The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns

Name: The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Author: Attributed to Orpheus

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The HymnsLXVI. To Hephaistos · Lines 1–7

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LXVI. To Hephaistos · Lines 1–7

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Ancient Greek

p. 218

LXVI. ΗΦΑΙΣΤΟΥ

θυμίαμα λιβανομάνναν

Ἥφαιστ’ ὀβριμόθυμε, μεγασθενές, ἀκάματον πῦρ,

λαμπόμενε φλογεραῖς αὐγαῖς, φαεσίμβροτε δαῖμον,

φωσφόρε, καρτερόχειρ, αἰώνιε, τεχνοδίαιτε,

ἐργαστήρ, κόσμοιο μέρος, στοιχεῖον ἀμεμφές,

παμφάγε, πανδαμάτορ, πανυπέρτατε, παντοδίαιτε,

αἰθήρ, ἥλιος, ἄστρα, σελήνη, φῶς ἀμίαντον·

ταῦτα γὰρ Ἡφαίστοιο μέλη θνητοῖσι προφαίνει.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: LXVI. To Hephaistos

p. 219

LXVI. To Hephaistos

fumigation from frankincense-manna

Hephaistos, of mighty spirit, great in strength, untiring fire,

shining with flaming beams, daimon that shines on mortals,

light-bearer, strong of hand, eternal, living by craft,

workman, portion of the kosmos, blameless element,

all-devouring, all-subduing, highest of all, living in all,

aither, sun, stars, moon, undefiled light —

for these limbs of Hephaistos shine forth to mortals.

6–7.The line that lists the heavenly bodies is the hymn's whole argument. αἰθήρ, ἥλιος, ἄστρα, σελήνη, φῶς ἀμίαντον, and then line 7 says what the list was: ταῦτα … Ἡφαίστοιο μέλη — these limbs of Hephaistos shine forth to mortals. The smith of the epic has become the element itself, and the sun and the moon are parts of his body. Line 4 has already called him στοιχεῖον, an element — a word Homer does not use, and which is Platonic and Aristotelian before it is anyone's school term. Line 8 then brings him back down to every house and city.

1, 2.The opening epithet is the one Ares had at LXV.1, ὀβριμόθυμε — and in both places the codices read ὀμβριμόθυμε, so two consecutive hymns are corrected the same way at the same word. In line 2 both of the shining words are editorial: φλογεραῖς is Abel's for the codices' φλογίαις and αὐγαῖς is Hermann's for their αὔραις, breezes — which would have had the fire-god shining with flaming breezes.

About This Reading Edition

The eighty-eight Orphic Hymns and the Prayer to Musaeus, in Ancient Greek and English, with the supplied critical apparatus, explanatory notes, introduction, glossary and editorial matter.

Historical Text and Translation

Orphic Hymns, attributed to Orpheus. Greek text after Eugenius Abel, Orphica (Leipzig and Prague, 1885), pages 57–102.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The ancient Greek source and the 1885 Abel edition are public-domain material. The supplied new English translation and editorial matter are published with the site owner’s authorization. Both supplied original files remain unchanged.