The Orphic Gold Tablets

The gold leaves buried with the initiates, translated from the Greek

Between about 400 BCE and the second century CE, some initiates of Dionysus and Persephone were buried with a thin leaf of gold on the body or over the mouth. The leaves speak to the dead. Some give directions in the underworld: avoid the first spring by the white cypress, go on to the cold water of the lake of Memory, and tell its guards, "I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven." Some speak to Persephone: "I come pure from the pure." The ivy-leaf pair from Pelinna says, "Now you have died, and now you have been born." Many carry only a name or the word "initiate." They have been found in graves in southern Italy, Sicily, Thessaly, Macedonia, the Peloponnese, Crete and Rome.

This page gives all forty tablets printed in Yannis Tzifopoulos's edition (2010), in his order and with his numbers. Group A addresses the Queen below the earth. Group B gives the road to the lake of Memory. C is a long, mostly unreadable letter-string from Thurii. D holds the leaves from Paestum, Pelinna, Pherai and Amphipolis. E holds greetings to Pluto and Persephone. F holds names. Each tablet is translated from the Greek, which follows below, line for line. Square brackets mark words the editor restores where the gold is lost. […] marks a gap. Greek capitals left in the English are letters no editor has yet read as words.

Translation

A1 — Thourioi, Italy, Timpone Piccolo

I come pure from the pure, Queen of those under the earth,
Eukles and Eubouleus and you other deathless gods;
for I too declare that I am of your blessed race,
but Fate brought me down, and the other deathless gods, star-struck by the thunderbolt.
I flew out of the hard circle, heavy with grief;
I stepped onto the longed-for crown with swift feet;
I slipped beneath the lap of the Lady, the Queen under the earth;
I stepped off the longed-for crown with swift feet. "Blessed and enviable one, you will be a god instead of a mortal."
A kid, I fell into milk.

A2 — Thourioi, Italy, Timpone Piccolo

I come pure from the pure, Queen of those under the earth,
Eukles and Eubouleus and you gods and other spirits;
for I too declare that I am of your blessed race.
I have paid the penalty for deeds in no way just,
whether Fate brought me down, or the Lightning-hurler with his thunderbolts.
Now I come as a suppliant to holy Persephone,
that she may kindly send me to the seats of the hallowed.

A3 — Thourioi, Italy, Timpone Piccolo

I come pure from the pure, Queen of those under the earth,
Eukles and Eubouleus and you gods, all the other spirits there are;
for I too declare that I am of your blessed race.
I have paid the penalty for deeds in no way just,
whether Fate brought me down, or the Lightning-hurler with the thunderbolt.
Now I come as a suppliant to Persephone,
that she may kindly send me to the seats of the hallowed.

A4 — Thourioi, Italy, Timpone Grande

But when the soul leaves the light of the sun,
go out to the right Ε.ΟΙΑΣ, keeping well on guard in all things.
Rejoice, you who have suffered the suffering you had never suffered before.
You have become a god out of […] a human.
A kid, you fell into milk.
Rejoice, rejoice: walk the right-hand road
through the sacred meadows and the groves of Persephone.

A5 — Rome

She comes pure from the pure, Queen of those under the earth,
Eukles and Eubouleus, radiant child of Zeus! And I hold
this gift of Memory, sung of among humankind:
Caecilia Secundina, come by right, made divine.

B1 — Petelia, Italy

You will find on the left of the house of Hades a spring,
and beside it a white cypress standing.
Do not go even near this spring.
You will find another: from the lake of Memory
cold water flowing forth. There are guards in front of it.
Say: "I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven,
but my race is heavenly; this you know yourselves.
I am parched with thirst and I am perishing; but give me quickly
cold water flowing from the lake of Memory."
And they themselves will give you to drink from the divine [spring],
and then at last you will rule [among the other] heroes.
This is [Memory's work, for when one is about] to die […]
this writ[…]
ΤΟΓΛΩΣΕΙΠΑ, darkness covering all around.

B2 — Pharsalos, Thessaly

You will find in the house of Hades, on the right, a spring,
and beside it a white cypress standing.
Do not come even close to this spring.
Further on you will find, from the lake of Memory,
cold water flowing forth. There are guards above it.
They will ask you what need has brought you here.
Tell them, very fully, the whole truth.
Say: "I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven;
my name is Asterios. I am parched with thirst; but give me
to drink from the spring."