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 wordΒροτός designates a mortal human being.
- In the Orphic HymnsMortals are receivers of divine benefits as well as subjects of divine constraint.
- TranslationEnglish men, humans and mortals may all represent this noun, but none changes its lexical identity.
- A place to readMortals receive cultivated prosperity from Demeter.
- English renderings
- mortal, human being
Meaning
Βροτός designates a mortal human being. It can function collectively in the plural or describe one member of humanity in the singular. The word here is not the differently accented βρότος, blood: its constructions consistently concern people and their lives.
Use in the book
Mortals are receivers of divine benefits as well as subjects of divine constraint. Demeter supplies them a desirable, abundant life (XL.9), Health removes their diseases (LXVIII.3), and Dionysos brings them joy (L.7). Conversely, Aphrodite yokes mortals to irresistible necessities (LV.13), Athena stirs their souls with frenzy (XXXII.6), and everyone fears Nemesis (LXI.5). These are not different meanings of mortal; they show the varied conditions of human dependence.
The noun also names people as participants and interpreters. Mortals give Apollo an appellation (XXXIV.24), receive the oracle first disclosed by Themis (LXXIX.3), and celebrate divine powers in recurring seasons. The emphatic phrase θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν, mortal mortals or mortal people, occurs in those celebratory settings (XLIV.7; XLV.6; LIV.3). At dawn a singular every mortal stands beside other living creatures (LXXVIII.10), distinguishing humanity within a wider awakening world.
Places to read
- Hymn XL · Line 9Mortals receive cultivated prosperity from Demeter.
- Hymn LXI · Line 5Human vulnerability appears under Nemesis’s yoke.
- Hymn XXXIV · Line 24Mortals actively name the god.
- Hymn LXXVIII · Line 10The singular includes every human alongside other creatures.
- Hymn LXXXVIII · Line 9The appended Ares hymn calls the war-god a helper of mortals.
Translation
English men, humans and mortals may all represent this noun, but none changes its lexical identity. The inventory also distinguishes the related adjective βρότειος from the person-word. The appended Ares occurrence belongs to its own textual layer and should not be silently counted as part of the core collection.
Attested forms
βροτοὶ; βροτοῖς; βροτοῖσι; βροτοῖσιν; βροτὸς; βροτοὺς; βροτῶν
Occurrence inventory
17 in total. XXXII.6; XXXIV.24; XXXVI.8; XL.9; XLIV.7; XLV.6; L.7; LIV.3; LV.13; LIX.5; LXI.5; LXVIII.3; LXIX.5; LXXVII.4; LXXVIII.10; LXXIX.3; LXXXVIII.9