Orphic Hymns

Sources Information

Organise

• Find Fayant! + Ricciardelli 1995 Il proemio Galjanić Three and then some: Typology of invocation and enumeration in the Orphic Hymns, Kern 1910 (Genethliakon Carl Robert); Lebreton (in Lexicon)
• Major works: Morand 2001, Ricciardelli 2000, Rudhardt Opera Inedita
• Secondary: Athanassakis & Wolkow, Ricciardelli 2008, Rudhardt Orphisme, Quandt, Linforth
• Topics: Graf, Hopman-Govers, West Notes, Guthrie Epithets, Otlewska-Jung, Morand 2015 Narrative Techniques, Herrero "Poet and His Addresses", Morand 2010 Etymologies, Morand 1997 Orphic gods, Guthrie Orpheus, Bortolani, Van den Berg, Kern 1889, 1911, 1940, Maravelia, Alderink
• Editions & translations: Hermann, Taylor, Quandt, Athanassakis, Ricciardelli, Athanassakis & Wolkow, Fayant
• Other: Lexicon of Epithets, Orphei Hymnorum concordantia; PhD Thesis - interesting?; Dionysus epithets thesis

Readings

• Alderink
  • 190: intro to OHs
  • 190-1: Orpheus & Orphism
  • 191-2: OHs
  • 192-3: Orphic prayers, translation
• Athanassakis and Wolkow
  • ix: Galenos, manuscripts
  • x: dating, place of composition
  • xi-xii: "Orphic", Orpheus, Orphic literature
  • xii-xiii: authorship, composition, hymnic genre, possible influences
  • xiii-xv: Orphism, Orphic themes in the OHs
  • xv-xviii: likely religious significance
  • xviii: style, structure
  • xviii-xxi: epithets, as prayers
• Graf
  • 169-71: as liturgical texts, and as serious
  • 171-2: placement of first and last hymns as representing a nocturnal ritual
  • 172-3: order of in-between hymns
  • 173-5: hymns as prayers, what they ask of the gods
  • 175-6: epithet eua tetos
  • 176-8: what the OHs are asking for in context
  • 178-9: appearance of deities
  • 179-81: possibility of Dionysiac mysteries as context
  • 181-2: purity in the OHs
  • 182: concl
• Guthrie
  • 216-7: intro
  • 217-21: analysis of epithets in OH to Athena
• Herrero de Jáuregui 2010
  • 47: place, authorship
• Herrero de Jáuregui 2015
  • 224-6: proem and comparison with testament
  • 227-9: speakers and addresses, hymnic genre, as work of Orphic literature
  • 229-32: Orpheus as author within the OHs
  • 232-3: Musaeus as addressee
  • 233-7: role of initiates within the OHs
  • 237-42: the gods as addressees
• Hopman-Govers
  • 35-7: intro
  • 37: epithets as coming from traditional, being allusive, or original
  • 37-8: epithets common to multiple deities
  • 38-9: field of action of gods
  • 39: cosmic themes for deities
  • 39-40: allusions to "orphic" stories or themes
  • 40-1: as prayers
  • 41-2: who the favour is for
  • 42-3: as a argument to the deity
  • 43-5: final request, relationship to epithets
  • 44-6: accumulation of epithets, language and style
  • 46-7: concentration of epithets
  • 47-8: epithets as giving a descriptive image of gods, as conveying their essence
  • 48-9: concl
• Linforth
  • 179-80: manuscript
  • 180: Orpheus to Musaeus & hymn to Hecate
  • 180-1: structure, titles, incense
  • 181-2: content, language
  • 182-3: dating
  • 183-4: purpose?
  • 184-6: as belonging to a cult in Asia Minor?
  • 186-9: attribution to Orpheus: when, & why (belonging to an Orphic society?)
• Morand 1997
  • 169-70: intro
  • 170-3: Eubouleus
  • 173-8: Hipta
  • 178: concl
• Morand 2001
  • 1-32: Greek text, almost identical to Quandt
  • Introduction
  • 33-4: intro, opinions on OH
  • 34-5: overview of book
  • 35-6: date, composition, authorship
  • 36-7: proem, relationship with rest of collection
  • 1. OH: the question of genre
  • 1.i. introduction
  • 39: ch overview
  • 1.ii. division of the hymn
  • 40: structure of individual hymns, syntax
  • 41-2: structure of some individual hymns
  • 42-5: invocations with an introductory term
  • 45: invocations without an introductory term
  • 45-7: hymns without an invocation
  • 47-8: the invocations concl
