Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 47-49 from the Orphic Demeter and Kore cycle. The group gathers the damaged Thurii gold leaf known as the Carmen Siculum, Ps.-Justin's witness to an Orphic poem beginning with Demeter, and the fragmentary Berlin papyrus account of Kore's descent.

Translation

Kern Fr. 47 — The Sicilian Gold Leaf

Kern prints Diels' reconstruction of a very difficult Thurii gold leaf. The recoverable thread is fragmentary:

To the First-born, to Mother Earth, the Cybelian Maiden said:

... of Demeter ... all-seeing Zeus ...

Sun, Fire, you who go through all the stars, when with Victories and Fortunes you appeared, and together with the all-counselling Moirai:

With your own jaw you fatten your own, renowned daimon, in mistress-powers. For you all things are subdued, you rule all things; all thunder-struck things, all things everywhere are the rites of Moira.

Fire, lead me to the Mother, if I know how to endure fasting. For seven fasts, by night or after day, she departed. For a full seven days she was fasting, Olympian Zeus and all-seeing Sun ...

The remaining letters are too broken to translate as continuous sense.

Kern Fr. 48 — Orpheus' Demeter Opening and Homer's Imitation

The poet Homer, making use of poetic license and emulating Orpheus' doctrine about the plurality of gods at the beginning, mentions many gods in mythic fashion, so that he may not seem to follow Orpheus' poem, which he had set himself to emulate in such a way that even by the first verse of his poem he signaled his relation to Orpheus.

For when Orpheus had said at the beginning of his poem:

Sing anger, goddess, of Demeter rich in fruit,

Homer himself wrote:

Sing anger, goddess, of Peleus' son Achilles.

He chose, as it seems to me, to fall away at the beginning even from the meter proper to the poem, so that he might not seem not to have remembered the name of the gods first.

Kern Fr. 49 — The Berlin Papyrus on Orpheus, Kore, and Baubo

Orpheus was the son of Oeagrus and Calliope the Muse. Apollo, king of the Muses, breathed upon him. From this he became inspired and made the hymns, which Musaeus corrected in a few places and wrote down.

He handed down the rites of Orpheus to be honored among Greeks and barbarians, and in each act of reverence he was most careful about initiations, mysteries, purifications, and oracles.

The next lines are damaged. They introduce Demeter.

Orpheus handed Demeter down as Zeus' sister; others called her his mother. Of the impious accounts, nothing was made into remembrance. The account begins from the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, Persephone, with the daughters of Ocean present. Their names, from Orpheus' verses, are these:

Leucippe, Phanere, Electra, Ianthe, Melobosis, Tyche, Ocyroe of the blossom-face, Chryseis, Ianeira, Acaste, Admete, Rhodope, Pluto, lovely Calypso, Styx, Urania, and lovely Galaxaura.

The papyrus breaks.

A narcissus appeared. Kore, amazed, ran toward it. When she wanted to pull it up with both hands, then the earth is said to have gaped open, and Aidoneus rose from the earth on a chariot with horses, seized Kore, and carried her away.

Zeus, with thunder and lightning ... black ... the pastures of Artemis ... Athena ... The surrounding lines are broken. When Demeter heard the cry, she came out from Sicily and wandered over the earth. Around the city she became unseen.

The papyrus breaks again.

Demeter groaned over her daughter's misfortune. Calliope, Cleisidice, and Damonassa went with the queen to draw water and asked Demeter as if she were a mortal woman: what need had brought her there? Musaeus says this through his verses.

In prayers one should ask the cause after doing kindness ... crocus, hyacinth, and blossoms ... for the blossom-faced maiden. Earth, by Zeus' will and favoring Polydektes, brought forth a marvel to be seen by all, by immortal gods and mortal human beings: from its root a hundred heads had grown.

The papyrus fails.

Across the Nysian plain the all-receiving lord, the much-named son of Kronos, rushed with immortal horses. As long as the goddess could look upon earth and starry heaven, the fish-filled sea, and the rays of the sun, she still hoped to see her dear mother and the tribes of the ever-living gods.

The following lines are too broken for continuous translation. Demeter is questioned, possibly by Hecate.

Then the child is given to Baubo. Baubo loves her greatly, and Demeter has already agreed to go down into the house with the child, as a nurse should.

