Explained vocabulary

Destructive fate — κήρ

κήρ

kēr

Heracles and Rhea are asked to send away κῆρες; Asclepius stops death’s κῆρες; appended Ares asks for escape from violent ones.

From the book

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns

Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →
English renderings
destructive fate; death-bringing danger

Meaning

Heracles and Rhea are asked to send away κῆρες; Asclepius stops death’s κῆρες; appended Ares asks for escape from violent ones. These are threatening powers or fatal dangers, not ordinary emotional cares. The poems’ active expulsion language can personify them, but it does not require one fully described individual spirit behind every plural occurrence.

Places to read

  1. Hymn XII · Line 16Read the word in its hymn.

Attested forms

κῆράς; κῆρας

Occurrence inventory

4 in total. XII.16; XIV.14; LXVII.4; LXXXVIII.17