  • 48-9: the intermediate request
  • 49-53: form of the final request
  • 53-8: content of the requests
  • 58-9: definition of the development
  • 59-61: change of tone in development
  • 61-8: assonance, alliteration, anaphora, etc in development
  • 68-75: reasons for such language devices in development
  • 75-6: concl development
  • 1.iii. the corpus of the OH
  • 76-80: references to the collection
  • 80-1: intro to functions of the poems
  • 81-8: comparable texts: Greek anthology, Nonnus, magical papyrus
  • 89-90: genre of Orphic hymns (small h)
  • 90-7: attribution to Orpheus: to Musaeus, to the user, rhetorical figures, language techniques
  • 97-9: concl chapter
  • 2. The offerings
  • 2.i. introduction
  • 101-2: ch overview
  • 2.ii. titles and offerings
  • 103: presentation of titles
  • 103-10: the titles in the manuscript tradition
  • 110-1: syntax of the titles
  • 111-5: gods who do not receive offerings in the title
  • 115-8: offerings and the gods they are intended for
  • 118-20: aromatic substances
  • 120-3: incense
  • 124-5: myrrh
  • 125-6: storax
  • 126-8: saffron
  • 128: poppies
  • 128-9: storax and incense powder
  • 129-33: seeds
  • 133-6: fumigations except incense, milk libation
  • 136: various fumigations
  • 137: torches, conl section
  • 2.iii. offerings, libations, rituals and mysteries
  • 137-8: intro section
  • 138-40: terms related to offerings
  • 140-50: terms related to mysteries
  • 2.iv. conclusion
  • 150-2: concl chapter
  • 3. The gods
  • 3.i. introduction
  • 153: intro chapter
  • 3.ii. some general features
  • 153-6: the genealogies
  • 156-8: bringing the gods together
  • 158: several gods grouped together under one name
  • 159-61: titans
  • 161-3: paian
  • 163-3: mother/father of time
  • 164-5: protogonos
  • 165-8: eubouleus
  • 3.iii. some of the gods of the OHs
  • 169-74: Mise: OHs, literary, epigraphic sources
  • 174-81: Hipta: OHs, literary, epigraphic sources
  • 181-8: Melinoe: OHs, epigraphic sources
  • 189-94: Ericepaios: OHs, literary, papyrological, epigraphic sources
  • 194-7: pergamon as location
  • 3.iv. conclusion
  • 197-9: concl chapter
  • 200-8: illustrations of inscriptions, papyrus
  • 4. The afterlife and the fate of souls
  • 4.i. introduction
  • 209: intro chapter
  • 4.ii. in the OHs
  • 209-11: the afterlife
  • 212: souls
  • 212-4: men and salvation in the demands
  • 214-6: death and the afterlife
  • 216-7: anthropogony and an original fault
  • 217-8: purity
  • 218-20: salvation
  • 4.iii. comparison of the OHs and the gold lamellae
  • 220-3: child of earth and starry sky
  • 223-4: the role of memory
  • 224-5: other similarities
  • 4.iv. comparison of the OHs and the tablets of Olbia
  • 225-6: comparison
  • 4.v. reasons for the lack of references to the afterlife
  • 227-9: reasons
  • 4.vi. conclusion
  • 229-30: concl chapter
  • 5. The group of the OHs (i.e. users)
  • 5.i. preliminary remarks
  • 231-2: preliminary remarks
  • 5.ii. the group
  • 232-5: the group
  • 5.iii. the different members of the group
  • 235-7: mystes
  • 237-9: new initiates
  • 239-40: people
  • 240-2: μυστιπόλος
  • 243-4: ὀργιοφάντης
  • 5.iv. other possible religious titles
  • 244-8: in the inscription in the Metropolitan museum
  • 248-9: terms used in other inscriptions
  • 5.v. boukolos
  • 249-50: intro section
  • 250-3: in the OHs
  • 253-5: literary references
  • 255-76: epigraphic sources: Greek and Latin inscriptions
  • 276-82: papyrological sources
  • 5.vi. conclusion
  • 282-7: concl section
  • 288-98: illustrations of inscriptions
  • Conclusion
  • 299-300: language, style, hymnic genre, structure of collection
  • 300: the group
  • 300-1: their beliefs and gods
  • 301-2: beliefs in the afterlife, vocaulary
  • 302-4: origin and date
  • 304-5: the group
