batch.motif.greek-hesiod-homeric-hymns-evelyn-white-gutenberg-l6890-l6966
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-hesiod-homeric-hymns-evelyn-white-gutenberg-l6890-l6966
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
passage_locator:
label: III. TO DELIAN APOLLO / TO PYTHIAN APOLLO / IV. TO HERMES / V. TO APHRODITE;
lines 6890-6966
start: '6890'
end: '6966'
translation: Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage recounts Zeus carrying off Ganymedes to serve the gods and
compensating Tros; Eos carrying off Tithonus and obtaining deathlessness without
youth for him; and Aphrodite warning a mortal lover about their child, the Nymphs
who will rear him, and the divine punishment that will follow if he boasts of
their union.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Zeus carries off golden-haired Ganymedes because of his beauty and places
him among the deathless gods to pour drink for them.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Tros grieves because he does not know where the whirlwind has taken his son.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Zeus gives Tros high-stepping horses as recompense for his son, and Hermes
tells Tros that his son will be deathless and unageing.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: Eos carries off Tithonus and asks Zeus that he be deathless and live eternally.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Eos does not ask Zeus to grant Tithonus continuing youth, so Tithonus grows
old while remaining alive.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: When Tithonus becomes unable to move or lift his limbs, Eos lays him in a
room behind shining doors, where he babbles endlessly.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:7
text: The speaking goddess says she would not want the mortal addressee to be deathless
in Tithonus' condition, because harsh old age comes to every man and is dreaded
even by gods.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: The speaking goddess says she has shame among the gods because she, who formerly
caused immortals to mate with mortal women, has conceived a child by a mortal
man.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The child is to be brought up by mountain Nymphs who inhabit the great and
holy mountain.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: The Nymphs live long, eat heavenly food, dance among the immortals, and mate
with Sileni and Hermes in pleasant caves.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: At the birth of the Nymphs, pines or high-topped oaks spring up; when death
approaches, those trees wither and the life of the Nymph and tree leave together.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:12
text: The goddess says she will return toward the fifth year, bring the son to the
mortal addressee, and that he should bring the child to windy Ilion.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:13
text: The mortal addressee is instructed to say the child is the offspring of one
of the Nymphs, not of Aphrodite.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:14
text: The goddess warns that if the mortal boasts that he lay with Aphrodite, Zeus
will smite him with a smoking thunderbolt.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:15
text: After speaking, the goddess soars up to windy heaven.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Zeus
description: Wise Zeus carries off Ganymedes, compensates Tros, grants Eos' prayer
for Tithonus, and is named as the god who may punish the mortal addressee with
a thunderbolt.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Ganymedes
description: Golden-haired youth carried off by Zeus because of his beauty to live
among the Deathless Ones and pour drink for the gods.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Tros
description: Father who mourns his lost son Ganymedes and receives immortal horses
as recompense.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Hermes / the Guide / slayer of Argus
description: Messenger who, by Zeus' command, tells Tros that Ganymedes will be
deathless and unageing; also named as a partner of the Nymphs in caves.
role_refs:
- role:6
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Eos
description: Golden-throned goddess who carries off Tithonus, asks Zeus to make
him deathless, and later keeps away from his bed while still nourishing and clothing
him.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Tithonus
description: Mortal of the addressee's race, carried off by Eos, made deathless,
but not preserved from old age.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Aphrodite / the goddess / queen of Cyprus
description: Goddess who speaks to the mortal addressee, says she has conceived
a child by a mortal man, orders concealment of her name, and then soars to heaven.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:11
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Mortal addressee
description: Unnamed mortal man addressed by the goddess; he is told he has a son
by her and warned not to boast of lying with Aphrodite.
role_refs:
- role:14
- role:15
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Child / son
description: Child conceived by the goddess and a mortal man, to be reared by mountain
Nymphs, shown to his father, and brought to windy Ilion.
role_refs:
- role:16
- role:17
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Mountain Nymphs
description: Long-lived inhabitants of a great and holy mountain who will rear the
goddess' son; their births and deaths are linked with pines or oaks.
