The Orphic Hymns

456 Pages·2013·2.05 MB·English

by  Apostolos N Athanassakis

THE ORPHIC HYMNS
The Orphic Hymns
TRANSLATION, INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES BY
Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow
© 2013 Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow All rights
reserved. Published 2013
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Orphic hymns. English.
The Orphic hymns / translation, introduction, and notes by Apostolos N.
Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow.
pages. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
978-1-4214-0881-1 (hdbk. : alk. paper) — 978-1-4214-0882-8 (pbk. : alk.
ISBN ISBN
paper) — 978-1-4214-0886-6 (electronic) — 1-4214-0881-3 (hdbk. : alk.
ISBN ISBN
paper) — 1-4214-0882-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) — 1-4214-0886-4 (electronic)
ISBN ISBN
1. Orphic hymns. I. Athanassakis, Apostolos N. II. Wolkow, Benjamin M. III.
Title.
4259. 5 2013
PA E
292.3′8—dc23 2012027077
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CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
THE ORPHIC HYMNS
Orpheus to Mousaios
1. To Hekate
2. To Prothyraia
3. To Night
4. To Sky
5. To Ether
6. To Protogonos
7. To the Stars
8. To the Sun
9. To Selene
10. To Physis
11. To Pan
12. To Herakles
13. To Kronos
14. To Rhea
15. To Zeus
16. To Hera
17. To Poseidon
18. To Plouton
19. To Zeus the Thunderbolt
20. To Astrapaios Zeus
21. To the Clouds
22. To the Sea
23. To Nereus
24. To the Nereids
25. To Proteus
26. To Earth
27. To the Mother of the Gods
28. To Hermes
29. Hymn to Persephone
30. To Dionysos
31. Hymn to the Kouretes
32. To Athene
33. To Nike
34. To Apollon
35. To Leto
36. To Artemis
37. To the Titans
38. To the Kouretes
39. To Korybas
40 To Eleusinian Demeter
41. To Mother Antaia
42. To Mise
43. To the Seasons
44 To Semele
45. Hymn to Dionysos Bassareus and Triennial
46. To Liknites
47. To Perikionios
48. To Sabazios
49. To Hipta
50. To Lysios Lenaios
51. To the Nymphs
52. To the God of Triennial Feasts
53. To the God of Annual Feasts
54. To Silenos Satyros and the Bacchae
55. To Aphrodite
56. To Adonis
57. To Chthonic Hermes
58. To Eros
59. To the Fates
60. To the Graces
61. Hymn to Nemesis
62. To Dike
63. To Justice
64. Hymn to Nomos
65. To Ares
66. To Hephaistos
67. To Asklepios
68. To Hygeia
69. To the Erinyes
70. To the Eumenides
71. To Melinoe
72. To Tyche
73. To Daimon
74. To Leukothea
75. To Palaimon
76. To the Muses
77. To Mnemosyne
78. To Dawn
79. To Themis
80. To Boreas
81. To Zephyros
82. To Notos
83. To Okeanos
84. To Hestia
85. To Sleep
86. To Dream
87. To Death
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index Nominum
Index Locorum
PREFACE
I 1977, Scholars Press (Atlanta, Georgia) published the first edition of Orphic
N
Hymns: Text, Translation and Notes by Apostolos N. Athanassakis for the
Society of Biblical Literature’s Texts and Translations, Graeco-Roman Religion
Series. The text used for that edition, as for the present one, is that by Wilhelm
Quandt. Occasionally Gabriella Ricciardelli’s more recent text was also
consulted for the present edition. The translation from the first edition has been
revisited and rejuvenated. In all cases which involve change the purpose has
been to attain a greater flow, especially such as is appropriate to a sacred text
consisting of lengthy lists of epithets. The introduction is more comprehensive
and the notes offer the reader much more information. It is hoped that the indices
will be a welcome addition.
Professor Athanassakis wishes to express his warmest thanks to Miss Allison
Emily Page for her patient assistance in the preparation of substantial portions of
the book. He has over the years received a great deal of inspiration from the
works of Juha Pentikäinen, who introduced him to the study of the Kalevala as
well as of bear rituals among the Sami people of the subarctic expanses.
Dr. Wolkow would like to thank the Classics departments at Duke University,
Loyola University Chicago, and the University of Georgia at Athens, and in
particular Diskin Clay, Erika Hermanowicz, and Charles Platter. Parts of the
introduction and of the notes to hymn 34 were originally presented at a talk he
delivered at the University of Georgia entitled “Play It Again, Sun: Cosmic
Music and the Orphic Hymns,” and he is grateful for the warm reception and
incisive feedback from the participants that day. He further wishes to
acknowledge the influence of former professors Borimir Jordan, Robert
Renehan, and, of course, Apostolos Athanassakis, who graciously invited him to
take part in the revision of the original edition of the Hymns. Finally, he
dedicates his contributions to the present volume to his mythology students, both
past and future.
The authors are very appreciative of the Johns Hopkins University Press,
above all our former and current editors, Michael Lonegro and Matthew
McAdam, respectively, for their many indulgences as the project began to take
on a life of its own. Professor Louis Karchin, Professor of Music at New York
University, has put a few of the hymns to music. Dancers of classical ballet,
persons interested in spirituality, and students from as far as China have
expressed further interest in the Orphic Hymns. All this has helped us sustain our
enthusiasm for this rare poetic composition of late antiquity.