The Orphic Hymns Read online

  1 of the roads and of the crossroads: The Greek word used here for “of the roads,” “enodia,” was also the name of a local goddess at Thessaly, a land that in antiquity was notorious for its connection with witches and witchcraft. For a particularly gruesome literary representation of such, see Lucan Civil War 6.413–830, especially 434–506. The crossroads are understood here to be the confluence of three roads. This number is of particular significance for Hekate, who is often described and depicted as triple-faced and/or triple-bodied.

  2 in heaven, on earth, then in the sea: Hekate has a share in these same three realms in Hesiod’s praise of the goddess. Her widespread powers are further invoked in line 7. The collocation of heaven, earth, and sea appears throughout the collection; see OH 10.14–16+n.

  2 saffron-cloaked: The same epithet is used of Melinoe, who might be another manifestation of Moon; see OH 71i+1n.

  3 reveling: Hekate is described in terms of a wild Bacchant, a female worshipper of Dionysos; see OH 52i. The appellation “mountain-roaming” in line 8 has similar associations. Note also the Dionysian imagery implicit in the “herder of bulls” in line 7. Other goddesses described as maenads, or at least in maenadic terms, are the Nereids (OH 24.3+9–11n), Artemis (OH 36.2n), Demeter (OH 40.15+n), the Nymphs (OH 51.15–16+n), and the Erinyes (OH 69.2+n). Palaimon is also imagined as part of a Dionysian thiasos (see OH 75.1+n).

  4 daughter of Perses: The hymn follows Hesiod’s genealogy, but we find others in the sources. The poet Bacchylides, drawing on Hekate’s chthonic pedigree, makes her the daughter of Night (fragment 1b). Kallimakhos is said to have called her a daughter of Demeter and Zeus, as do some Orphic sources (Orphic fragment 400), and a sister of Persephone, whom she seeks in the underworld after her abduction by Hades (Orphic fragment 466). Zeus is also her father according to Mousaios, but Asteria, as in Hesiod, is the mother, before she marries Perses (fragment 87).

  8 nurturer of youths: As mentioned in the introduction to this hymn, this was a common epithet for Artemis. The identification is also suggested in line 4, “delighting in deer,” as this animal often is connected with Artemis in her role as “Mistress of Animals”; see OH 36i.

  10 oxherd: This refers to some official of the cult. The figure is found in other Dionysian mystery cults as well; for example, see Alexander 1933 for a summary of a second century AD Greek inscription found near Tusculum that lists a number of initiates and their titles and Morand 2001, 249–282, for a detailed study.

  2. To Prothyraia

  “Prothyraia” literally means “at the door” or “at the door-way.” There is no goddess proper with this name. The word is a cult title shared by Eileithyia, Artemis, and even Hekate. Our hymn identifies her primarily as Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, who assists women in labor and who is invoked for a smooth delivery. Giving birth was fraught with danger in antiquity both for the woman and the child; compare Medeia’s famous assertion that she would rather stand in battle three times than to give birth once (Euripides Medeia 250–251). Artemis was also connected with childbirth (see OH 36.8), and this hymn explicitly equates all three goddesses at line 13. The chorus in Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women prays to Artemis-Hekate as the goddess who protects women in childbirth (674–677). Moon, who is often identified with Artemis and Hekate, is called Eileithyia by Nonnus (Dionysiaca 38.150).

  In myth and literature, Eileithyia is limited to her role in helping childbirth, most famously in the Homeric Hymn to Apollon (3.97–116). Hera, angry at Leto for having been impregnated by Zeus and about to give birth to Apollon, prevents Eileithyia from hearing about Leto, who is suffering greatly on the island of Delos, since she cannot give birth until Eileithyia comes. The other goddesses send Iris with a bribe to coax Eileithyia from Olympos. As soon as the goddess sets foot on the island, Leto goes into labor. In Ovid’s account of the birth of Herakles (Metamorphoses 9.273–323), Eileithyia (spelled Ilithyia and also called by her Roman name, Lucina) sits by an altar outside the door of the house of the pregnant woman. She bunches her knees against her chest, holds them together in an embrace with her fingers locked, and chants magic spells. This is a case of sympathetic magic, where the goddess’ position represents the blocking of the infant’s passage out of the womb. Galanthis, a serving girl, is able to trick the goddess into releasing her knees, thus breaking the spell and allowing Herakles to be born. Ovid’s story is quite intriguing, since the goddess is sitting outside the doorway and employing magic. It is quite possible that the poet has in mind the epithet “prothyraia,” and the use of magic suggests associations with Hekate as well as Moon.

