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 HymnsLII. To the God of the Trieteric Feast · Lines 1–7

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Facing Pages · Branch 89 of 147

LII. To the God of the Trieteric Feast · Lines 1–7

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Ancient Greek

p. 172

LII. ΤΡΙΕΤΗΡΙΚΟΥ

θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

Κικλήσκω σε, μάκαρ, πολυώνυμε, μαινόλα, Βακχεῦ,

ταυρόκερως, ληναῖε, πυροσπόρε, Νύσιε, λυσεῦ,

μηροτρεφές, λικνῖτα, πυρίπνοε καὶ τελετάρχα,

νυκτέρι’, Εὐβουλεῦ, μιτρηφόρε, θυρσοτινάκτα,

ὄργιον ἄρρητον, τριφυές, κρύφιον Διὸς ἔρνος,

πρωτογόν’, ἠρικεπαῖε, θεῶν πάτερ ἠδὲ καὶ υἱέ,

ὠμάδιε, σκηπτοῦχε, χοροιμανές, ἡγέτα κώμων,

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: LII. To the God of the Trieteric Feast

p. 173

LII. To the God of the Trieteric Feast

fumigation from aromatics

I call on you, blessed one, of many names, raving, Bakcheus,

bull-horned, of the wine-vat, sower of fire, Nysian, loosener,

thigh-nourished, of the winnowing-fan, fire-breathing, and lord of the rite,

of the night, Eubouleus, wearer of the headband, shaker of the thyrsos,

unspeakable orgion, three-natured, hidden shoot of Zeus,

first-born, Erikepaios, father of gods and son as well,

eater of raw flesh, sceptred, mad for the dance, leader of revels,

6.ἠρικεπαῖε — Erikepaios, given here to Dionysos in a line that also makes him πρωτόγονος and father of gods and son as well. The name is old and serious: it stands in the Gurôb papyrus, a Dionysiac ritual text of the third century BC, in the Rhapsodic theogony as Athenagoras and Proclus quote it, and in Damascius’ account of the third intelligible triad — where, it is worth noting, Phanes, Metis and Erikepaios are distributed as Father, Intellect and Might rather than simply equated. The collection has used the name once before, of Protogonos at VI.4. Abel prints it lower-case, as this edition does after him. Three names and a paradox of generation in one line, and none of them explained.

5, 9.τριφυές at 5, three-natured, beside διμῆτορ at 9, of two mothers. The collection has given six gods a double nature (VI.1, IX.4, XXX.2, XXXII.10, XXXIX.5, XLII.4), and this is the only τριφυής in it. XXX.2 had already called Dionysos τρίγονος, thrice-born — a triple birth, which is not the same claim. The hymn sets three natures at 5 against two mothers at 9, four lines apart, and reconciles nothing.

1, and XLV.4.`μαινόλα Hermann] μανικέ` is the entry here, and it is exactly the entry that a folded paper flap hides at XLV.4 in the copy used for this edition, where only `Hermann] μανικέ.` survives. The restoration made there — `⟨μαινόλα⟩` — is confirmed by this page.

3, 10.μηροτρεφής, thigh-nourished, and λικνίτης, of the winnowing-fan, in one line: the two cradles of the god, the thigh of Zeus and the λίκνον, named together. μηροτραφής is a real word of Dionysos (AP 11.329, Strabo 15.1.7), and the -τρεφ- form here is a recognised variant. Abel’s verse prints μηρο- and his apparatus prints μητρο- twice, in both lemma and manuscript reading — the second of the three text-against-lemma mismatches in this block, and his own inconsistency rather than a variant.

4.Εὐβουλεῦ. The addressee of this hymn is Dionysos — line 1 has μάκαρ, πολυώνυμε, μαινόλα, Βακχεῦ — and νυκτέριε in this line is the epithet beside the name, not a separate god. The name stands here for the fifth time in Abel's text (XXIX.8, XXX.6, XLI.8, XLII.2 and this line), and a sixth follows at LVI.3, where it is given to Adonis. Three of the six are conjectures; this one is not — the codices have it. Plouton's Εὔβουλος at XVIII.12 is the other word. The notes at XXIX.8 and XLI.8 originally counted four occurrences and stated the distinction between the two names as a fact of the collection; both have been corrected.

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.