From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordῬέα is the goddess’s name, with the epic accusative Ῥείαν also printed in the Prayer.
- In the Orphic HymnsThe Prayer places Rheia with Kronos and Tethys (Prayer.26).
- TranslationAt LVIII.6 the apparatus attributes the adopted Ῥέα to Wiel and reports the general noun θεά, “goddess.” The name therefore belongs to the edition’s chosen reading at that locus; the reported wording alone would not identify the feeder as Rhea.
- A place to readThe epic accusative Rheia in the collective invocation.
- English renderings
- Rhea; Rheia
Meaning
Ῥέα is the goddess’s name, with the epic accusative Ῥείαν also printed in the Prayer. It is distinct from the adverb ῥεῖα, “easily.” The name identifies the recipient or actor, while parental, marital and cosmic relations are supplied by the accompanying words rather than derived from its spelling.
Use in the book
The Prayer places Rheia with Kronos and Tethys (Prayer.26). Kronos’s hymn calls him Rhea’s husband, and her own hymn makes her daughter of Protogonos, mother of Zeus and bed-partner of Kronos (XIII.7; XIV.1–5). Those relations coexist in the supplied praise. The same hymn combines lion-drawn movement, musical noise, martial strength and the production of earth, heaven, sea and winds. Its closing request seeks peace and the removal of pollution and dooms, so the formidable portrait serves a protective petition. In Eros’s hymn Rhea feeds breaths for mortals as a green-fruited goddess (LVIII.6), a locally nourishing action rather than another genealogy.
Places to read
- Prayer to Musaeus · Line 26The epic accusative Rheia in the collective invocation.
- Hymn XIII · Line 7Rhea as Kronos’s spouse.
- Hymn XIV · Line 1Her explicit relationship to Protogonos.
- Hymn XIV · Line 7Rhea’s royal and martial address.
- Hymn LVIII · Line 6The editorially adopted name of the nourishing goddess.
Translation
At LVIII.6 the apparatus attributes the adopted Ῥέα to Wiel and reports the general noun θεά, “goddess.” The name therefore belongs to the edition’s chosen reading at that locus; the reported wording alone would not identify the feeder as Rhea. The Greek Ῥείαν in the Prayer and the English “Rheia” preserve a genuine access variation, not a second goddess.
Attested forms
Ῥέα; Ῥέας; Ῥείαν
Occurrence inventory
5 in total. Prayer.26; XIII.7; XIV.1; XIV.7; LVIII.6
Heading and incense rubric evidence
ΡΕΑΣ · XIV.heading. XIV. ΡΕΑΣ
Local sense
Rhea as the hymn's divine recipient