role_refs:
- role:17
- role:18
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Sileni
description: Beings who mate with the mountain Nymphs in pleasant caves.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: divine abductor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Zeus carries off Ganymedes because of his beauty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: divine compensator
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Zeus pities Tros and gives him horses as recompense for his son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: carried-off mortal beloved
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:6
basis: Ganymedes is carried off by Zeus, and Tithonus is carried off by Eos.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: divine cupbearer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Ganymedes pours drink for the gods from a golden bowl.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:5
label: bereaved father
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Tros mourns because he does not know where his son has gone.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:6
label: divine messenger
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Hermes tells Tros the fate of his son at Zeus' command.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:7
label: divine lover of a mortal
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:7
basis: Eos takes Tithonus as a beloved, and Aphrodite says she mated with a mortal
man.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:8
label: petitioner for immortality
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Eos asks Zeus that Tithonus be deathless and live eternally.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:9
label: deathless but aged mortal
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Tithonus is granted eternal life but not unending youth and becomes helpless
with old age.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:10
label: thunderbolt punisher
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The goddess warns that Zeus will smite the mortal with a smoking thunderbolt
if he boasts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:11
label: divine mother
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The goddess says she has conceived a child beneath her girdle by a mortal
man.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:12
label: cave mate of Nymphs
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:11
basis: The passage says the Nymphs mate with Sileni and Hermes in pleasant caves.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:13
label: secrecy giver
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The goddess instructs the mortal to name a Nymph as the child's mother and
not name Aphrodite.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:14
label: mortal father
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The goddess identifies the addressee as the mortal man by whom she has conceived
a child.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:15
label: warned mortal
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The mortal is warned against boasting of lying with Aphrodite.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:16
label: divine-mortal child
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The child is conceived by a goddess and a mortal man and is described as
godlike.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:17
label: fostered child and fosterers
assigned_to:
- fig:9
- fig:10
basis: The mountain Nymphs are to keep and rear the child.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:18
label: tree-linked long-lived beings
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The Nymphs' lives are linked with pines or oaks that grow at their birth
and die with them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: golden bowl and red nectar
literal_form: Golden bowl containing red nectar drawn by Ganymedes for the gods.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: immortal horses
literal_form: High-stepping, storm-footed horses such as carry the immortals, given
to Tros as recompense.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: whirlwind
literal_form: Heaven-sent whirlwind that carries off Ganymedes.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: streams of Ocean
literal_form: Streams of Ocean at the ends of the earth, where Eos and Tithonus
live while he is young.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:5
label: room with shining doors
literal_form: Room behind shining doors where aged Tithonus is laid.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:6
label: holy mountain
literal_form: Great and holy mountain inhabited by the Nymphs who will rear the
child.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: pleasant caves
literal_form: Caves where the Nymphs mate with Sileni and Hermes.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- cave
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:8
label: pines and high-topped oaks
literal_form: Trees that spring up at the Nymphs' birth and wither when the Nymphs'
death is near.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:9
label: smoking thunderbolt
literal_form: Thunderbolt with which Zeus will smite the mortal if he boasts of
Aphrodite.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:8
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:10
label: windy heaven
literal_form: Heaven to which the goddess soars after speaking.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Ganymedes carried off and Tros compensated
summary: Zeus removes Ganymedes to the company of the gods, where he pours drink;
Tros mourns until Zeus gives him immortal horses and Hermes explains Ganymedes'
deathless condition.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Tithonus granted deathlessness without youth
summary: Eos carries off Tithonus and secures eternal life from Zeus but not eternal
youth; Tithonus grows old, becomes helpless, and is shut in a room where he babbles.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Aphrodite confesses divine-mortal conception
summary: The goddess says her former power of making immortals mate with mortal
women has been overturned because she herself has conceived a child by a mortal
man.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Nymph fosterage and tree-linked life
summary: The goddess describes the mountain Nymphs who will rear the child, including
their long life, cave unions, and shared birth and death with pines or oaks.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Secrecy command and divine threat
summary: The goddess instructs the mortal to conceal Aphrodite's role and to claim
a Nymph as the child's mother, warning that Zeus will strike him if he boasts.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Goddess' departure
summary: After speaking, the goddess soars up to windy heaven, and the hymn closes
by addressing the queen of Cyprus.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Divine beloved carried off from mortal life
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_beloved
basis: Ganymedes is carried off by Zeus because of beauty, and Tithonus is carried
off by Eos; both are mortals drawn into divine settings.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents Ganymedes as divine cupbearer and Tithonus as Eos'
companion; it does not use a single explicit category for both beyond the internal
comparison.
- id: motif:2
label: Ascent or removal to the divine realm
taxonomy_refs:
- ascent
basis: Ganymedes is caught up by a heaven-sent whirlwind to be among the gods, and
the goddess later soars to heaven.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: Ganymedes' movement is an abduction rather than a voluntary ascent; the
goddess' ascent is a departure.
- id: motif:3
label: Sacred exchange for a lost child
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: Zeus gives Tros immortal horses as recompense for Ganymedes after carrying
him away.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: The passage calls the horses recompense and a gift, but does not frame
it as a formal covenant or bargain.
- id: motif:4
label: Deathlessness without youth
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_beloved
basis: Eos secures eternal life for Tithonus but forgets to ask for youth, producing
endless old age rather than blessed immortality.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: No available taxonomy ref precisely names this pattern; divine_beloved
is the closest supported family because the condition arises from Eos' desire
for Tithonus.