Anointing the child with ambrosia, by night she put him into the fire, and in the morning she secretly lifted him up and restored him to his parents. The child did not wish to suckle, nor did he take any other food, but he was well-fed and beautiful. Baubo was astonished at the child's flourishing condition. By night, watching through the door, she saw the woman hiding the child in the fire. Thinking that unspeakable things were happening, she cried out:

Child Demophon, the stranger hides you in much fire, and sets bitter griefs upon me.

Then Demeter, angered, said:

Foolish human beings, hard-fated, knowing beforehand neither the evil coming upon you nor the good ...

The line breaks, then resumes:

Now there is no way for him to escape death and doom.

The child burns. Demeter kills him and, standing upright, reveals herself. She says:

I am Demeter, season-bearer, glorious giver. What heavenly god, or what mortal human being, seized Persephone and deceived your dear heart?

Celeus then came into the courtyard from the field. The rest is broken: the mother, the stranger, the daughter, Demeter, the lord of all, the black horses, Triptolemus.

The final visible note says:

From this it is called the Descent.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 47-49, in the Demeter and Kore section of the printed collection. Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are the Thurii gold leaf printed as the Carmen Siculum, Ps.-Justin's Cohortatio ad Gentiles, and the Berlin papyrus tract printed by Kern as fr. 49. The Berlin papyrus is heavily damaged; the English keeps lacunae visible instead of turning conjectural supplements into a smooth story.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 47 — Thurii Gold Leaf, Carmen Siculum

πρατογόνωι Γῆι ματρὶ ἔφη Κυβελήϊα Κόρρα·

... Δήμητρος ... πανόπτα Ζεῦ ...

Ἥλιε Πῦρ διὰ πάντ' ἄστη νίσαι, ὅτε Νίκαις

ἠδὲ Τύχαις ἐφάνης καὶ ὁμοῦ παμμῆστοροι Μοῖραι,

τῆι τοι γάννυα πιαίνεις τῆι σῆι, κλυτὲ δαῖμον,

δεσποτείαι· τίν πάντα δαμαστά, τὰ πάντα κρατυντά,

ἐμβρόντητα δὲ πάντα· τὰ Μοίρης τελετὰ πάντα.

μητέρι Πῦρ μὲν μ' ἄγε, εἰ νῆστις οἶδ' ὑπομεῖναι,

ἑπτὰ τε νῆστιν νυξὶν ἢ μεθ' ἡμέραν ἔλιπεν.

ἑπτήμαρ τίν νῆστις ἔην, Ζεῦ Ὀλύμπιε καὶ πανόπτα

Ἄλιε ...

Kern Fr. 48 — Ps.-Justin, Cohortatio ad Gentiles 17b

ὁ δὲ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρος, τῆι τῆς ποιήσεως ἀποχρώμενος ἐξουσίαι καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῆι τῆς πολυθεότητος Ὀρφέως ζηλώσας δόξαν, μυθωδῶς μὲν πλειόνων θεῶν μέμνηται, ἵνα μὴ δόξηι τῆς Ὀρφέως ὀπαίδειν ποιήσεως, ἣν οὕτως ζηλῶσαι προὔθετο, ὡς καὶ διὰ τοῦ πρώτου τῆς ποιήσεως ἔπους τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν σημῆναι σχέσιν.

τοῦ γὰρ Ὀρφέως·

Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Δημήτερος ἀγλαοκάρπου

ἐν ἀρχῆι τῆς ποιήσεως εἰρηκότος, αὐτός·

Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος

γέγραφεν, ἑλόμενος, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ἐν ἀρχῆι καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν ἐκπεσεῖν μέτρου, ἵνα μὴ δόξηι τοῦ τῶν θεῶν ὀνόματος μὴ μεμνῆσθαι πρῶτον.

Kern Fr. 49 — Berlin Papyrus 44, Kathodos of Kore

I.

