Origins of Hymen

Hymen, Hymenaios or Hymenaeus is the Greek God of marriage. He is sometimes described as the son of a Muse (Calliope, Cleo or Urania) and Apollo, or alternately of Dionysus (god of wine) and Aphrodite (goddess of love).

There are varying stories about why Hymen is associated with marriage – one is that he was an accomplished musician who sang at the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne and died. To perpetuate his memory, they decided it should be brought into every wedding ceremony.

According to another story, Hymen was an Athenian of humble origins and so beautiful that he was often mistaken for a girl. He fell in love with a high-born young woman and followed her and her companions around. One day some pirates captured all the girls and also Hymen, believing him to be female. The pirates sailed to a deserted beach with their captives, then fell asleep. Hymen killed them all, then went to Athens and offered to return the young women if he could marry the object of his affection. His terms were accepted and as a result his name became a token of good luck at every wedding.

Hymen is supposed to attend every wedding. If he did not, the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous and so the guests would call his name aloud. He is associated with a torch, a crown of flowers and a flute.

Hymen’s role in As You Like It

Did Shakespeare's audiences understand his classical references?

It's hard to know exactly what Shakespeare's audiences knew and understood, particularly those who couldn't read and write, but still came to the theatre. But many would have understood the Greek and Roman references to his plays because, like Shakespeare himself, many of the men of his class had a good grammar school education, and that meant an education in the classics, in Latin and Greek and the cultures surrounding both ancient languages.

For more about classical Greek and Roman allusions in Shakespeare's work, see Jonathan Bate's book How the Classics Made Shakespeare.