  • 305-6: concl
  • Appendices
  • 307-8: list of gods in OHs
  • 309-17: words introducing the different parts
  • 318-21: excerpts from comparable texts
  • 322-5: the offerings
  • 326-30: offerings, sacrifices, mysteries and ceremonies
  • 331-6: genealogies of the gods
  • 337-9: identifications and groupings of the gods
  • 340-2: souls, requests for long life, salvation
  • 343-4: boukolos: places of inscriptions
  • 345-6: boukolos: dates of inscriptions
• Morand 2010
  • 157-8: intro
  • 158-60: Orpheus as giving names to things
  • 160-61: explanations of the names of the gods in Orphic contexts
  • 161-2: meanings of divine names in the OHs
  • 162-3: explicit reference to the etymological explanation of the divine name
  • 163-9: play on words based on the meaning and sound of divine names
  • 169-70: etymologies related to the name of Zeus
  • 171-2: etymologies related to the name of Dionysus
  • 173-6: concl
• Morand 2015
  • 209: intro
  • 209-11: proem, relationship with collection
  • 211-3: Orpheus in the OHs, addressing Musaeus
  • 213-4: order of the hymns in the collection
  • 214-5: OH 6 to Protogonos
  • 215-6: parts of individual hymns
  • 216-7: afterlife, how they address the gods
  • 217-8: versification, language techniques
  • 219: Protogonos in the OHs
  • 219-20: identification of Protogonos with Dionysus
  • 221-2: recreation of the world
  • 222-3: concl
• Otlewska-Jung
  • 77-9: intro
  • 79-90: similarities between hymns in the Dionysiaca and the OHs
  • 91-2: Zagreus in OHs and the Dionysiaca, identification of Dionysus with Phanes
  • 92-5: Orpheus in the OHs and the Dionysiaca
  • 95-6: concl
• Plassmann
  • 161: Graf supporting the idea of single authorship
• Quandt
  • 3: Greek of testimonia
  • 3-10: listing of manuscripts
  • 11-26: the relation of codices
  • 26-34: the archetype Ψ
  • 34-7: early editions
  • 44: age and origin of OHs
  • 45: stemma of manuscripts
• Ricciardelli 2000
  • xiii: brief intro to OHs
  • xxviii-xxx: place of origin of OHs
  • xxx-xxxi: dating of the OHs
  • xxxi-xxxiv: structure and style, epithets
  • xxxiv-xxxviii: function and purpose
  • xxxvii-xl: offerings
  • xl-xlii: order of the hymns
  • xlii-xlv: the proem and the collection
  • xlv-xlvi: testimonies on orphic hymns
  • xlvi-xlvii: manuscripts
  • xlvii-xlviii: note on the translation
  • 6-217: edition & italian translation
  • 221-539: commentary
• Ricciardelli 2008
  • 325-7: place of origin of the collection
  • 327: date of the collection
  • 327-30: the proem
  • 330-1: order of the hymns
  • 332: the pre-eminence of Dionysus
  • 332-3: Persephone
  • 333-5: the rite and its participants
  • 335-6: the titles of the hymns
  • 336-8: the aromas
  • 338-40: Dionysus and other gods
  • 340-1: initial invocation and the final request
  • 341-3: epithets
  • 343-5: other elements of style: contrasting terms, etymologies
  • 345-6: stylistic differences within the collection
  • 346-8: Orphic doctrines in the OHs
• Rudhardt 1991
  • 263-4: intro
  • 264-5: parts of individual hymns, use of epithets
  • 265-8: reasons why the strings of epithets aren't "devoid of articulation or structure"
  • 268-9: further notes and conclusions on translating the strings of epithets
  • 269: narrative element, "Orphism" in the OHs
  • 270-1: plurality in the unity of a god
  • 271-3: identifications and equations of deities in the OHs and Orphism
  • 273: different forms and aspects of gods in the OHs, shared traits between gods
  • 273-4: the identifying process of Orphism being inherent in the OHs
  • 274-5: the different deities which are in the OHs
  • 275-82: Artemis in the OHs
  • 282-3: concl
• Rudhardt 2008
• Van den Berg
  • 261: identification of Artemis and Hecate in OH 2
• West 1968
  • 288-9: proem, and as a possible separate work
• West 1983
  • 28-9: general summary

