From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordἄγαλμα names something that gives delight, splendour or honour.
- In the Orphic HymnsThe sole primary occurrence in this supplied corpus calls Selene “night’s ἄγαλμα” at IX.9.
- TranslationThe English chooses “glory of night,” which fits the immediate descriptive sequence.
- A place to readSelene herself is the glory or adornment of night.
- English renderings
- adornment; glory
Meaning
ἄγαλμα names something that gives delight, splendour or honour. Although “statue” belongs to the word’s wider range, a statue is not implied by the noun on its own. The genitive and the identity of the thing being described are decisive here.
Use in the book
The sole primary occurrence in this supplied corpus calls Selene “night’s ἄγαλμα” at IX.9. It follows shining, gracious-faced and horn-bearing descriptions. The moon herself adorns the night: the phrase completes a portrait of a luminous divine presence rather than introducing a manufactured object into the scene.
The neuter noun can stand in address to a feminine deity because its grammatical gender is its own. It does not turn Selene into a neuter entity, nor require an omitted word for an image. Reading it as “glory” makes the phrase a praise of what she contributes to the nocturnal world.
Places to read
- Hymn IX · Line 9Selene herself is the glory or adornment of night.
Translation
The English chooses “glory of night,” which fits the immediate descriptive sequence. The apparatus discusses neighbouring epithets in the line, not a replacement of ἄγαλμα; those neighbouring alternatives should not be represented as variants of this noun. A reader looking for material cult images should therefore not treat this occurrence alone as evidence of a statue.
Attested forms
ἄγαλμα
Occurrence inventory
1 in total. IX.9