From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →- English renderings
- Prothyraia; goddess before the doorway
Meaning
The name evokes a position before the doorway, but hymn II develops its significance through help in childbirth. Prothyraia is present in mortal pains and named in the concluding sequence with Artemis Eileithyia (II.4, 12). A threshold interpretation should complement that explicit function rather than replace it with an invented building location.
Places to read
- Hymn II · Line 4Read the word in its hymn.
Attested forms
Προθυραία
Occurrence inventory
2 in total. II.4; II.12
Heading and incense rubric evidence
ΠΡΟΘΥΡΑΙΑΣ · II.heading. II. ΠΡΟΘΥΡΑΙΑΣ
Local sense
the goddess before the doorway, invoked in childbirth