Topic

Date and composition

• Datings: Athanassakis & Wolkow, Linforth, Morand, Quandt, Ricciardelli
• Place: Ricciardelli 2000, pp. xxviii–xxx, Ricciardelli 2008, pp. 325–7, Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. x, Morand, pp. 35–6, 302–4; add mention of additional reasons (local cult references, boukolos) for Asia Minor as place, see Morand
• Authorship:

Sort

• More primordial deities addressed in earlier hymns, later ones in later hymns: Morand 43

Structure Information

• Date and composition

  Datings

  Place, purpose, authorship

  Attribution to Orpheus

• Structure and style

  Structure of collection

  List

  Proem

  Structure of individual hymns

  Style and language

• Religious significance

  The group who used the Hymns

  Offerings

  Rite

  Ideas of afterlife and salvation, Orphic doctrines

• Deities in the Hymns

  Epithets

  Identifications of deities

  Individual deities: Dionysus, Protogonos, Zeus, etc.

  Previously unattested deities

• Transmission and scholarship

  John Galenos

  Manuscripts

  Attitudes towards hymns from scholars [scholarship?]

Section: "orphic"ness, place in Orphic literature, similarities with other texts, different parties in the hymns

Text Information

Date and composition

Estimates for the date of the Orphic Hymns' composition vary widely. ^[1] While there are several Greek authors who mention hymns attributed by Orpheus, the earliest reference to the collection of 87 hymns comes from the 12th-century AD writer John Galenos. ^[2] While it is possible that they were composed at an early date without being mentioned, they were most likely produced somewhere from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. ^[3] Christian Petersen, who saw the influence of Stoicism in the Hymns, posited that they must have been composed after the flourishing of Stoic thought, though others have instead seen Platonic or Neoplatonic influence in the collection. ^[4] On the basis of the language and meter of the Hymns, Wilamowitz judged that they can not have been composed before the 2nd century AD, ^[5] but were earlier Nonnus, ^[6] and van Liempt saw their language as the same used in 3rd and 4th-century AD poetry. ^[7] More recently, most scholars have dated the collection to around the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, ^[8] with Gabriella Ricciardelli pointing to the prominence of Dionysism at that time in Asia Minor. ^[9]

A number of early scholars believed that the Hymns were produced in Egypt, primarily on the basis of stylistic similarities to Egyptian magical hymns, and the presence in the proem of deities which are found elsewhere in Egyptian literature. ^[10] Modern scholarship, however, now essentially unanimously agrees upon Asia Minor as the place of composition; ^[11] the names of deities such as Mise, Hipta, and Melinoe, otherwise known only through the Hymns, were found in inscriptions in Asia Minor. ^[12] In 1910, a number of such inscriptions were found in a temenos of Demeter in Pergamon, which led Otto Kern to postulate that the city was the location in which the collection was composed. ^[13] While Christian Lobeck conceived of the collection as a "purely literary work", written by a scholar as an exercise, ^[14] Albrecht Dieterich argued that the Hymns were liturgical in function, designed for ritual performance by a small cult community, a perspective essentially universally accepted by modern scholars. ^[15] Kern argued that this group existed at the temenos in Pergamon itself, a view which some later scholars have accepted. ^[16] Some scholars have stated that the collection was the product of a single author, ^[17] though it has also been questioned whether or not the proem was composed separately. ^[18]