- id: motif:5
label: Divine-mortal conception and hidden divine parentage
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_parent_child
- sacred_birth
basis: Aphrodite says she has conceived a child by a mortal man, arranges for Nymphs
to rear him, and orders the mortal to conceal her identity as mother.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage describes the child's future rearing and concealment but not
the birth itself.
- id: motif:6
label: Fosterage by semi-divine mountain beings
taxonomy_refs:
- initiation
basis: The child will be kept and reared by long-lived mountain Nymphs before being
shown to the mortal father and brought to Ilion.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage describes fosterage but does not explicitly say the child
undergoes initiation.
- id: motif:7
label: Life bound to a tree
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_tree_axis
basis: The Nymphs are born with pines or oaks, and the tree withers as the Nymph
approaches death; the life of both leaves the light together.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy term is broader than the passage; the text specifically
shows a life-link between Nymph and tree, not an explicit cosmic axis.
- id: motif:8
label: Forbidden disclosure of divine union
taxonomy_refs:
- forbidden_knowledge
- divine_judgment
basis: The mortal is warned not to name Aphrodite or boast that he lay with her;
if he does, Zeus will punish him with a thunderbolt.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The forbidden act is disclosure and boasting, not acquisition of knowledge
itself.
- id: motif:9
label: Trickster or boundary-crossing divine sexuality
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: Aphrodite says her former jibes and wiles made immortals mate with mortal
women, but now she has crossed the boundary herself by mating with a mortal man.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage attributes wiles to Aphrodite but does not present a trickster
figure in the narrow sense.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly places the Ganymedes and Tithonus episodes in a comparative
sequence as cases of mortals removed into divine relationships, though their outcomes
differ.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Ganymedes episode and Tithonus episode within the same hymn passage
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
limitations: Ganymedes becomes an honored unageing cupbearer, while Tithonus becomes
deathless but aged; the shared pattern is removal by a deity, not identical fate.
- id: claim:2
claim: Aphrodite frames her own union with a mortal man against a broader pattern
of gods mating with mortals, especially immortals with mortal women, making her
case a reversal of the pattern she formerly imposed.
claim_level: same_function
target: Divine-mortal union pattern named by Aphrodite
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage gives Aphrodite's own speech rather than a catalog of all
such unions.
- id: claim:3
claim: The Nymph-tree description supports comparison between the Nymphs' lives
and the lives of their associated trees as a shared life-duration pattern.
claim_level: same_function
target: Nymph and tree linked-life pattern within the passage
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This is an intra-passage functional comparison, not evidence for historical
contact or external motif transmission.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: ll. 202-217
quote_or_summary: Zeus carries off Ganymedes because of beauty to pour drink for
the gods; Tros mourns until Zeus gives him immortal horses and Hermes explains
Ganymedes will be deathless and unageing.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: ll. 218-238
quote_or_summary: Eos carries off Tithonus and asks Zeus for eternal life, but not
youth; Tithonus ages, loses bodily strength, and is placed in a room behind shining
doors where he babbles endlessly.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: ll. 239-246
quote_or_summary: The goddess says she would not want the addressee to be deathless
in such a condition and describes old age as a fate of every man and dreaded even
by gods.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: ll. 247-255
quote_or_summary: The goddess says she will have shame among the gods because she
formerly used jibes and wiles to make immortals mate with mortal women, but now
has conceived a child by a mortal man.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: ll. 256-272
quote_or_summary: Mountain Nymphs inhabit a great holy mountain, live long, eat
heavenly food, dance with immortals, mate with Sileni and Hermes in caves, and
are born and die together with pines or oaks.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: ll. 273-280
quote_or_summary: The Nymphs will rear the goddess' son; around the fifth year the
goddess will bring the child to the mortal addressee, who is to take him to windy
Ilion.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: ll. 281-290
quote_or_summary: The mortal is told to say the child is from a Nymph; if he boasts
of lying with Aphrodite, Zeus will smite him with a smoking thunderbolt. He is
told to refrain and not name her.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: l. 291
quote_or_summary: "“When the goddess had so spoken, she soared up to windy heaven.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from supplied passage.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: ll. 292-293
quote_or_summary: The hymn closes by hailing the goddess as queen of well-built
Cyprus and turning to another hymn.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/hesiod-homeric-hymns-homerica.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary generated from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal extraction is well supported by the supplied passage. Motif taxonomy
mapping is sometimes approximate, especially for deathlessness without youth,
Nymph-tree life-linking, and boundary-crossing divine sexuality.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used. The unnamed mortal addressee is not identified by name because the passage excerpt does not name him.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-hesiod-homeric-hymns-evelyn-white-gutenberg__l6890-l6966
passage_sha256=cfe53d93fb0c2ec45722d235f003ec18820741ae16104f6fc33d2a216aaabd77