For the first time, Günther Zuntz gives a reconstruction and a description of the history of a type of text which up to now had only been dealt with selectively: the Greek philosophical hymn. Beginning with the sparse references to early evidence (Empedocles), he interprets the hymnos to Zeus by Cleanthes, reconstructs philosophical hymns from the oracles of Claros, the Chaldean oracles and the so-called Tübingen theosophy. unrevised e-book edition 2020; Original edition 2005