράπτουσα προσώπου· δὸς δέ μοι ὄλβιον ὅρμον ἀλωομένῳ περὶ γαῖαν, δὸς ψυχῇ φάος ἁγνὸν ἀπ᾽ εὐιέρων σέο μύθων καὶ σοφίην καὶ ἔρωτα· μένος δ᾽ ἔμπνευσον ἔρωτι τοσσάτιον καὶ τοῖον, ὅσον χθονίων ἀπὸ κόλπων αὖ ἐρύσῃ πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἐς ἤθεα πατρὸς ἐῆος. εἰ δέ τις ἀμπλακίη με κακὴ βιότοιο δαμάζει— οἶδα γάρ, ὡς πολλοῖσιν ἐρίχθομαι ἄλλοθεν ἄλλαις πρήξεσιν οὐχ ὁσίαις, τὰς ἤλιτον ἄφρονι θυμῷ—, ἵλαθι, μειλιχόβουλε, σαόμβροτε, μηδέ μ᾽ ἐάσῃς ῥιγεδαναῖς Ποιναῖσιν ἕλωρ καὶ κύρμα γενέσθαι κείμενον ἐν δαπέδοισιν, ὅτι τεὸς εὔχομαι εἶναι. δὸς γυίοις μελέων σταθερὴν καὶ ἀπήμον᾽ ὑγείην, σαρκοτακῶν δ᾽ ἀπέλαυνε πικρῶν ἀγελάσματα νούσων, ναί, λίτομαι, βασίλεια, καὶ ἀμβροσίῃ σέο χειρὶ παῦσον ὅλην κακότητα μελαινάων ὀδυνάων. δὸς βιότῳ πλώοντι γαληνιόωντας ἀήτας, τέκνα, λέχος, κλέος, ὄλβον, ἐυφροσύνην ἐρατεινήν, πειθώ, στωμυλίην φιλίης, νόον ἀγκυλομήτην, κάρτος ἐπ᾽ ἀντιβίοισι, προεδρίην ἐνὶ λαοῖς. κέκλυθι, κέκλυθ᾽, ἄνασσα· πολύλλιστος δέ σ᾽ ἱκάνω χρειοῖ ἀναγκαίῃ· σὺ δὲ μείλιχον οὖας ὑπόσχες.
Lyrics in English
Daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, divine,
Daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, divine,
Propitious to Thy votaries prayer incline;
From thy great Father's fount supremely bright,
Like fire resounding, leaping into light.
Shield-bearing Goddess, hear, to whom belong
A manly mind, and power to tame the strong!
Oh, sprung from matchless might, with joyful mind
Accept this hymn; benevolent and kind!
The holy gates of wisdom by Thy hand
Are wide unfolded; and the daring band
Of earth-born giants, that in impious fight
Strove with Thy sire, were vanquished by Thy might.
Once by Thy care, as sacred poets sing,
The heart of Bacchus, swiftly-slaughtered king,
Was saved in aether, when, with fury fired,
The Titans fell against His life conspired;
And with relentless rage and thirst for gore,
Their hands His members into fragments tore:
But ever watchful of Thy Father's will,
Thy power preserved him from succeeding ill,
Till from the secret counsels of His sire,
And born from Semele through heavenly fire,
Great Dionysos to the world at length
Again appeared with renovated strength.
Once, too, Thy warlike axe, with matchless sway,
Lopped from their savage necks the heads away
Of furious beasts, and thus the pests destroyed
Which long all-seeing Hecate annoyed.
By Thee benevolent great Hera's might
Was roused, to furnish mortals with delight:
And through life's wide and various range 'tis Thine
Each part to beautify with arts divine:
Invigorated hence by Thee, we find
A demiurgic impulse in the mind.
Towers proudly raised, and for protection strong,
To Thee, dread guardian, deity belong,
As proper symbols of the exalted height
Thy series claims amidst the courts of light.
Lands are beloved by Thee to learning prone,
And Athens, O Athena, is Thy own!
Great goddess, hear! and on my darkened mind
Pour Thy pure light in measure unconfined;
- That sacred light, O all-protecting Queen,
Which beams eternal from Thy face serene:
My soul, while wandering on the earth, inspire
With Thy own blessed and impulsive fire;
And from Thy fables, mystic and divine,
Give all her powers with holy light to shine.
Give love, give wisdom, and a power to love,
Incessant tending to the realms above;
Such as, unconscious of base earth's control,
Gently attracts the vice-subduing soul;
From night's dark region aids her to retire,
And once more gain the palace of her sire:
And if on me some just misfortune press,
Remove the affliction, and Thy suppliant bless.
All-Saving Goddess, to my prayer incline!
Nor let those horrid punishments be mine
Which guilty souls in Tartarus confine,
With fetters fastened to its brazen floors,
And locked by hell's tremendous iron doors.
Hear me, and save (for power is all thy own)
A soul desirous to be Thine alone.
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