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 HymnsXXIX. Hymn of Phersephone · Lines 1–10

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XXIX. Hymn of Phersephone · Lines 1–10

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Ancient Greek

p. 108

XXIX. ΥΜΝΟΣ ΦΕΡΣΕΦΟΝΗΣ

Φερσεφόνη, θύγατερ μεγάλου Διός, ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα,

μουνογένεια θεά, κεχαρισμένα δ’ ἱερὰ δέξαι,

Πλούτωνος πολύτιμε δάμαρ, κεδνή, βιοδῶτι,

ἣ κατέχεις Ἀίδαο πύλας ὑπὸ κεύθεα γαίης,

Πραξιδίκη, ἐρασιπλόκαμος, Δηοῦς θάλος ἁγνόν,

Εὐμενίδων γενέτειρα, καταχθονίων βασίλεια,

ἣν Ζεὺς ἀρρήτοισι γοναῖς τεκνώσατο κούρην,

μῆτερ ἐριβρεμέτου πολυμόρφου Εὐβουλῆος,

Ὡρῶν συμπαίκτειρα, φαεσφόρος, ἀγλαόμορφε,

σεμνή, παντοκράτειρα, κόρη καρποῖσι βρύουσα,

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XXIX. Hymn of Phersephone

p. 109

XXIX. Hymn of Phersephone

(no fumigation named)

Phersephone, daughter of great Zeus, come, blessed one,

sole-born goddess, and receive the offerings that please you,

much-honoured wife of Plouton, cherished, giver of life,

you who hold the gates of Hades beneath the hollows of the earth,

Praxidike, of lovely hair, holy shoot of Deo,

mother of the Eumenides, queen of those beneath the earth,

whom Zeus begot a maiden in unspeakable begettings,

mother of loud-roaring Eubouleus of many forms,

playmate of the Horai, light-bearing, of splendid form,

august, all-ruling, maiden teeming with fruits,

Title.No fumigation rubric, and the heading is not the bare genitive used for most of the collection but ΥΜΝΟΣ ΦΕΡΣΕΦΟΝΗΣ. The same two anomalies go together at XXXI, the Kouretes, four hymns later; compare also I (ΕΙΣ ΕΚΑΤΗΝ) and XVIII (ΕΙΣ ΠΛΟΥΤΩΝΑ), which likewise have no rubric and an irregular title. The hymns without an offering are also the hymns headed irregularly.

8.μῆτερ … Εὐβουλῆος. The collection uses two names, close in form and not the same — but the distinction is in large part the editors'. In Abel's printed text Εὔβουλος stands once, in the vocative Εὔβουλ’ at XVIII.12 of Plouton, and Εὐβουλεύς six times: here as Phersephone's son (this hymn is ΥΜΝΟΣ ΦΕΡΣΕΦΟΝΗΣ, and μῆτερ is addressed to her), at XXX.6 of Dionysos begotten of Zeus and Phersephoneia, at XLI.8 of the child Antaia bore, at XLII.2 in the genitive as the source of the seed, at LII.4 of the trieteric Dionysos, and at LVI.3 of Adonis. Three of those six are conjectures — Pierson's at XXX.6, Abel's at XLI.8, Hermann's at LVI.3 — and in the codices all three read εὔβουλ’ / εὔβουλον / εὔβουλε, which is the other word. In the transmitted text the tally is four to three the other way, and the clean division between Plouton's name and the Eleusinian and Dionysiac one does not hold.

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.