The Orphic Hymns Read online

  7–8: The same requests are made of Poseidon at the end of OH 17, who also is additionally petitioned to keep ships safe.

  24. To the Nereids

  The traditional genealogy, retained in this hymn, makes the Nereids daughters of Nereus (which is what their name literally means) and the Okeanid Doris. There are usually fifty of them. Hesiod gives a complete list of their names (Theogony 240–264), while Homer only manages thirty-four, including Thetis (Iliad 18.39–49), the mother of Akhilleus, who, along with Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon, are the most famous ones. One anonymous poem, however, calls them the daughters of Amphitrite (PMG 939.10–11). Their worship was wide-spread and localized (Pausanias 2.1.8), and Sappho invokes them along with Aphrodite to bring her brother back home safe (fragment 5). Thetis is found with her own cults separate from the group (see Burkert 1985, p. 172). Their importance in folk religion is attested by the modern Greek “Neráides,” the generic appellation for all female nature spirits, who take their name from them. This hymn continues the theme of water.

  2–3: Bacchylides 17.100–108 paints a similar scene; see also OH 17.3n and cf. OH 75.1–2+1n.

  3: The Tritons are a mythological race of mermen, the chief figure of whom is the eponymous Triton, mentioned in line 5.

  9–11: “mother Kalliope” is probably meant to evoke the fiction of Orpheus dictating these hymns to Mousaios; see also OH 76.7n+i. Apollon’s presence might similarly be explained, since he is sometimes considered the father of Orpheus (Orphic fragment 895–898; with Kalliope as mother, 896). The connection of the Nereids with the rites of Dionysos is curious. The Nereid Thetis succors Dionysos when he is chased by Lykourgos (Iliad 6.130–137), but this probably says more about Thetis as a helpful goddess (she also rescues Hephaistos, as related at Iliad 18.394–405) than about any particular connection with Dionysian cult. Ino, who nursed her nephew Dionysos and later became the sea goddess Leukothea (see OH 74i), is said to dwell among the Nereids by Pindar (Olympian Odes 2.28–30 and Pythian Odes 11.2). The Nereids are very similar to the Okeanids, who are identified with the nymphs who nurse Dionysos in OH 51.1. Furthermore, the two groups, both of which are composed of a plurality of young female water divinities, are sometimes confused, despite the Nereids’ connection with salty water and the Okeanids’ with fresh. A further source of confusion is that the Nereids are cousins to the Okeanids, since their mother, Doris, is a daughter of Okeanos, and thus they are half-Okeanid themselves! Interestingly enough, the Hellenistic poet Simias makes the nymphs the daughters of Doris (fragment 13; he probably has the Nereids in mind). As in the case of Sun, Pan, and Apollon, our composer has partially blended three originally separate entities, for which some precedents were found in the earlier tradition. The Nereids’ connection with Dionysian cult is explicitly made in line 3, where they are said to “revel in the waves.” This carries the connotations of maenadic frenzy (see OH 1.3+n and OH 52i), and note that the Okeanids are similarly portrayed at OH 51.15–16.

  25. To Proteus

  Like Nereus, Proteus is an “Old Man of the Sea” (see OH 23i) and in fact may very well just be another name for Nereus. In this hymn, however, he takes on a more cosmic significance. Our composer plays on the folk etymology of his name (“the first”) in lines 2 and 9; Proteus is raised to the level of a primeval being. The same “cosmic etymologizing” from a name also appears in the hymn to Pan (see OH 11i), and Proteus is described as having power over a similar range of realms as Pan (see note to line 9 below). Our hymn also connects the shape-shifting abilities of Proteus (see note to lines 4–8) with his new primeval origin. He is able to change his form because he contains all forms in himself (line 9), even as he himself is the one who has apparently created these forms out of undifferentiated matter (lines 2–3). Proteus is thus cast in the role of a demiurgic figure. This is not as strange as it might first appear, since water in both myth and philosophical speculation is often regarded as the origin of the universe, or at least a very early feature of it; see OH 83i. Water, being an element that is easily observed to possess no firm structure, is an obvious choice for those seeking a single origin for the concrete pluralities in the empirical world; its character is probably also a reason why mythological beings connected with water are often shape-shifters themselves (see note to lines 4–8). This hymn ends the series of ones addressed to water divinities.

  1 key-holding master of the sea: For the symbolism of holding keys, see OH 18.4n.

  2–3: The epithet “first-born” is quite similar to the name Protogonos, a very important deity in Orphism, who has a central role in the creation of the world (see OH 6i). Physis is also said to be “first-born” (OH 10.5). The word used here for “matter,” “hulē,” is a philosophical technical term. Quandt in his edition of the Orphic Hymns cites Stoic doctrine that called matter “mutable, changeable, and in flux” (SVF 2.305).