  Hera herself has connections with the timing of giving birth, too. In Homer’s brief account of the birth of Herakles (Iliad 19.114–119), Hera is the one who delays the birth of the hero by holding back the “Eileithyias” (the plural is also found at Iliad 11.269–270), while causing another birth, that of Eurystheus, to occur prematurely. Traditionally, Eileithyia is the daughter of Hera and Zeus, and the sibling of Hebe and Ares (Hesiod Theogony 921–923); note that the opening address to Mousaios mentions Eileithyia between Hebe and Herakles (an eventual wife/husband pair) at line 13. Pausanias also reports that the Kretans considered the goddess a daughter of Hera (1.18.5). Krete, in fact, boasts of a very early worship of Eileithyia. Homer mentions a cave of Eileithyia at Amnisos, near Knossos (Odyssey 19.188), and this has been corroborated with a listing in a Linear B tablet from Knossos, which calls for an offering of honey for Eileithyia at Amnisos, as well as the archaeological record, which spans from Neolithic to Roman times.

  But Pausanias in the same passage mentions another account of Eileithyia, reporting the view that the goddess came to Delos from those famous mythological people from the far north, the Hyperboreans, in order to assist Leto in giving birth, presumably to Apollon and Artemis. The cult of Eileithyia was established on the island and thence spread to the rest of Greece. Pausanias also notes that the Delians sacrificed to Eileithyia and sang a hymn composed by Olen, a legendary poet and prophet—a figure very similar to Orpheus. Pausanias mentions the hymn of Olen in two other passages that suggest that this goddess might have been associated with an older cosmic power. At 9.27.2, Pausanias tells us that in Olen’s hymn Eileithyia is the mother of Eros. Elsewhere, Pausanias remarks that Olen called her “the good spinner” and surmises that Olen identified her with fate (8.21.3). We find a similar connection elsewhere. Both Pindar (Olympian Odes 6.41–42 and Nemean Odes 7.1–4) and Plato (Symposium 206d2) represent Eileithyia working in tandem with the Fates at birth. A story of Herakles’ birth similar to Ovid’s by the Greek poet Nikandros, summarized at Antoninus Liberalis 29, has the Fates assisting Eileithyia in preventing the birth; the serving girl who tricks the goddess is transformed by the Fates and receives some honor from Hekate and Herakles. Thus Eileithyia seems to have been imagined at times in the form of a personal Tyche or the individual Good Daimon (see OH 72i and OH 73i).

  The position of the hymn in our collection is pregnant with symbolism. There is an emphasis on “birth” in the opening hymns, which are balanced by the last hymn dedicated to Death (see also OH 87i). Thus the collection is framed by both life and death, set in motion by the first hymn which addresses Hekate as “queen and mistress of the whole world” (OH 1.7). Prothyriaia/Eileithyia, as already mentioned, is sometimes identified with Hekate, so the transition is an easy one. Both Hekate and Eileithyia are portrayed in their iconography as bearing torches. This might have significance for the actual rite for which our hymns were composed, which probably began after nightfall (see the introduction to the translation and OH 3i). The initiates could very well have been carrying torches as the hymns were performed. Graf suggests that this hymn was sung as the initiates proceeded indoors to wherever the ritual was enacted (Graf/Johnston 2007, p. 155).

  3. To Night

  Night (Greek Nux) is personified in Hesiod. She is born from Khaos along with her brother Erebos, with whom she mates and bears Ether and Day (Theogony 123–125; s
ee also OH 5i). Night produces by means of parthenogenesis a brood of personified abstractions, notably for our collection Death, Sleep, and the race of Dreams (Theogony 211–225; cf. lines 5–7 of this hymn and OH 85i). Hesiod also mentions Night in connection with the geography of the underworld. She owns a house, where her children Sleep and Death also live. Day lives there, too, but is never there at the same time at Night; they only greet each other as one leaves and the other returns from the world above (Theogony 744–761; cf. lines 10–11 and see also OH 78.4–5+n). Night perhaps should be seen as belonging to a pre-Olympian generation of divinities in Homer. In the Iliad, as Hera tries to cajole Sleep into inducing Zeus to slumber, Sleep maintains his readiness to bring his gift to all gods, even Okeanos, the father of the gods (14.246, and see OH 83i), but recalls the catastrophe barely averted the last time he put Zeus to sleep against his will. At that time, he escaped the anger of Zeus by the intervention of Night (implied to be Sleep’s mother?), who is described as having power over immortals and mortals and whom Zeus is hesitant to displease (14.256–261). It is not clear what place Night has in Homer’s cosmology, but the respect and fear Zeus shows and feels toward her suggests that Homer considered her to be an old and powerful figure.

