The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns

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

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The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The HymnsLXXIX. To Themis · Lines 1–6

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LXXIX. To Themis · Lines 1–6

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p. 256

LXXIX. ΘΕΜΙΔΟΣ

θυμίαμα λίβανον

Οὐρανόπαιδ’ ἁγνὴν καλέω, Θέμιν εὐπατέρειαν,

Γαίης τὸ βλάστημα νέον, καλυκώπιδα κούρην,

ἣ πρώτη κατέδειξε βροτοῖς μαντήιον ἁγνὸν

Δελφικῷ ἐν κευθμῶνι θεμιστεύουσα θεοῖσι,

Πυθίῳ ἐν δαπέδῳ, ὅτε Πυθοῖ ἐμβασίλευεν·

ἣ καὶ Φοῖβον ἄνακτα θεμιστοσύνας ἐδίδαξε·

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: LXXIX. To Themis

p. 257

LXXIX. To Themis

fumigation from frankincense

The holy child of Ouranos I call, Themis of a noble father,

the young shoot of Gaia, the bud-faced maiden,

who first showed forth to mortals the holy oracle

in the Delphic hollow, pronouncing ordinances for the gods,

on the Pythian floor, when she was queen in Pytho;

she it was who taught the lord Phoibos the giving of ordinances;

LXXIX.Themis, daughter of Ouranos and Gaia, holder of Delphi before Apollo. The hymn makes two foundation claims for her, five lines apart: line 3, that she first showed mortals the oracle; line 8, that she first revealed the rites. Both are transmitted — neither carries an apparatus entry — and the second joins the collection's other foundation claims: XXIV.10 (the Nereids, πρῶται), XXXVIII.6 (the Kouretes, πρῶτοι) and LXXVI.7 (the Mousai, who reveal the rites but are not called first). Themis is the third of three to be called first at founding a rite; a fourth figure, Demeter at XL.8, is called first at something else — πρώτη ὑποζεύξασα, first to yoke the ploughing ox. (An earlier state of this edition's note at Block 5 was “corrected” at Block 12 on the strength of line 3 alone, and the correction was itself wrong; see the Block 12 and Block 13 corrections files.)

1.εὐπατέρεια, “of a noble father”, is used of Selene at LV.10 and of the Moirai at LIX.16; this is its third and last appearance. Of Themis it is pointed — her father is Ouranos, named in the same line by the compound Οὐρανόπαις.

4, 6.θεμιστεύουσα and θεμιστοσύνας are formed on the goddess's own name. The English cannot keep the figure without inventing a word, so it renders both by ordinance and leaves the etymology to this note. Themis does not merely hold Delphi: she teaches Apollo the thing she is.

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.