From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordΧροιά, represented here by Ionic χροιήν, concerns bodily surface, skin or appearance.
- In the Orphic HymnsLXXI.5 places χροιήν as the accusative object of ἔσπασε, an act of drawing or tearing, beside δισώματον, “two-bodied.” Taking the adjective with the bodily surface yields the translation’s striking description, but its exact application remains difficult.
- TranslationThe aligned English chooses “drew off the two-bodied flesh of Phersephone” and “in anger.” That is an interpretation of the clause, not a transparent word-for-word resolution of all its relations.
- A place to readThe only primary occurrence stands at the narrative’s syntactic crux.
- English renderings
- bodily surface, skin, appearance
Meaning
Χροιά, represented here by Ionic χροιήν, concerns bodily surface, skin or appearance. The choice among those English words matters in the difficult Meilinoe narrative: “flesh” can suggest a fully specified physical act more strongly than a word whose range includes visible complexion and surface.
Use in the book
LXXI.5 places χροιήν as the accusative object of ἔσπασε, an act of drawing or tearing, beside δισώματον, “two-bodied.” Taking the adjective with the bodily surface yields the translation’s striking description, but its exact application remains difficult. The preceding lines name Persephone as mother, Zeus in the birth-bed description and Plouton in a grammatically contested deception clause. The subject of the action in line 5, the attachment of Φερσεφόνης and the force of the two-bodied description are therefore material questions, not details that a bare gloss can settle.
The following lines turn to Meilinoe’s apparitions, strange forms and alternation between visibility and darkness (LXXI.6–9). They make bodily appearance an important concern of the hymn. They do not, however, supply an unambiguous retrospective explanation of which person possessed the χροιή or exactly what happened to it. Nor does “two-bodied” by itself establish a particular two-coloured skin pattern. The lexical entry should preserve the bodily and visible force while keeping those narrative inferences qualified.
Places to read
- Hymn LXXI · Line 5The only primary occurrence stands at the narrative’s syntactic crux.
Translation
The aligned English chooses “drew off the two-bodied flesh of Phersephone” and “in anger.” That is an interpretation of the clause, not a transparent word-for-word resolution of all its relations. The preceding printed Πλούτων’ differs from reported nominative Πλούτων, further affecting the available subject reading. Read this noun with ψεύδω and δισώματος before treating the translation as a settled account of bodily injury or parentage.
Attested forms
χροιήν
Occurrence inventory
1 in total. LXXI.5