German translation:

Ich erkenn' dich an der Schärfe
deines Schwerts, der furchtbaren,
ich erkenn' dich an dem Blicke
der mit Kraft die Erde misst.


Von den heiligen Gebeinen
der Hellenen auferweckt
und, wie einst, nun stark geworden,
Freiheit, Freiheit, sei gegrüßt!

Dort im Grabe eingeschlossen,
eingeschüchtert und betrübt,
wartetest du auf die Stimme,
die dir sage "Komm zurück!"

Dieser Tag ließ auf sich warten,
es war alles totenstill,
alles war durch Angst verdunkelt,
Knechtschaft deckte alles zu.

Unglückliche, Trost alleine blieb
dir die Erinnerung an die längst
vergangene Größe, die erzählend du
beweinst.

Banges Harren, banges Warten
auf ein freiheitliches Wort,
schlug die eine Hand die andre
in Verzweiflung immerfort.

Und du sagtest: "Wann erhebe ich
mein Haupt aus dieser Not?"
Es erwiderten von oben Klagen,
Ketten, Jammerlaut.

Da erhobst du deine Blicke,
die vom Weinen ganz getrübt,
Blut tropfte auf deine Kleider,
vieles Blut des Griechentums.

Mit den blutigen Gewändern
stahlst du heimlich dich davon,
um zu suchen in der Fremde
andre Hände voller Kraft.


Einsam gingst du deines Weges,
einsam kehrtest du zurück,
leicht sind nicht die fremden Türen,
wenn die Not an ihnen klopft

Rückwärts wendest du die Schritte,
bald betrittst du mit dem Fuß
jenen Felsen, jenen Rasen,
der dich an den Ruhm gemahnt.

Demütig beugt sich zu Boden
das vom Leid geprüfte Haupt,
wie des Armen, der da bettelt,
dem das Leben eine Last.

Aber jetzt stellt sich zum Kampfe
jedes Kind von dir mit Kraft,
und in rastlosem Bemühen
strebt nach Sieg es oder Tod.

Von den heiligen Gebeinen
der Hellenen auferweckt,
und, wie einst, nun stark geworden,
Freiheit, Freiheit, sei gegrüßt!

from: http://www.griechenland-botschaft.de/ueber_gr/geschichte/hymne/hymne2.htm

not all verses of the poem form our national anthem. The first two
were chosen and set to music veivem did the right:D

I am just wondering if you  understood what is written about in the first  website you mentioned. The poem consists of 158 verses and some of them  are set to music by Manjaros, frind of Solomos .Actually Manjaros create 4 different sets to music for the poem "Ymnos stin eleytheria".  He also set to music other poems of his friend .In year 1865 , the first two verses of the poem consecrated as national anthem. It couldn't  been chosen all the poem because such a thing would be redundancy .Why? Because no body would remember it
The cd cover you show us before , is just a recording of  the poem ,made in 1991 .  By no means this attempt reformed the national anthem.

Quote:


Actually, not ALL verses are in this nice CD. The verses  30-37,46-49,66-69,91-94,99-102,106,109-112, 114-115,122-125,128-131,147-150 are missing in it.


André Frank 

Japanese Translation

ギリシア共和国

「自由への賛歌」

私はあなたをいつも認識するだろう
あなたが持つ恐ろしい剣によって、
地球のように、捜す視覚で、
あなたは見渡す、大胆な精神で。

それは昔のギリシア人たちだった、その死が
私たちの自由な精神に誕生をもたらしたのは。
今、昇る古代の勇気で、
あなたを万歳しよう、おお自由!

The long (158 stanzas) Dionysios Solomos' poem Hymn to Liberty" (in Greek):

http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/greek/grpoetry/solomos_anthem.html

“ HAIL,  OH  HAIL,  LIBERTY ! ”

These words are sung by a people whose existence is the incarnate expression of the ideal, the emotion, and the realization of liberty.

America is a living part or it.  The people who sing these words are the people of Greece.  They praise the land of George Washington and her Independence from the shackles of oppression.

Is this something new? No, it is not.  It first began in May 1823 and has been going on since!

And, when do Greek people invoke this praise? Best to ask, "when do they not?” For the words are an integral and inseparable part of the Greek National "Hymn to Liberty'" that forms the lyrical basis for the Greek National Anthem!

The inspired author of the words is the National Poet of Greece, Dionysios Solomos, who was born in the Island of Zante (Zakynthos) in 1798 (baptized on April 8, 1798, two months after his birth) and who died on the Island of Corfu (Kerkyra) at exactly the hour of noon on Saturday, February 9,  1857 (re Old Calendar). He was the first  of two brothers born to an aristocratic elderly father and to a young commoner mother.  He was educated in Zante by prominent Greek and Italian scholars of the period, and likewise later when he studied at the university in Pavia near Milan, Italy, mastering both the Italian and Latin languages.  He produced several of his works in Italian.  His first published poem, written in Italian, he achieved at the age of seventeen.

Solomos wrote the "Hymn to Liberty” in Zante in May 1823 during the Greek uprising against Turkish oppression that had lasted for almost four hundred years.  March 25, 1821 is the official designation of Greek Independence Day and is commemorated with the same fervor, festiveness, and reverence as is July 4, 1776 in America.

Similar to the American’s sensation of sacredness and respect upon the sound of "The Star Spangled Banner” is the feeling of the Greek citizen when the "Hymn to Liberty" is uttered.  Think then of the powerful emotion the Greek person experiences when reciting the Hymn and comes across words exalting American struggle for freedom.  It casts a common cause—a  point where both people unite.  And historically, this happened just as the Hymn portrays.  America, officially, and Americans as citizens, reacted most favorably to the cause of Greek independence and extended great cooperation.