<Ὀρφεὺς υἱὸς ἦν Οἰάγ>ρου καὶ Καλλιόπης τῆς

<Μούσης, ὁ δὲ Μουσ>ῶν βασιλεὺς Ἀπόλλων τού-

<τωι ἐπέπνευσεν, ὅθεν> ἔνθεος γενόμενος

<ἐποίησεν τοὺς ὕμνους,> οὓς ὀλίγα Μουσαῖος ἐπα-

<νορθώσας κατέγ>ραψεν· παρέδωκεν δὲ

<τὰ Ὀρφέως ὄργι>α σέβεσθαι Ἕλλησίν τε καὶ

<βαρβάροις, καὶ κ>αθ' ἕκαστον σέβημα ἦν ἐ-

<πιμελέστατος περὶ> τελετὰς καὶ μυστήρια καὶ

<καθαρμοὺς καὶ> μαντεῖα. τ<ὴ>ν Δ<ή>μητρα θε<ὰν>

...

sequuntur nonnulli versus qui legi nequeunt

II.

<ὁ Ὀ>ρφεὺς ... Διὸς ἀδελφὴν παραδέδωκεν,

οἱ δὲ μητέρα· ὧν οὐθὲν τῶν εὐσεβούν-

των εἰς ἐπίμνησιν <πε>ποίηται· ἔ<χ>ει γὰρ ἐ<κ>

Διὸς καὶ Δήμητρ<ος> θυγατρ<ὸς> ἀρχήν, Φερ-

σεφόνη<ς ...> συμπαρουσῶν

τῶν <Ὠκεα>νοῦ θυγατέρ<ω>ν, ὧν ὀνόματα

τα<ῦτα ἐκ τῶν> Ὀρφέως ἐπῶν· Λευ<κ>ίππη

Φανερή <τε> καὶ Ἠλέκτρῃ καὶ Ἰάν<θ>ῃ Μηλο-

βοσί<ς τε Τ>ύχη τε <καὶ> Ὠκυρόη καλυκῶπ<ις>

Χρ<υσηίς τ' Ἰάνε>ιρά τ' Ἀκάστη τ' Ἀδμή<τη τε>

καὶ Ῥ<οδόπη Πλουτώ τε καὶ ἱμερό>εσσα Κ<α-

λυψὼ καὶ Στὺξ Ο>ὐρανίη τε Γαλαξ<αύρη τ'>

ἐρ<ατεινή> ...

deficit papyrus

III.

νάρκισ<σο>ν, <ἐφ' ὃν ἡ Κόρη θ>αμβήσασα ἐπέδραμεν·

καὶ <δὴ ταύτης τα>ῖς χερσὶν βουλομένης

ἀνασπάσα<σθαι> αὐτόν, τότε λέγεται τὴν γῆ<ν>

χα<νεῖν καὶ <ἐκ γῆς> τὸν Ἀϊδωνέα ἀναβ<άν>τα

ἐφ' ἅρμ<ατος> κ<αὶ ἐφ'> ἵππων συναρπά<σ>αντα

τὴν Κό<ρην ἀπαγαγεῖν>· τὸν δὲ Δία βρονταῖς

καὶ ἀ<στρ>απαῖ<ς ...> μελαίνα<ς>

...

<τῶν σ>υν<παιζ>ουσῶν καταγελασθεῖν· <ἐπεὶ>

δὲ <ἤκου>σε τῆς γεγωνυίας ἡ Δημήτηρ,

<ἐκ> Σ<ικ>ελίας ἐξελθοῦσα ἐπλανᾶτο κατὰ

<γῆν ἡ δ>ὲ πε<ρὶ> τ<ὴν> πόλιν ἀφανὴς γέγονεν

...

IV.

... τ<ὴν> συμφοράζουσαν στενάχειν ὑπὲρ

τῆς θυγατρός· Καλλιόπης δὲ καὶ Κλ<ει>σι<δί>κης

καὶ Δημ<ωνάσ>σης μετὰ τῆς βασιλί<σσ>ης ἐ<φ'> ὑ-

δρείαν ἐλθουσῶν πυνθάνεσθαι τῆ<ς> Δήμη-

τρος ὡς θνητῆς τινος, χρείας δ' ἕν<εκ>ά

τινος αὐτὴν παραγεγονένα<ι> ...

... κρόκον, ὑάκινθον <καὶ> ἀκ<αλλίδ>ας ...

