From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordSaving in these hymns ranges from preserving ordinary life and travel to protecting people engaged in sacred activity.
- In the Orphic HymnsPoseidon is asked to keep safe the foundations of the earth and the well-running movement of ships (XVII.9).
- TranslationThe English generally uses 'save,' with 'keep safe' in the Poseidon petition.
- A place to readThe direct command to save closes a childbirth hymn.
- English renderings
- save and keep safe
Meaning
Saving in these hymns ranges from preserving ordinary life and travel to protecting people engaged in sacred activity. The verb's immediate object and setting determine what safety means. It should not be assigned a single technical sense of salvation before the petition has been read. The printed forms vary in their treatment of the iota; the lookup headword σῴζω does not silently regularize them.
Use in the book
Poseidon is asked to keep safe the foundations of the earth and the well-running movement of ships (XVII.9). Palaimon's protection extends over land and sea, but his beneficiaries are explicitly μύσται, initiates (LXXV.5). The latter line shows why 'practical' and 'religious' protection are not mutually exclusive categories: people participating in rites also need safe passage.
Prothyraia's closing imperative belongs to a hymn concerned with childbirth, while Selene preserves her new suppliants as she shines. Apollo's saving accompanies the request that he hear; Sleep is invited to protect initiates in divine works. These uses connect preservation with the god's local sphere and with the present act of invocation. They do not themselves describe one uniform danger, afterlife destination or rite of deliverance.
Places to read
- Hymn II · Line 14The direct command to save closes a childbirth hymn.
- Hymn XVII · Line 9Earth’s foundations and the course of ships specify what must be preserved.
- Hymn IX · Line 12Selene saves her new suppliants, a description distinct from an explicit μύστης title.
- Hymn LXXV · Line 5Initiates request protection on land and sea.
- Hymn LXXXV · Line 10Sleep’s preservation accompanies the initiates’ divine works.
Translation
The English generally uses 'save,' with 'keep safe' in the Poseidon petition. The change makes a local object clearer rather than establishing two separate Greek verbs. At IX.12 the text says νέους ἱκέτας, new suppliants: describing them as newly initiated would be an additional interpretation. The related nouns σωτήρ and σώτειρα deserve comparison, but their occurrence counts must not be added to the six tokens of this verb.
Attested forms
σῷζ’; σώζειν; σώζοις; σώζοντ’; σώζουσα; σώζων
Occurrence inventory
6 in total. II.14; IX.12; XVII.9; XXXIV.27; LXXV.5; LXXXV.10