  4–8: Both Proteus and Nereus are able to change their shape. They are also considered very wise and capable of prophecy, which for the Greeks comprised not just the ability to see the future but also to know of the past and to interpret the present, as lines 4–5 delineate. Shape-shifting and prophecy combine in the one important myth of Proteus (Odyssey 4.348–570). When Menelaos is returning from Troy, he becomes stuck on Pharos, an island off Egypt, due to an act of impiety. A daughter of Proteus, Eidothea, takes pity on the men and instructs Menelaos on how to get the information he needs from her father. He and three companions kill seals from Proteus’ herd, cover themselves with the skins, and wait for Proteus to take his noonday siesta. Then they jump on him and do not let go, even as he changes his shape into various creatures and elements, until he returns to his original form. After being released, Proteus truthfully explains to them what they must do to appease the gods. He also answers Menelaos’ questions about the whereabouts of Lokrian Aias, Agamemnon, and Odysseus. Finally, Proteus reveals to Menelaos that he will not go to the underworld when he dies but rather to the Elysian Fields. Vergil models his account of Aristaeus and his bees on this story. After his bees suddenly die, Aristaeus’ mother directs him to wrestle Proteus in order to find out why, and he learns that it is due to the anger of Orpheus at Aristaeus’ role in the death of Eurydike (Georgics 4.387–527). Nereus is also involved in wrestling and prophecy. During Herakles’ quest for the Apples of the Hesperides, he first needs to secure information from Nereus vital to his success; they wrestle and Herakles must keep hold of Nereus as he constantly alters his form until the old man yields and gives up the information (see Apollodoros 2.5.11). Of course, the ability to transform is not always connected with prophecy. Peleus must hold onto the Nereid Thetis, who keeps changing her shape, until she agrees to marry him (see Apollodoros 3.13.5), and Herakles again wrestles a shape-shifting god, this time the river Achelous, for the hand of Deianira (Ovid Metamorphoses 9.1–88).

  9: For Physis, see OH 10i. She is said to preside over the heaven, earth, and sea in her hymn (see OH 10.14–16+n).

  26. To Earth

  Earth (Greek Gaia or Gē), is the quasi-personified figure of the productive powers of the land, the land itself, and often of procreation in general. She is, to an extent, a generic mother goddess, and thus shares many affinities with her more particular incarnations, such as Rhea (OH 14), Mother of the Gods (OH 27), and Eleusinian Demeter (OH 40), as well as with certain closely related male fertility gods, such as the Kouretes (OH 31 and OH 38). For her identification with other fertility goddesses in Orphic mythology, see OH 14i. She plays a central role in Hesiod’s cosmogony and theogony. Born after Khaos, she parthenogenetically gives birth to a number of similarly quasi-personifications of physical features: Sky, Pontos (“sea,” but a different word than the one personified as the addressee of OH 22), and the mountains. She then mates with Sky in the usual way to produce the Kyklopes, the Hundred-Handers, and the Titans (Theogony 116–118; 126–153). In the succession myths that follow, she connives with her youngest son, Kronos, to put an end to the oppressive behavior of h
er son-husband (154–175) and, in turn, now with Sky, helps Rhea end Kronos’ swallowing of their children (453–500). However, she helps her grandson Zeus avoid the danger of being overcome by his progeny with Metis; instead, Metis is swallowed by Zeus, and Athene is later born from his head (886–900; 924–926). See further the note to line 2 below. Earth herself received worship in Greek religious practice; for details, see Larson 2007, pp. 157–158. We also find her connected with the pre-Apollo Delphic oracle (see OH 79.3–6n).

  This hymn is the first in the last group of a series (OH 19–27) arranged by physical element, here earth, which mirrors the same order in the hymns to Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and Plouton-Hades (OH 15–18); see OH 15i.

  1 mother of men and of the blessed gods: Compare Homeric Hymn to the Mother of the Gods 14.1 and Homeric Hymn to Earth, Mother of All 30.1, 17; see also OH 10.1+n, OH 14.8–9+n, and OH 27.7+n. Earth, like Physis, is portrayed more as a natural force than a personified entity, and there are close affinities between their hymns in the collection.

  2 you bring all to fruition, you destroy all: Life and death, although opposites, were nevertheless conceived as intricately bound polarities, and, as usual in Greek mythic thought, having power over one often implies having power over its contrary. Persephone also holds the power of life and death in her hymn (OH 29.15–16+n; see also OH 30i). A similar sentiment is found in the Homeric Hymn to Earth, Mother of All: “... you are the source of fair children and goodly fruit,/and on you it depends to give life to, or take it away from,/mortal men” (30.5–7). Perhaps comparable is a certain ambiguity of Earth in myth, as, for example, found in Hesiod’s Theogony. The blood that falls from the castrated Sky fecundates Earth, who produces the brutal Giants and the horrid Erinyes but also the lovely Ash Tree Nymphs (183–187). Also, after the defeat of the Titans, Earth mates with Tartaros to produce the scourge of the gods, the monstrous Typhon; yet it was Earth who suggested to the gods that Zeus be made ruler after the defeat of the Titans (820–838; 881–885).

