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Attributed to Orpheus

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 HymnsXIII. To Kronos · Lines 1–10

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XIII. To Kronos · Lines 1–10

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Ancient Greek

p. 62

XIII. ΚΡΟΝΟΥ

θυμίαμα στύρακα

Ἀιθαλές, μακάρων τε θεῶν πάτερ ἠδὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν,

ποικιλόβουλ’, ἀμίαντε, μεγασθενές, ἄλκιμε Τιτάν,

ὃς δαπανᾷς μὲν ἅπαντα καὶ αὔξεις ἔμπαλιν αὐτός,

δεσμοὺς ἀρρήκτους ὃς ἔχεις κατ’ ἀπείρονα κόσμον,

αἰῶνος Κρόνε παγγενέτορ, Κρόνε ποικιλόμυθε,

γαίης τε βλάστημα καὶ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος,

γέννα, φυῆς μείωσι, Ῥέας πόσι, σεμνὲ προμηθεῦ,

ὃς ναίεις κατὰ πάντα μέρη κόσμοιο, γενάρχα,

ἀγκυλομῆτα, φέριστε· κλύων ἱκετηρίδα φωνὴν

πέμποις εὐόλβου βιότου τέλος αἰὲν ἄμεμπτον.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XIII. To Kronos

p. 63

XIII. To Kronos

fumigation from storax

Blazing one, father of the blessed gods and of men also,

of intricate counsel, undefiled, great in strength, valiant Titan,

you who consume all things and yourself increase them again,

you who hold unbreakable bonds throughout the boundless kosmos,

Kronos, all-begetter of the age, Kronos of intricate speech,

offspring of Gaia and of starry Ouranos,

birth, diminisher of growth, husband of Rhea, august Prometheus,

you who dwell in every part of the kosmos, founder of the line,

crooked-counselled, most excellent; hearing the suppliant voice

may you send an end of life ever blessed and blameless.

Rubric.Storax, as for Prothyraia at II.

3, 5.“You consume all things and yourself increase them again”, and then Κρόνος of the αἰών. The hymn works the old play of Κρόνος on Χρόνος, Time — devouring and restoring — without ever naming Chronos; no form of χρόνος occurs in it. Cicero has the etymology plainly (ND 2.64). Herakles was χρόνου πάτερ one hymn earlier, and the Orphic theogonies made Chronos and Herakles the same god.

7.Kronos is called Prometheus. Unlike the collection's other bare identifications — Night as Kypris (III.2), Physis as Dike (X.13), Pan as the true horned Zeus (XI.12) — this one is prepared. The hymn has already given Kronos two of Prometheus's own Hesiodic epithets: ποικιλόβουλος at 2 (Th. 521, of Prometheus) and ἀγκυλομήτης at 9, which Hesiod gives to both (Th. 546, WD 48).

9.ἀγκυλομήτης, “crooked-counselled”, is Kronos's formulaic epithet in Homer, where it is his alone; in Hesiod it is shared with Prometheus (Th. 546, WD 48) — which is very likely why line 7 could call Kronos Prometheus at all. The hymn lets the word sit beside φέριστε, “most excellent”, without softening either.

10.The closing prayer is for a blessed life brought to a blameless end. With αἰέν the line reads as easily that way as it does as a prayer for a good death, and the collection's other hymns close with the same formula of a life rather than a dying.

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.