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 HymnsXXIV. To the Nereids · Lines 7–12

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XXIV. To the Nereids · Lines 7–12

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Ancient Greek

p. 94

XXIV. ΝΗΡΗΙΔΩΝ

θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

ὑδροδρόμοι, σκιρτηταί, ἑλισσόμενοι περὶ κῦμα,

ποντοπλάνοι δελφῖνες, ἁλιρρόθιοι, κυαναυγεῖς·

ὑμᾶς κικλήσκω πέμπειν μύσταις πολὺν ὄλβον·

ὑμεῖς γὰρ πρῶται τελετὴν ἀνεδείξατε σεμνὴν

εὐιέρου Βάκχοιο καὶ ἁγνῆς Φερσεφονείης,

Καλλιόπῃ σὺν μητρὶ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνι ἄνακτι.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XXIV. To the Nereids

p. 95

XXIV. To the Nereids

fumigation from aromatics

water-runners, leapers, rolling about the wave,

sea-roaming dolphins, loud in the brine, dark-gleaming;

you I call on, to send the initiates much prosperity;

for you were the first to show forth the august rite

of well-hallowed Bakchos and of holy Phersephoneia,

with Kalliope the mother, and with lord Apollo.

10–12.An aetiology, and a surprising one: the Nereids are said to have been the first to reveal the rite of Bakchos and Phersephone — the mysteries founded by sea-nymphs, with Kalliope and Apollo beside them. The collection names a founder of its rite in three other places and names different founders each time: XXXVIII.6 says the Kouretes of Samothrace were the first to establish the τελετή among men, ὑμεῖς καὶ τελετὴν πρῶτοι μερόπεσσιν ἔθεσθε; and LXXVI.7 says the Mousai showed the rites to mortals, αἳ τελετὰς θνητοῖς ἀνεδείξατε μυστιπολεύτους — the same verb as here, and in the same tense and person. None of the three lines carries an apparatus entry. And LXXIX makes the claim twice over, for Themis: at 3 she is the first to show mortals μαντήιον ἁγνόν, the holy oracle, and at 8 πρώτη γὰρ τελετὰς ἁγίας θνητοῖς ἀνέφηνας, for you first showed forth the holy rites to mortals — neither line carrying an apparatus entry. Four aetiologies of the rite, none aware of the others. (At Block 12 this note was 'corrected' on the strength of LXXIX.3 alone, which says oracle, and the original reading was wrongly withdrawn; LXXIX.8 was read at Block 13 and the note is restored with both lines cited. A claim about a hymn is not tested until the whole hymn has been read.)

12.Καλλιόπῃ σὺν μητρί: μητρί has no expressed complement, so the line does not say whose mother. The same three words stand at LXXVI.10, Καλλιόπη σὺν μητρί, closing the catalogue of the nine Mousai, and neither place carries an apparatus entry on them; there the mother can only be Mnemosyne, who is hymned in her own right in the next hymn. That is decisive for the formula and probably for this line: the mother is the Muses' mother, and Kalliope is named with her as one of nine. (This note formerly argued that the mother was Kalliope herself, as Orpheus's mother, with Apollo beside her in the same line as his father. The parallel was found at Block 12 and the earlier reading is withdrawn; it was a supplement the text does not need, made without the other occurrence in view.) The hymn never names Orpheus.

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.