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 HymnsIV. To Ouranos · Lines 1–9

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IV. To Ouranos · Lines 1–9

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Ancient Greek

p. 28

IV. ΟΥΡΑΝΟΥ

θυμίαμα λίβανον

Οὐρανὲ παγγενέτορ, κόσμου μέρος αἰὲν ἀτειρές,

πρεσβυγένεθλ’, ἀρχὴ πάντων πάντων τε τελευτή,

κοσμοκράτορ, σφαιρηδὸν ἑλισσόμενος περὶ γαῖαν,

οἶκε θεῶν μακάρων, ῥόμβου δίνῃσιν ὁδεύων,

αἰθέριος χθόνιός τε φύλαξ πάντων περιβληθείς,

ἐν στέρνοισιν ἔχων φύσεως ἄπλητον ἀνάγκην,

κυανόχρως, ἀδάμαστε, παναίολος, αἰολόμορφε,

πανδερκές, Κρονότεκνε, μάκαρ, πανυπέρτατε δαῖμον,

κλῦθ’ ἐπάγων ζωὴν ὁσίην μύστῃ νεοφάντῃ.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: IV. To Ouranos

p. 29

IV. To Ouranos

fumigation from frankincense

Ouranos, all-begetter, portion of the kosmos ever unwearied,

eldest-born, beginning of all things and end of all,

world-ruler, rolling spherewise about the earth,

house of the blessed gods, travelling in the whirlings of the rhombos,

of the aither and of the earth, guardian of all, cast round about,

holding in your breast the unapproachable necessity of nature,

dark-skinned, unsubdued, all-shifting, of shifting form,

all-seeing, begetter of Kronos, blessed, most high daimon,

hear, and bring a pure life to the newly-shown initiate.

Rubric.Frankincense, λίβανος — the most familiar of the temple resins, and the one given to the sky. Not the costliest: Pliny prices the best frankincense at six denarii the pound against eleven to sixteen for myrrh and seventeen for storax (NH 12.65, 70, 125).

2.ἀρχὴ πάντων πάντων τε τελευτή, beginning of all things and end of all, is given to Ouranos here and to Zeus at XV.7, in a line that is otherwise the same shape — only the opening compound differs, πρεσβυγένεθλ’ here, παντογένεθλ’ there. It is the collection's longest shared half-line, and neither place carries an apparatus entry. (Found at the final run.)

4.ῥόμβος: the bull-roarer, a slatted board whirled on a cord to make a roaring noise, and a real instrument of Bacchic and Korybantic rite. The word also means the whirling itself, and the lexica file these Orphic occurrences under that sense — the revolution of the heavens — rather than under the instrument. Both are present: the sky turns, and it turns as the thing in the initiate’s hands turns.

6.ἀνάγκη, necessity, held inside the god’s own chest. The hymn does not explain the relation; Ouranos both contains necessity and is subject to the ἀνάγκη that masters all at III.11.

9.μύστης νεοφάντης, the newly initiated — the lexica cite this very line for the word. This is the plainest indication so far that initiations were being performed and that new initiates stood among the hearers.

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.