From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →- English renderings
- Proteus
Meaning
The hymn opens by calling Proteus the holder of the sea’s keys and later says first nature placed all things in him (XXV.1, 9). Those clauses connect maritime authority with comprehensive transformative capacity. The name’s occurrences should be read with the intervening account of changing matter and knowledge of time, rather than reduced to a general biography.
Places to read
- Hymn XXV · Line 1Read the word in its hymn.
Attested forms
Πρωτέα; Πρωτεῖ
Occurrence inventory
2 in total. XXV.1; XXV.9
Heading and incense rubric evidence
ΠΡΩΤΕΩΣ · XXV.heading. XXV. ΠΡΩΤΕΩΣ
Local sense
Proteus as the hymn's divine recipient