The Homeric Hymns are a collection of thirty-three anonymous Ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. The hymns are "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter—dactylic hexameter—as the Iliad and Odyssey, use many similar formulas and are couched in the same dialect. They were uncritically attributed to Homer himself in Antiquity—from the earliest written reference to them, Thucydides (iii.104)—and the label has stuck. "The whole collection, as a collection, is Homeric in the only useful sense that can be put upon the word;" A. W. Verrall noted in 1894, "that is to say, it has come down labeled as 'Homer' from the earliest times of Greek book-literature."

The oldest of the hymns were written in the seventh century BC, somewhat later than Hesiod and the usually accepted date for the writing down of the Homeric epics. This still places the older Homeric Hymns among the oldest monuments of Greek literature; but although most of them were composed in the seventh and sixth centuries, a few may be Hellenistic, and the Hymn to Ares might be a late pagan work, inserted when it was observed that a hymn to Ares was lacking. Walter Burkert has suggested that the Hymn to Apollo, attributed by an ancient source to Cynaethus of Chios (a member of the Homeridae), was composed in 522 BC for performance at the unusual double festival held by Polycrates of Samos to honor Apollo of Delos and of Delphi.

Panayoti Karousos is a renowned Greek-Canadian composer who brings to his music the philosophy and spiritualism of the Greek classics. He structures his works around Pythagorean mathematical forms and infuses them with modern styles such as those of Wagner, amongst others. The majestic sound of his work, The Spirit of Liberty, caused critics to acclaim it as a second national anthem of Greece. It was presented in Canada and New York with great success with the Astoria Symphony and maestro Silas Nathaniel Huff. Karousos presented his operas Prometheus, The Olympic Flame, Alexander the Great, The Holy Light of Christianity the oratorio The Song of the Nations and the symphonic poems Eternal Parthenon, Time Melody, and Democracy in Canada, which garnered him rave reviews. He did many concerts in Canada presenting his Symphonies Liberty Symphony and Olympic Symphony with the FACE Symphony Orchestra, the OSJL-L Symphony Orchestra and the Monteregie Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestros Andre Gauthier, Theodora Stathopoulos and Luc Chaput.