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 HymnsXXXII. To Athena · Lines 10–17

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XXXII. To Athena · Lines 10–17

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Ancient Greek

p. 118

XXXII. ΑΘΗΝΑΣ

θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

ἄρσην μὲν καὶ θῆλυς ἔφυς, πολεμητόκε, μῆτι,

αἰολόμορφε, δράκαινα, φιλένθεος, ἀγλαότιμε,

Φλεγραίων ὀλέτειρα Γιγάντων, ἱππελάτειρα,

Τριτογένεια, λύτειρα κακῶν, νικηφόρε δαῖμον,

γλαυκῶπ’, εὑρεσίτεχνε, πολυλλίστη βασίλεια,

ἤματα καὶ νύκτας αἰεὶ νεάτῃσιν ἐν ὥραις,

κλῦθί μευ εὐχομένου, δὸς δ’ εἰρήνην πολύολβον

καὶ κόρον ἠδ’ ὑγίειαν ἐπ’ εὐόλβοισιν ἐν ὥραις.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XXXII. To Athena

p. 119

XXXII. To Athena

fumigation from aromatics

male and female you are by nature, war-bearing, cunning,

of shifting form, serpent, lover of the god-filled, of splendid honour,

destroyer of the Phlegraian Giants, driver of horses,

Tritogeneia, releaser from evils, victory-bringing daimon,

grey-eyed, inventor of arts, much-besought queen,

days and nights always, in the latest hours,

hear me as I pray, and grant peace rich in blessing

and satiety and health in seasons of good fortune.

10.ἄρσην μὲν καὶ θῆλυς ἔφυς, male and female. Four deities have been given a double nature so far and none has been given a reason: Protogonos διφυῆ at VI.1, Selene θῆλύς τε καὶ ἄρσην at IX.4, Dionysos διφυῆ at XXX.2, and Athena here. πολεμητόκε is the childbed word and not the siring word, hence “war-bearing”; Abel prints it accented on -τό-, while recording Hermann’s πολεμήτοκε, whose recessive accent would make her war-born instead. μῆτι may be the abstraction or the name Metis, and the hymn does not say.

11.δράκαινα, serpent, in a line of otherwise ordinary honorifics. The snake belongs to Athena's Athenian cult, and the hymn gives it no explanation.

14, Apparatus.Abel records that before Hermann, line 14 stood after line 17 — at the very end of the hymn. The order of the closing lines is therefore modern, and the transmitted text ended on the invocation γλαυκῶπ’, εὑρεσίτεχνε rather than on the request.

15.νεάτῃσιν ἐν ὥραις is obscure — “in the latest hours”, or “in the hours of the end”. The line has no verb and hangs between the epithets before it and the petition after.

15, 17.ὥραις twice in three lines, and it is the same word: “in the last hours” at 15, “in seasons of good fortune” at 17. Line 15 has no verb and hangs between the epithets before it and the petition after. Line 17’s ἐπ’ εὐόλβοισιν ἐν ὥραις is the third appearance of a formula already met at X.29 and XXVI.11; both of those read σὺν εὐόλβοισιν ἐν ὥραις, and this one alone has ἐπί.

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.