Structure and style

In addition to the proem, the Orphic Hymns consist of 87 very brief poems, ^[19] which range from 5 to 30 lines in length. ^[20] In the surviving manuscripts, the hymn addressed to Hecate is appended to the end of the proem, ^[21] though modern editions present it separately, as the first hymn of the collection. ^[22] In the order of the hymns can be seen a progression from life to death: ^[23] the second hymn is addressed to Prothyraia, a goddess associated with birth, while the last is dedicated to Thanatos (Death), and ends in the word γῆρας ("old age"). ^[24] The collection is also arranged in such a way that the earliest primordial deities appear in the first hymns, while later gods are found further on. ^[25] As such, the earliest hymns are addressed to deities who feature in Orphic cosmogony, such as Nyx (OH 3), Uranus (OH 4), Aether (OH 5), and Protogonos (OH 6). ^[26] There often exists a link between adjacent hymns—such as the shared "allness" of Pan (OH 11) and Heracles (OH 12)—and a "logic of cosmogonies" is present in, for example, the placement of the hymns to Cronus (OH 13) and Rhea (OH 14) ahead of those to their children (OH 15–8). ^[27] Fritz Graf also sees religious significance in the ordering of the hymns. ^[28]

The collection begins with a poem entitled "Orpheus to Musaeus", ^[29] often referred to as the proem, ^[30] proemium, or prologue, ^[31] in Orpheus speaks to Musaeus (who is usually described in literature as his son or student). ^[32] The proem is comprised of 54 lines, including the final ten which make up the hymn to Hecate (which is attached without separation or a title). ^[33] It opens with a two-line dedication in which Orpheus asks Musaeus to learn the rite (θυηπολίη) and prayer (εὐχή), ^[34] the latter of these referring to the address which follows from lines 3 to 44, in which around 70 different deities are called upon to attend the rite in question (which would go alongside the performance of the text). ^[35] The purpose of this prayer is seemingly to name and devote a hymn to "all" the gods, ^[36] though it addresses numerous deities not mentioned in the collection itself, and omits others who are subjects of hymns. ^[37] Partly on the basis of this difference, as well as the presence of the word θυηπολίη ("a ritual usually linked with sacrifice"), ^[38] at the beginning and end of the proem, a word which does not appear in the Hymns themselves, M. L. West argues that the proem was originally a separate Orphic poem; he also claims that the title of this poem is Θυηπολικόν, which is listed among the works of Orpheus in the Suda. ^[39] Anne-France Morand, however, argues for a common authorship between the proem and the collection, pointing to the similarities in their usage of epithets, and in the way deities are characterised. ^[40]

Each individual hymn in the collection has three internal parts: the invocation, the development (or amplification), and the request. ^[41] In some hymns, however, especially those shorter in length, these three parts can be difficult to distinguish, and may not occur in order. ^[42] The invocation is brief, typically appears at the start of the hymn, and is designed to summon the addressee of the hymn; ^[43] it names the deity (sometimes using an epiclesis), and usually calls upon them using a verb, which may be in the imperative. ^[44] Sometimes no such verb is used, in which case the god's name is simply given in the vocative, ^[45] and in several hymns the addressee is not named at all. ^[46] The development (also referred to as the amplification) makes up the main, central portion of the hymn, with it being the longest section; ^[47] it follows immediately from the invocation, and the point at which it begins can often be difficult to distinguish. ^[48] It consists predominantly of descriptions of the deity, particularly through numerous epithets, and may discuss different features or aspects of the god, as well as include information such as their familial relations, or locations in which they are worshipped; ^[49] the purpose of this section is to gratify the deity so that they choose to makes themselves present at the location in which the hymn is being performed. ^[50] The request, which usually finishes the hymn, is seldom more than one or two lines in length, and opens with several verbs which typically ask for the god to listen to what the speaker has to say, and for them to be present. ^[51]

- style, language, etc, also differences in style within collection; see Rudhardt 2008

The hymns in the collection are relatively similar to each other in composition, both linguistically and stylistically. ^[52] They are written in dactylic hexameter, and also display a consistency in metrical composition. ^[53] The most distinctive feature of the Hymns is their use of concatenations of epithets, which make up a large part of their content, ^[54] They also contain a number of language devices, such as anaphora, alliteration, assonance, and repetition, ^[55] as well as kinds of wordplay, in particular in the form of etymologies on the names of gods. ^[56] According to Jean Rudhardt [ fr], in terms of vocabulary and grammar, the Hymns find a "distant model" in the works of Hesiod and Homer, and also contain a number of words and forms from later literature, spanning up to the imperial period. ^[57]. In particular, the language of the collection bears similarity to that of works such as Nonnus's Dionysiaca, the Greek Magical Papyri, and several poems from the Greek Anthology. ^[58]

Other Information

List

The deities to whom each of the hymns is dedicated are as follows: ^[1]