  4 seat of the immortal cosmos: Hesiod calls Earth “the firm seat of all/the immortals who hold the peaks of snowy Olympos” (Theogony 117–118); compare also OH 18.6–7. See further OH 27.9n.

  6 deep-bosomed: Compare Hesiod Theogony 117, where Earth is called “broad-breasted.” This epithet is used twice of the sea in the collection: OH 17.3 and OH 74.3.

  27. To the Mother of the Gods

  The Mother of the Gods is the Phrygian goddess Kybele. She was also simply known as Meter (Mother). Her worship wound its way from the Greeks in Asia Minor to the mainland and appears to have gained traction in the sixth century BC. She is an earth fertility goddess, and so quickly became identified with other such figures in Greek mythology and religion: Rhea, Demeter, Earth, Hera—even Aphrodite and Hestia (see OH 14i and the note to line 9 below). Likewise, Hipta, a goddess of Asia Minor, might be a local version of Mother; see OH 49i. Wild music and dancing, ecstatic possession and ritual madness, and the close connection of her worship with mountains were all characteristic of the cult; see notes to lines 11 and 13. While her worship made some headway into official Greek cult, it was for the most part relegated to marginal members of society. Her wandering beggar-priests, called “mētragurtai” (“collectors for Mother”) and “kubēboi,” were held in low regard. In terms of myth, insofar as Kybele is identified with Demeter, she is the mother of Persephone and, just like Demeter in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, she keeps away from the gods in anger over her daughter’s abduction; see Euripides Helen 1301–1368. The story may have been the subject of the Epidaurian hymn to Mother of the Gods (translation with brief discussion in Furley 1995, pp. 43–45). In later antiquity, Agdistis, a doublet for Mother, takes on a younger consort, Attis, whom in her jealousy she drives to such heights of madness that he castrates himself (Pausanias 7.17.10–12). There seems to be no reference to him in this hymn, although the name does appear in Orpheus’ address to Mousaios (OH O.39). Kybele is connected with the Korybantes, an ecstatic band of warriors who are associated with the Kouretes (see OH O.20, OH 31.5+n and OH 38.20), hence connecting Kybele with Rhea (see OH 14.3n) and also, in our collection, Athene (see OH 32i). The power of the goddess’ madness reaches its gory peak in the self-castration of particularly dedicated male worshippers, known as Galloi, for whom the myth of Attis serves as an etiology. Among the works attributed to Orpheus are Enthronements of the Mother (Orphic fragment 602–605; cf. line 5 and note to line 9) and Korybantic Rite (Orphic fragment 610–611), for which see West 1983, p. 27. For more on the cult of Kybele, see Burkert 1985, pp. 177–179, Larson 2007, pp. 170–171, and the detailed monographs of Vermaseren 1977 and Borgeaud 2004. This hymn should be compared to the hymn to Rhea in this collection (OH 14) and the Homeric Hymn to the Mother of the Gods. It naturally follows the previous one addressed to Earth, and it ends the second sequence of hymns arranged by their association with the four elements; see OH 15i.

  2 swift chariot drawn by bull-slaying lions: A typical attribute of the goddess, mentioned at OH 14.2 as well. Bull-slaying lions also appear at Sophokles Philoktetes 400–401, where the goddess is called Earth. The Homeric Hymn to the Mother of the Gods 14.4 associates both wolves and lions with the goddess. See also OH 36i.

  7 of you were born gods and men: See OH 26.1n.

  8 you hold sway over the rivers and over all the sea: Kybele is also the “queen of the sky” (line 4) and the earth belongs to her as well (line 6), a natural association for a fertility goddess. For the motif of the geographical extent of a divinity’s power, see OH 14.9–10+n. In particular, she shares such broad authority with Pan (OH 11.2–3), a god connected to her through his ability to bestow madness (for this, see OH 11i). In the next line, Kybele is identified with Hestia, who is associated with fire (OH 84.4n); perhaps, then, the related theme of the four elements is also relevant here (see OH 10.14–16n).

  9 Hestia … giver of prosperity: Kybele’s throne is described as being located in the center of the cosmos (line 5), thus corresponding to the central position of the hearth in the home; see OH 84i+2n and cf. OH 40.15+n. Compare also the previous hymn where Earth is the “seat of the immortal cosmos” (OH 26.4) around which “the intricate realm of the stars/revolves in endless and awesome flow” (OH 26.8–9). This is reflecting a geocentric, not a heliocentric or pyrocentric, view of the cosmos; see OH 4.3n and Burkert 1972, p. 317. Euripides in a lost play equated the Earth with Hestia (fragment 944). As with Kybele in this hymn, so too is Hestia called on at the end of her hymn to grant prosperity.

