The manuscript tradition provided, alongside the Iliad and the Odyssey, thirty-four hymns attributed to the great epic, the origins of which are difficult to ascertain. These are the collection of the Homeric Hymns, which are written in dactylic hexameter, imitate the style of the epics, and very often have wholesale borrowings of typical Homeric expressions.

Using the epic vocabulary, they praise a god or narrate a story, or sometimes combine both. Research has concluded that these works are later than Homer, likely composed in the 7th or 6th century BC (and some even later).

In any case, the Homeric hymns are a distinctive example of a rich literary tradition and also a source for the customs of a very distant era, especially regarding worship, mysteries, and gatherings of celebrants.