The "Hymn to Liberty” comprises 158 stanzas! Of these, the twenty-second is dedicated to America. It is distinctly explicit about the union of the two people in their common determination to remain free.  The entire poem is a product of excellence, which Solomos' contemporaries, as well as scholars today, rate in the level of a Homeric epic because of its narrative form, of Pindaric lyricism because of its dithyrambic form, and of Aeschylean power because of its tragica1 form.  And, it is written, nevertheless, in the expressive popular 1anguage of the day.  The words, the rhyme, the rhythm, its content captivate the reader and compel him to continue through.  It deals with many subjects—with liberty; with religion of Biblical tone, with politics, with nations, with history of the revolution, with dissension, with war, with suffering, and with hope.  Each verb, each word, each implication is charged with meaningful significance electrifying the emotions, sensibilities and thoughts of the reader.  Often, the words are paintings of vivid scenes and action.  Each stanza is a precious contribution to the whole.  Tru1y, a justified selection for a national hymn.  It is this level of excellence in which America is cradled in the poem.

The construction of the work is as follows: There are one hundred and fifty-eight stanzas of four verses each.  The first and third verses rhyme, and so do the second and fourth.  The first and third verses consist of eight syllables each, while the second and fourth have seven each.  In all verses, the metrical pattern obtains by the accent on the first, third, fifth, and seventh syllables.  The poet, at times, hyphenates between verses, and always achieves smoothest transition when changing subject matter.

Seven unifications underlie the entire poem as major organic parts of the whole.  These are: Stanzas 1-16, where Liberty is hailed as she is envisioned to emerge from the sacred bones of the Greek dead. Vain efforts for freedom with great patience, humiliation, slavery, and false promises from others are recounted.  Then, the determination to be free or die, finally crystallizes.  And Liberty is greeted again: Stanzas 17-34, which laud the impassionate spread of insurrection throughout the land, but which a1so bemoan the political malevolence of other nations desiring her continued slavery.  Here, however, is where America is hai1ed  for her heartfelt joy in support of the struggle and where her own abject suffering is remembered.  Spain is also hailed.  Stanzas 35-74, which recount the siege of Tripolis by the Greeks and the ensuing destruction of the oppressor.  Stanzas 75-87, which describe the devastation of the Greek forces of Dramalis by sickness and starvation at Derbenakia and at Corinth.  Stanzas 88-122, which speak of the enemy’s siege of Mesolongion and the devastation of the Turkish forces at the river Acheloos.  Stanzas 123-138, which exalt the naval achievements and which tell of the setting on fire of the Turkish flagship.  But, which also passionately lament the hanging of the Patriarch of the Church, timed by the oppressor to happen on Easter Sunday (chief religious holiday of Greek or Eastern Orthodoxy).  Stanzas 139-158, which in closing, admonish the patriots to abstain from dissension and to look at the obligations ahead;  and which, once more, accuse the monarchs of Europe of fostering oppression for political gain.

Personified Liberty struggles toward her inevitable victory in the ideology of the poem.  Now and then in  his fervor, Solomos, affected by the heat of the battle, slides into describing the events of men.  But, never does he lose that pervasive continuity of the presence of Liberty supreme and aeonian.

First publication of the Hymn occurred In Paris, France in 1825, and later that same year in Mesolongion, while the city was still under siege.  The French publication prompted translations in several languages, giving the poem international recognition and also praise.  The citizen, Dionysios Solomos, was decorated with the highest bestowal of the Greek constitutional government on February 10, 1849 and became the National Poet of Greece.  He received the Golden Cross of the Knights of the Redeemer.  In 1828-30, Nikolaos Mantsaros (1795-1873—Solomos' most intimate friend) had put the words of the poem into music.  His work was officially submitted to the government in 1844, for which he was decorated with a silver medal.  The Greek government requested him in 1881 to convey the music in the form of a march.  By government directive, in 1864, Mantsaros' music and Solomos’ first three stanzas of the "Hymn to Liberty" (because of the great length of the poem) became what to this date is the Greek National Anthem.
(A speech given to the US Congress on March 9, 1982, by a Greek-American, member of the order of the AHEPA)

Yes, that's true. Both forms are correct (though personally, I prefer the first one)

avtandil wrote on 26.07.2004 at 03:52:21:


Here are the two verses usually singed,in the original alphabet:

Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν - Ymnos eis tin Eleftherian (Hymn to Freedom)-(Original Greek Words).


Σε γνωρίζω από την κόψη
του σπαθιού την τρομερή,
σε γνωρίζω από την όψη
που με βία μετράει τη γη.

Απ' τα κόκαλα βγαλμένη
των Ελλήνων τα ιερά,
και σαν πρώτα ανδρειωμένη,
χαίρε, ω χαίρε, Ελευθεριά!
(repeat previous two lines two times)

Εκεί μέσα εκατοικούσες
πικραμένη, εντροπαλή,
κι ένα στόμα ακαρτερούσες,
«έλα πάλι», να σου πεί.

'Αργειε νάλθει εκείνη η μέρα,
κι ήταν όλα σιωπηλά,
γιατί τά 'σκιαζε η φοβέρα
και τα πλάκωνε η σκλαβιά.
(repeat previous two lines two times)

________________________________________________________________

Even information from official sources is contradictory. Anyway, I quote once more the website of the Greek Presidency:

Quote:

Source:
http://www.presidency.gr/en/ethn_Ymnos.htm

Sheet music on a postal card:



Source:
http://vincemd.blogspot.com/2010/07/national-anthem-of-cyprus.html