And so, farewell, son of Zeus and Leto;

But I will remember you and another hymn also.

The Homeric Hymn to Apollo is one of the earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature. Dated to the 7th century BC, it is written in the metre and language of the epic and was attributed to Homer. Although it is probably not one of his works, it is nonetheless part of the great legacy of poetry of the Archaic period. It narrates the circumstances of the god’s birth, why he chose Delphi to found his sanctuary and how, metamorphosed into a dolphin, he took captive in the midst of the sea and led to Krisa a ship carrying Cretans, so that the men would be priests in his oracle.