Orphic Fragments — Hymns, Nature, and the Sacred Name

Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 304-308 from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta. Kern places them under Hymnoi, the Hymns. The witnesses describe short Orphic hymns sung by the Lycomidae, hymns to Eros, physical hymns explaining the nature of gods, perfect hymns to Dionysus, and a sacred name-array attributed to Orpheus the theologian.

Translation

Kern Fr. 304 — Short Hymns Sung by the Lycomidae

Pausanias says:

Whoever has already made a close study of poetry knows the hymns of Orpheus: each one is very short, and all together they have not been made into a large number.

The Lycomidae know them and sing them over the rites that are performed.

In the beauty of their verses, the hymns would receive second place after Homer. But in honor from the divine, they come to a higher place than Homer's.

Kern Fr. 305 — Orpheus and Pamphos Hymning Eros

Pausanias says:

Later, Silenus, Pamphos, and Orpheus composed verses. For Pamphos and Orpheus, verses to Eros have been made, so that the Lycomidae may sing these too over the rites that are performed.

I chose these matters after entering into conversation with a torch-bearer, but I will not carry the recollection of them further.

Kern Fr. 306 — Physical Hymns

Menander Rhetor says:

Physical hymns are such as those made by the circle of Parmenides and Empedocles, setting out what the nature of Apollo is, and what the nature of Zeus is.

Many of the hymns of Orpheus are of this kind.

About physical hymns he also says:

One must be watchful and not bring such hymns out before the great crowd and the people. To the many, they appear more offensive and more laughable.

Kern Fr. 307 — The Perfect Hymns to Dionysus

Aelius Aristides, in his speech on Dionysus, says:

Let us leave the perfect hymns and discourses about Dionysus to Orpheus and Musaeus, and to the ancient lawgivers.

But we ourselves, for the sake of something like a symbol, since we are not among the uninitiated, should address the god in a measured voice. In any case, lengths and shortnesses and anything at all in nature are dear to him.

Kern Fr. 308 — Orpheus the Theologian and the Sacred Name

A Leiden magical papyrus, explaining a supreme name, says:

Lord,
great archangel of God,

I call on your greatest name
among the gods.

The text continues with a sequence of sacred syllables and says:

Therefore I set you together,
great one,

and I have you
in my heart,

as Orpheus the theologian
handed down
through his own name-array.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 304-308, under the title Hymnoi, the Hymns. Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.12 and 9.27.2; Menander Rhetor, On Hymns; Aelius Aristides, Dionysus; and Leiden Papyrus W 21.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 304 — Short Hymns Sung by the Lycomidae

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.12:

ὅστις δὲ περὶ ποιήσεως ἐπολυπραγμόνησεν ἤδη, τοὺς Ὀρφέως ὕμνους οἶδεν ὄντας, ἕκαστόν τε αὐτῶν ἐπὶ βραχύτατον, καὶ τὸ σύμπαν οὐκ ἐς ἀριθμὸν πολὺν πεποιημένους· Λυκομίδαι δὲ ἴσασί τε καὶ ἐπᾴδουσι τοῖς δρωμένοις. κόσμῳ μὲν δὴ τῶν ἐπῶν δευτερεῖα φέροιντο ἂν μετά γε Ὁμήρου τοὺς ὕμνους, τιμῆς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ θείου καὶ ἐς πλέον ἐκείνων ἥκουσι.

Kern Fr. 305 — Orpheus and Pamphos Hymning Eros

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.27.2:

Σιληνὸς δὲ ὕστερον Πάμφως τε ἔπη καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ἐποίησαν, καὶ σφίσιν ἀμφοτέροις πεποιημένα ἐστὶν ἐς Ἔρωτα, ἵνα ἐπὶ τοῖς δρωμένοις Λυκομίδαι καὶ ταῦτα ᾄδωσιν· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπελεξάμην ἀνδρὶ ἐς λόγους ἐλθὼν δᾳδουχοῦντι. καὶ τῶν μὲν οὐ πρόσω ποιήσομαι μνήμην.

Kern Fr. 306 — Physical Hymns

Menander Rhetor, Peri ton hymnon ton eis tous theous:

φυσικοὶ δὲ οἵους οἱ περὶ Παρμενίδην καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλέα ἐποίησαν, τίς ἡ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος φύσις, τίς ἡ τοῦ Διός, παρατιθέμενοι. καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν Ὀρφέως τούτου τοῦ τρόπου.

ἐπιτηρεῖν δὲ χρὴ καὶ μὴ εἰς τὸν πολὺν ὄχλον καὶ δῆμον ἐκφέρειν τοὺς τοιούτους ὕμνους· ἀπεχθανώτεροι γὰρ καὶ καταγελαστικώτεροι τοῖς πολλοῖς φαίνονται.

Kern Fr. 307 — The Perfect Hymns to Dionysus

Aelius Aristides, Dionysus:

τοὺς μὲν οὖν τελέους ὕμνους τε καὶ λόγους περὶ Διονύσου Ὀρφεῖ καὶ Μουσαίῳ παρῶμεν καὶ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τῶν νομοθετῶν· αὐτοὶ δὲ ὡσπερεὶ συμβόλου χάριν, ὡς οὐ τῶν ἀμυήτων ἄρ' ἦμεν, συμμέτρῳ τῇ φωνῇ προσείπωμεν τὸν θεόν· πάντως δὲ καὶ μήκη καὶ βραχύτητες καὶ ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει φίλον αὐτῷ.

Kern Fr. 308 — Orpheus the Theologian and the Sacred Name

Leiden Papyrus W 21:

ἐπικαλοῦμαί σου τὸ ὄνομα τὸ μέγιστον ἐν θεοῖς· κύριε, ὁ μέγας ἀρχάγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ, αη αιω εναι η η λωμ τη ιη αιωση αιω· διὸ συνίσταμαι, ὁ μέγας, καὶ ἔχω σε ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου, αω ηη φω ητ αιηη ωη τω αιω εοηε ωωη ααη ωητω, ὡς ὁ θεολόγος Ὀρφεὺς παρέδωκεν διὰ τῆς παραστιχίδος τῆς ἰδίας.