  This is the role she has in various Orphic theogonies, where she is considered to be among the earliest divinities. In light of the Homeric passage, it is first interesting to note that Night gives Zeus oracular advice, e.g., on how to reconstitute the world (Orphic fragment 241; cf. also 113 and 237). In the Rhapsodies there are up to three individual Nights (see West 1983, p. 70, and Betegh 2003, pp. 141–142). The first one existed before Protogonos (Orphic fragment 112–113). Another Night is the daughter of Protogonos (Orphic fragment 148), who later abdicates his throne to her in the symbolic passing of his scepter (Orphic fragment 168–171; see also OH 6i and OH 10.26+n; cf. Iliad 2.100–108 for similar symbolism). She (or a third Night?) also appears as Protogonos’ lover and gives birth to Sky and Earth (Orphic fragment 149; see also OH 4i). In other theogonies similar to those ascribed to Orpheus, Night is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, beings. Mousaios puts her among Tartaros and Aer (fragment 81), while Epimenides places her alongside Aer as the two primeval beings (fragment 46). Aristotle notes that even “the ancient poets” do not claim that the primeval beings (mentioned are Night, Sky, Khaos, and Okeanos) “are king or rule,” but rather Zeus (Metaphysics 1091b4–6). He does not name names, but it is possible that for Okeanos he had Homer in mind, and for Khaos Hesiod. Night and Sky do not correspond to any known theogony, but, the fact that our collection has a hymn to Night as “mother of gods and men” followed by a hymn to Sky who is called “father of all,” suggests that perhaps there was such an Orphic theogony, now lost to us, circulating in antiquity and well known by Aristotle’s time; see OH 4i and also OH O.24, where Night is called “oldest of all.”

  In terms of cultic worship, there are very few instances. Pausanias mentions an oracle of Night on the acropolis of Megara, along with a temple to Dionysos, a temple to Zeus, and a sanctuary to Aphrodite (1.40.6). Note that Night has oracular powers in the Orphic poems, as mentioned already. In Pergamon, where there was a mystery cult to Demeter, religious officials dedicated a number of altars to various gods and goddesses; one official, a hymnetria (a female singer of hymns), is attested to have dedicated an altar to Night, Rites, and Happenstance (see Nilsson 1961, p. 355). The connection between night and rites probably is indicative of the setting of the ritual. Likewise, the early placement of our hymn as well as the appeal at the end for Night to make an appearance before the initiates suggest that the rites for which the collection was written probably began after sunset and proceeded throughout the night (see also OH 54.5+n, OH 78i, OH 86i, and the introduction to the translation).

  1 mother of gods and men: This is answered by “father of all” in the first line of the following hymn to Sky. See also OH 10.1n.

  2 Kypris: Another name of Aphrodite, used also at OH 22.7 and OH 65.7. It is appropriate here of Night, who is given generative powers; cf. OH 55.2 where Aphrodite is called “revered goddess of generation” and someone who “like[s] the night-long revel.” Among the progeny of Night reported by Hesiod (Theogony 224), we find Deception (Greek Apatē) and Sexual Passion (Greek Philotēs), both representing characteristics normally associated with Aphrodite; see also OH 55i and OH 59i. Just as Night, so too is Aphrodite called the “mother of gods and men” in the magical papyri (PGM 4.2916), and she “give[s] birth to all” at OH 55.5 (cf. also lines 3 and 12 of that hymn).

  4 delight in the quiet: So too Moon at OH 9.8. Moon is also called “mother of gods and men” in the magical papyri (PGM 4.2832–2833) and, in fact, even addressed as Night (PGM 4.2857), among a host of other names.

  6: These functions are normally handled by Sleep; see OH 85.8n.

