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 HymnsXII. To Herakles · Lines 9–16

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XII. To Herakles · Lines 9–16

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Ancient Greek

p. 60

XII. ΗΡΑΚΛΕΟΥΣ

θυμίαμα λίβανον

αὐτοφυής, ἀκάμας, γαίης βλάστημα φέριστον,

πρωτογόνοις στράψας βολίσιν, μεγαλώνυμε δαῖμον,

ὃς περὶ κρατὶ φορεῖς ἠῶ καὶ νύκτα μέλαιναν,

δώδεκ’ ἀπ’ ἀντολιῶν ἄχρι δυσμῶν ἆθλα διέρπων,

ἀθάνατος, πολύπειρος, ἀπείριτος, ἀστυφέλικτος·

ἐλθέ, μάκαρ, νούσων θελκτήρια πάντα κομίζων,

ἐξέλασον δὲ κακὰς ἄτας κλάδον ἐν χερὶ πάλλων,

πτηνοῖς τ’ ἰοβόλοις κῆρας χαλεπὰς ἀπόπεμπε.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XII. To Herakles

p. 61

XII. To Herakles

fumigation from frankincense

self-begotten, untiring, best growth of the earth,

flashing with first-born shafts, daimon of great renown,

you who carry about your head the dawn and the black night,

creeping through twelve labours from the risings to the settings,

immortal, of much experience, boundless, unshaken;

come, blessed one, bringing every charm against sickness,

and drive out evil ruin, brandishing the branch in your hand,

and with winged arrows send the harsh dooms away.

11–12.Dawn and black night carried about his head, and twelve labours traversed from the risings to the settings — the twelve signs and the sun's course through them, which is the allegory Porphyry states explicitly. ἆθλα here are the labours; the lexica record a separate technical astrological sense (ἆθλον = κλῆρος, a degree of the zodiac) which may colour the line, but that is not its plain meaning.

15.κλάδον ἐν χερὶ πάλλων — probably a purificatory or apotropaic branch, though πάλλω is the ordinary verb for brandishing a spear and the hymn supplies no ritual context. What is certain is the absence: no club and no lionskin anywhere in the hymn. The only weapons named are the bow (5) and the winged arrows (16).

14–16.What is asked for is medical: charms against sickness, the driving out of ruin, and the sending away of the κῆρες. The cosmic Herakles of lines 1–13 is petitioned as a healer.

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.