Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek
This page translates Kern fragment 31, the Gurob papyrus sacred-law fragment. The papyrus is broken: Kern prints surviving line endings and beginnings, and the English below keeps the text in fragments rather than smoothing it into a continuous ritual.
Translation
Kern Fr. 31 — The Gurob Papyrus Sacred Law
... you may find ...
... speak ...
For the rite.
I cut off the fathers' penalties.
Save me, Brimo; save me,
Demeter and Rhea,
and you armed Kouretes.
... that we may perform fair sacred rites.
... a ram and a goat,
gifts beyond measure.
... by the river, according to sacred custom.
... of the goat.
Let him eat the remaining meats.
Let him not look on.
... having set it upon ...
A prayer ...
Protogonos and Eubouleus I call.
... I summon ...
... for us, of Demeter and Pallas.
Erikapaios, save me.
... Phanes.
One Dionysus.
The ritual tokens.
... the god through the fold.
... I drank.
Ass.
Herdsman.
A token: above, below ...
And what was given to you to spend:
put it into the basket.
Pine cone, rhombos, knucklebones,
and mirror.
Colophon
This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), fr. 31, in the early-fragments section of the printed collection. Kern's numbering is retained.
The source witness translated here is the third-century BCE Gurob papyrus fragment printed by Kern from J. Gilbart Smyly's edition and papyrus image controls. The English follows the legible Greek ritual anchors and leaves the damaged gaps visible.
Source Text
Kern Fr. 31 — Gurob Papyrus, Legible Line Anchors
1 ... εὑρῇ
2 ... λέγε
3 διὰ τὴν τελετήν
4 ἔτεμον ποινὰς πατέ[ρων]
5 σῶισόν με, Βριμώ, με
6 Δημήτηρ τε Ῥέα
7 Κούρητές τε ἔνοπλοι
8 ...
9 ... ποιῶμεν ἱερὰ καλά
10 ... κριός τε τραγός τε
11 ... ἀπερίσια δῶρα
12 ... καὶ ἐπὶ ποταμοῦ νόμῳ
13 ... τοῦ τράγου
14 τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ κρέα ἐσθιέτω
15 ... μὴ ἐφοράτω
16 ... ἀναθεὶς εἰς τὸ ...
17 ... εὐχή
18 [Πρωτόγο]νον καὶ [Εὐβούλ]εα καλῶ
19 ... κικλήσκω
20 ...
21 Δημήτρος καὶ Παλλάδος ἡμῖν
22 ... Ἠρικεπαῖε, σῶισόν με
23 ... [Φάν]ητα. εἷς Διόνυσος. σύμβολα
24 ... θεὸς διὰ κόλπου
25 ... ἔπιον. ὄνος. βουκόλος
26 ... σύνθεμα ἄνω κάτω ...
27 καὶ ὃ σοι ἐδόθη ἀναλῶσαι
28 εἰς τὸν κάλαθον ἐμβαλεῖν
29 κῶνος, ῥόμβος, ἀστράγαλοι
30 ... ἔσοπτρον
Source Colophon
Source edition: Otto Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, Berlin: Weidmann, 1922, pp. 101-104.
Public scan: https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft
Digital papyrology metadata: https://papyri.info/dclp/65667
The Greek text above normalizes obvious OCR and font-display noise against Kern's printed page images and displays the legible line anchors translated here. It omits Kern's apparatus and Latin discussion while preserving Kern's fragment number.