  8–11: These lines have many echoes in the following hymn: both divinities are described as terrestrial (as part of their nature), both move in a circle, both are constrained by Necessity; see OH 4.3n. Night can be considered both terrestrial and celestial because, as alluded to in lines 10–11 and just as Hesiod describes (see the introduction to this hymn), she alternates her time in the worlds above and below with Day, and vice versa; see also OH 4.5n and OH 7.9n. Orpheus’ address to Mousaios mentions Night and Day together (OH O.24). That she is always incomplete suggests the continuity of Night and Day’s alternation: Night is always changing (cf. also OH 4.7n and OH 10.21–24n).

  4. To Sky

  Sky (Greek Ouranos) is one of the chief primeval figures in Greek mythology. As a sky god, he is eventually supplanted by his grandson Zeus. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Sky is son and husband of Earth (126–153), and Kronos is their son who, in fact, conspired with Earth to castrate his father (154–210). The marriage between Sky and Earth fits the common mythological motif of the marriage between Father Sky and Mother Earth (see also OH 15i). Their children are the (cosmic) Kyklopes, the Hundred-Handers, and the Titans. Orphic theogony seems to have integrated, or at least borrowed liberally, from the Hesiodic account that had become almost canonical. In the Rhapsodies, Night and Protogonos produce Sky and Earth, who thereupon marry and produce children, including the Fates, Kyklopes, and Hundred-Handers; the Titans, of whom there are fourteen instead of the Hesiodic twelve (added are Phorkys and Dione; for the latter, see OH O.19+n), are born from Earth without the knowledge of Sky. Night raises this brood, and all of the Titans except Okeanos take part in the castration of Sky. As with Hesiod, the Giants and Aphrodite are born from this act (Orphic fragment 149 and 174–189; for Aphrodite Ourania, see OH O.40n and OH 55i+1n). In another version, Sky and Earth are born from the two halves of the egg out of which Protogonos is hatched; see OH 6.2n. Sky appears on the Bacchic gold tablets as well. In no less than twelve the initiate claims to be born of Earth and “starry Sky” (nos. 1, 2, 8, 10–14, 16, 18, 25, 29) and in three of these to be of the “heavenly race” as well (nos. 2, 8, 29; for interpretation, see Graf/Johnston 2007, pp. 111–116). This probably is intended to link the initiate, as a human being, with the Titans, whose destruction by Zeus engendered the human race (see OH 37i). A further connection between Sky qua “heaven” and human beings might be in the notion that the soul, as the sky, is composed of fire; for this idea, cf. OH 5.3 and see OH 66.9n.

  Our hymn does not give much information about Sky’s mythology, although there would be little need since the initiates would know the story, whatever versions they had at their disposal. Instead, Sky is treated here more as the vague personification of a celestial phenomenon. This is not surprising, as Sky in myth is a rather colorless figure whose function seems more to give the later gods an ancient pedigree than to serve as a concrete expression of religious sentiment. Indeed, this might explain why the hymn to Sky appears in this position in the collection and before the one to Ether and Protogonos, both of whom come into existence before Sky. The hymn to Night opens with reference to her role as “mother of gods and men” (OH 3.1), whi
le Sky is called “father of all” right at the start. There are other connections between these two hymns that further reinforce their pairing (see notes passim). It is also suggestive that he is not linked with Earth, as one would expect. Might, then, Sky be invoked as representative of the masculine power of generation, being the oldest such being, paired with Night as the feminine power of generation, also in turn being the oldest of her kind? It would fit the pattern of hymns arranged in male/female pairings, a structural technique found throughout the collection (see OH 14.8–9n). Furthermore, Sky is said to succeed Night in a brief notice found in a commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics by Alexander of Aphrodisias, where the order of generation is given as Khaos, Okeanos, Night, Sky, and Zeus, king of the immortal gods (Orphic fragment 370). It is possible that our composer was aware of this or a similar cosmogony and was perhaps influenced by such to give Night a male analogue (see also OH 3i). Sky, then, could be the son and/or junior partner of Night. Be that as it may, the fact remains that this hymn to Sky breaks the sequence Night-Ether-Protogonos that one might have expected based on our extant sources (see further OH 5i).

  1 father of all: This continues the theme of birth found in the early hymns; cf. the first line of the previous hymn to Night, “mother of gods and men,” and “the begetter of blessed gods and mortal men” used of Protogonos at OH 6.3.