  11 whom the drum delights: Drums and other percussive instruments such as cymbals, clappers, and castanets are frequently found in the iconography of Kybele and Dionysos (see further OH 30.1n). Along with the aulos, they play an important role in the wild, frenzy-inducing music that constitutes their rites (see also note to line 13 below). These instruments are mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to the Mother of the Gods 14.3. See also OH 4.4+n. Music and madness is a recurring theme in our collection: see OH 11i, OH 14.3+n, and OH 31.3+n. It is particularly tied to maenadism; see further OH 52.7–8n. In a fragment from a dithyramb, Pindar imagines ecstatic worship of Dionysos celebrated by the gods: Kybele leads off with the beating of drums amid castanets, torches, and the wild shrieks of Naiads (water nymphs); Ares is present, and Athene, too, with the hissing of the countless serpents on her shield; finally Artemis arrives, having yoked lions, as a Bacchant (fragment 70b.6–21). This shows that already by the early fifth century, Dionysos and Kybele were closely related.

  12 all-taming savior of Phrygia, consort of Kronos: In this line the identities of Kybele and Rhea are fused. For “savior,” see OH 14.8n.

  13 frenzy-loving: The goddess raves and is able to send madness to those she chooses. The rituals of Kybele and the Korybantes (possibly separate from Kybele’s) were supposed to cure madness, and Dionysos himself had that power; see OH 71.11n. Hera, who is sometimes identified with Kybele, has the ability to send madness as well. She drives Herakles insane so that he
kills his first wife, Megara, and even more pertinently she employs madness to disrupt the lives of those who help the infant Dionysos (e.g., Ino; see OH 74i) and, in some accounts, she drives Dionysos himself to madness (see OH 14.8n).

  28. To Hermes

  Hermes is a god with a wide range of functions, which nevertheless boil down to one essential idea: the ability to negotiate boundaries and bridge gaps. Many modes of travel are available to him, including the ability to fly through the air as well as to skim along the surface of the oceans (as beautifully portrayed at Odyssey 5.43–54). He can be a guide to men, directing their travels and even overcoming obstacles that block their path. Thus, for example he is able to bring Priam unharmed through the camp of the Greeks to meet with Akhilleus (Iliad 24.322–467). He is even able to traverse that most awesome divide between life and death; it is Hermes who leads the souls of the dead to the underworld. His ability to journey anywhere makes him an ideal messenger, a role he often undertakes in myth on the behalf of Zeus. Naturally, he is the god of heralds and diplomats. An important skill for these professions is that of speaking well, and thus he is also a god of language. Sometimes, though, a herald might find himself in circumstances where it is preferable to smooth over a difficult situation with words, even if the truth might have to suffer a bit. Hermes knows how to deceive with words. Indeed, Hermes knows how to deceive, period; he is a trickster figure of the first order, much like Prometheus and the Norse Loki. He is a god of thieves, but likewise he is the god of merchants who can protect against thieves. As so often, a god is responsible for the positive and the negative in a specific domain (see OH 30i). Like other trickster figures, Hermes is also a culture hero, inventing things that do much to further the civilized life. The longer Homeric Hymn to Hermes (no. 4) is full of the god’s innovations: the lyre, fire sticks, sacrifice, and wondrous shoes that hide his tracks. The introduction of fire and sacrifice is also attributed to Prometheus, who steals fire from the heavens and whose deception of Zeus at Mekone becomes the paradigm for future human sacrifice (Hesiod Theogony 535–570 and Works and Days 49–53; see also OH 40.8–9n). The Homeric hymn, marked by its cleverness and wit, is itself a piece worthy of Hermes himself. It seamlessly and playfully integrates in its narrative many of the gods’ prerogatives. His role as a god of minor divination is explained as one of Apollon’s gifts to him: Hermes does not receive a share of Delphic honors, but he is permitted to learn about prophecy from the strange bee women who live nearby and who taught Apollon as a child (4.533–566). He also is allowed to keep some of the cows he stole from Apollon, becoming a god of cowherds (4.567–568). This, too, is a mythological etiology that touches on a broader reality. Hermes is the god of all those who look after any herd of animals, such as sheep and goats. Fertility associations are not foreign to this god, who is able to increase the flocks of those he favors (see OH 1i). When the basis of wealth changed from agricultural to commercial, Hermes remained the god who brought profit. He is also the lucky god, and a piece of good luck was called a “hermaion,” literally “a thing of Hermes.” The god is often found in pastoral settings, frolicking with nymphs and other creatures of the wild. Yet he is also a god of physical exercise and athletics, particularly of the gymnasia and wrestling grounds, both very “urban” institutions.