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 wordΔόμος identifies a house or dwelling and can extend to an abode of divine powers.
- In the Orphic HymnsPlouton inhabits the house beneath the earth (XVIII.1), giving the noun an underworld setting.
- TranslationThe English house and dwelling are not two different Greek nouns here.
- A place to readThe dwelling is explicitly under the earth.
- English renderings
- house, dwelling
Meaning
Δόμος identifies a house or dwelling and can extend to an abode of divine powers. Singular and plural need not count separate buildings mechanically; the poetic plural may describe a house or its precincts. The local possessor and verb establish which kind of dwelling is in view.
Use in the book
Plouton inhabits the house beneath the earth (XVIII.1), giving the noun an underworld setting. Hermes attends Persephone’s sacred house (LVII.5), while Dionysos sleeps at her sacred dwelling in LIII.3. These passages connect residence with different actions, inhabiting, attending and sleeping. Shared house language does not make the actors’ roles identical.
The Cadmean house in XLVII.2 belongs to a different narrative scene, around which the invoked figure winds. At the other end of the range, every house flourishes with gladness because of Health (LXVIII.4). Here household life, not a specifically divine palace, supplies the natural sense. The sentence uses the dwelling to express the wellbeing of those who live there. Across these settings the word is spatial enough to be recognizable but flexible enough to include the household as a living community.
Places to read
- Hymn XVIII · Line 1The dwelling is explicitly under the earth.
- Hymn LVII · Line 5Hermes serves at Persephone’s sacred house.
- Hymn LIII · Line 3Dionysos’s sleeping gives the same divine setting another role.
- Hymn XLVII · Line 2The Cadmean house anchors a separate narrative image.
- Hymn LXVIII · Line 4Every household prospers through Health.
Translation
The English house and dwelling are not two different Greek nouns here. The plural δόμοις in the Cadmean and Persephone passages can still be rendered house naturally. Do not infer a specified temple architecture from sacred dwelling alone, or force the earthly household use into an underworld allegory.
Attested forms
δόμοις; δόμοισιν; δόμον; δόμος
Occurrence inventory
5 in total. XVIII.1; XLVII.2; LIII.3; LVII.5; LXVIII.4