<Γαῖα Διὸ>ς βουλ<ῆσι χαριζομέ>νη <Πολυδέ-

κτῃ, θ>αυμαστὸν <γ>αν<όωντα, σέβας τ>ότε πᾶ<σιν>

ἰδ<έσθαι ἀθ>ανάτοις τε <θεοῖς ἠδὲ θ>νητοῖς

<ἀνθρώποις, τοῦ> καὶ ἀπὸ ῥί<ζης ἑκατὸν κάρα>

<πεφύκει> ...

deficit papyrus

V.

Νύσ<ιον> ἂμ πεδίον τ<ῆ ὄρουσεν ἄναξ πολυδέ-

γμων> ἵπποις ἀθανάτα<ισι Κρόνου πολυώνυ-

μος υἱός. ὄφρα μὲν οὖ<ν γαῖάν τε καὶ οὐρανὸν>

ἀστερόεντα λεῦσσε θεὰ <καὶ πόντον ἀγά-

ρρουν> ἰχθυό<εντα, αὐγάς τ' ἠελίου, ἔτι ἤλπε-

το μητ>έρα <κε>δνὴν <ὄ>ψεσθαι καὶ φῦλα θε<ῶν>

ἀειγενετάων ...

...

VI.

... δίδωσι δὲ αὐτῆι Β<αυβώι> παιδίον,

... <ἀγαπ>ᾷ <δὲ καὶ πάν>υ αὐτήν· ἡ δὲ Δημήτη<ρ ἤδη>

εἰς <οἶκον> κ<αταινέσασ>α κ<α>τάξ<ε>σθαι σὺν τῶι πα<ιδίωι>

...

<οἷα δεῖ τιθ>ήνην, καὶ ἀμβροσίαι χρ<ίουσα τὸ> παιδίον

<καθῆ>κεν <δι>ὰ ν<υ>κτὸς εἰς τὴν πυράν, πρωὶ δὲ λ<αθοῦσα>

<τοὺς γονεῖς> ἀνελάμβανεν· τοῦ δὲ παιδίου οὐ βου-

<λομένου> θηλάζειν οὐδὲ προσφορὰν ἄλλην λαμβάνον-

τος, <ἀλλ' ὄν>τος εὐτρόφου καὶ καλοῦ, ἔκθαμβος γενη-

θεῖσα ἡ Β<αυβώ> ἐπὶ τῆι <τοῦ> παιδίου εὐτροφίαι,

νυκτὸς αἰ<σθομένη διὰ> τῆς θύρα<ς> τὴν μὴ νοήσασαν

ἐνκρύπ<του>σαν τὸ παιδίον εἰς πυρὰν καὶ ὑπολαβοῦσα

<ἄρρη>τα γείν<ε>σθαι ἀνεβόα·

τέκνον Δημοφόων,

ξείνη σε πυρῇ ἔνι πολλῇ κρύπτει, ἐμοὶ δὲ

καὶ κήδεα λυγρὰ τίθησιν.

<τότε δ>ὲ ἡ Δημήτηρ <ὀργισθεῖσα εἶπ>εν·

ἄφρονές ἄνθρωποι, δυστλήμονες,

οὔτε κακοῖο ὔμμιν ἐπερχομένου προγνώμονες

οὔτ' ἀγαθοῖο ...

... νῦν δ' οὐκ ἔσθ' ὥς <κεν θά>νατον

<καὶ κῆρας ἀλύξαι> ...

VII.

καὶ ἀποκτείνει καὶ ὀρθῶς αὐτὴν δια<καλύπτει>·

λέγει γάρ·

εἰμὶ δὲ Δημήτηρ ὡρηφόρος ἀγλαόδωρος.

τίς θεὸς οὐράνιος ἠὲ θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων

ἥρπασε Φερσεφόνην καὶ ἑὸν φίλον ἤπαφε θυμόν;

τοῦ δὲ Κ<ελε>οῦ εἰς <τὴν αὐλὴν ἀνα>βάντος ἐξ ἀγροῦ

...

πρὸς Τριπτ<όλ>εμον ...

ὅθεν Κάθοδος λέγεται.

Source Colophon

Source: Otto Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, Berlin: Weidmann, 1922, frr. 47-49.

Kern print pages: 117-125.

The source text above is a light reader-facing display transcription from Kern's printed text, checked against page renders made from the public-domain scan. It is not a new critical edition.