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 HymnsXX. To Zeus of the Lightning · Lines 1–6

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XX. To Zeus of the Lightning · Lines 1–6

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Ancient Greek

p. 84

XX. ΔΙΟΣ ΑΣΤΡΑΠΙΟΥ

θυμίαμα λιβανομάνναν

Κικλήσκω μέγαν, ἁγνόν, ἐρισμάραγον, περίφαντον,

ἠέριον, φλογόεντα, πυρίβρομον, ἠεροφεγγῆ,

ἀστράπτοντα σέλας νεφέων παταγοδρόμῳ αὐδῇ,

φρικώδη, βαρύμηνιν, ἀνίκητον θεὸν ἁγνόν,

ἀστράπιον Δία, παγγενέτην, βασιλῆα μέγιστον,

εὐμενέοντα φέρειν γλυκερὴν βιότοιο τελευτήν.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XX. To Zeus of the Lightning

p. 85

XX. To Zeus of the Lightning

fumigation from frankincense-manna

I call on the great one, holy, loud-crashing, made manifest,

of the air, flaming, fire-roaring, shining through the air,

flashing the radiance of the clouds with a clattering, running cry,

shudder-making, heavy in wrath, unconquered, holy god,

Zeus of the lightning, all-begetter, greatest king,

to bring, being favourable, a sweet end to life.

Title.The manuscripts head this Διὸς Ἀστραπέως; Abel substitutes ἀστραπίου, and at line 5 prints ἀστράπιον for the codices' ἀστραπαῖον. It is the same substitution Hermann made at XV.9, where the codices likewise give ἀστραπαῖε. ἀστράπιος occurs nowhere in Greek outside these Hymns; the form with epigraphic standing is Ἀστραπαῖος, which the manuscripts give at line 5 here and at XV.9. The transmitted title of this hymn is a third form again, Ἀστραπέως.

1–5.Four lines of epithet before the name arrives at line 5 — though the heading has named Zeus already. The Thunderbolt hymn began the other way round, with Ζεῦ πάτερ as its first two words. The pair, XIX and XX, divides the storm between the bolt and the flash.

6.The whole request in one line: a sweet end to life. The formula is Pan's at XI.22 and Kronos's at XIII.10. The Thunderbolt hymn, by contrast, closed by asking for a flourishing life — so the two storm hymns end on opposite sides of the same subject.

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.