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 HymnsXIV. To Rhea · Lines 1–7

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XIV. To Rhea · Lines 1–7

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Ancient Greek

p. 64

XIV. ΡΕΑΣ

θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

Πότνα Ῥέα, θύγατερ πολυμόρφου Πρωτογόνοιο,

ᾗ λῖς ταυροφόνος ἱερότροχον ἅρμα τιταίνει,

τυμπανόδουπτε, φιλοιστρομανές, χαλκόκροτε κούρη,

μῆτερ Ζηνὸς ἄνακτος Ὀλυμπίου, αἰγιόχοιο,

πάντιμ’, ἀγλαόμορφε, Κρόνου σύλλεκτρε μάκαιρα,

οὔρεσιν ἣ χαίρεις θνητῶν τ’ ὀλολύγμασι φρικτοῖς,

παμβασίλεια Ῥέα, πολεμόκλονος, ὀβριμόθυμε,

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XIV. To Rhea

p. 65

XIV. To Rhea

fumigation from aromatics

Lady Rhea, daughter of Protogonos of many forms,

whose bull-slaying lion draws the sacred-wheeled chariot,

thundering with the tympanon, loving the frenzy of the goad, maiden of clashing bronze,

mother of Zeus the lord, the Olympian, the aegis-bearer,

all-honoured, of splendid form, blessed bedfellow of Kronos,

you who rejoice in the mountains and in the shuddering cries of mortals,

Rhea queen of all, rouser of war, of mighty spirit,

2–3.The tympanon and the clashing bronze are Kybele's — the Anatolian Mother — and so is the lion-drawn chariot, though the lion enters the line only by Hermann's conjecture: the codices read ταυροφόρον … τιταίνεις, with Rhea herself drawing and no lion at all. Rhea and Kybele had been one goddess for centuries by the date of this collection (Strabo 10.3.12–13); the hymn calls her μῆτερ θεῶν at 9, and the Mother has a hymn of her own at XXVII.

6.ὀλολυγμός is the loud ritual cry raised to a god, usually of joy or triumph; in Homer the related verb is characteristically women's, though the noun is restricted by the lexica neither to women nor to sacrifice, and this hymn ascribes it to θνητοί generally, in the mountain rite. φρικτός marks it as making the hearer shudder. A description of noise in a rite, not a poetic epithet.

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.