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For links to many more fragments: The Orphic Fragments of Otto Kern.

SUMMARY: This fragment states that after the Titans tore apart Dionysus, they were thunderblasted by Zeus, and from the vapor rising up, soot came down, from which man was created. Thus, Dionysus is part of us, because the soot consists not only of the bodies of the Titans, but also of Dionysus, for the Titans had eaten of his flesh.

220. (85) σχόλιον Ὀλυμπιοδώρου επὶ Φαίδωνος Πλάτωνος 61 c p. 2, 21 Norv.

παρὰ τῶι Ὀρφεῖ τέσσαρες βασιλεῖαι παραδίδονται· πρώτη μὲν ἡ τοῦ Οὐρανοῦ, ἣν ὁ Κρόνος διεδέξατο ἐκτεμὼν τὰ αἰδοῖα τοῦ πατρός· μετὰ δὲ τὸν Κρόνον ὁ Ζεὺς ἐβασίλευσεν καταταρταρώσας τὸν πατέρα· εἶτα τὸν Δία διεδέξατο ὁ Διόνυσος, ὅν φασι κατ’ ἐπιβουλὴν τῆς Ἥρας τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν Τιτᾶνας σπαράττειν καὶ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ ἀπογεύεσθαι. καὶ τούτους ὀργισθεὶς ὁ Ζεὺς ἐκεραύνωσε, καὶ ἐκ τῆς αἰθάλης τῶν ἀτμῶν τῶν ἀναδοθέντων ἐξ αὐτῶν ὕλης γενομένης γενέσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. οὐ δεῖ οὖν ἐξάγειν ἡμᾶς ἑαυτούς, οὐχ ὅτι, ὡς δοκεῖ λέγειν ἡ λέξις, διότι ἔν τινι δεσμῶι ἐσμεν τῶι σώ|^{3 Norv.}ματι, τοῦτο γὰρ δῆλόν ἐστι, καὶ οὐκ ἂν τοῦτο ἀπόρρητον ἔλεγεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐ δεῖ ἐξάγειν ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοὺς ὡς τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν Διονυσιακοῦ ὄντος· μέρος γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἐσμεν, εἴ γε ἐκ τῆς αἰθάλης τῶν Τιτάνων συγκείμεθα γευσαμένων τῶν σαρκῶν τούτου.

“Four kingly reigns are transmitted from (the teachings of) Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς). The first is the reign of Ouranós; Krónos receives this kingdom by cutting off the generative organs of his father. Following Krónos, Zefs (Ζεὺς) becomes king after hurling down his father to Tártaros. Next, receiving the kingdom from Zefs, Diónysos, who, they say, by means of a plot of Íra (Ἥρα), was tore apart by the Titans, who also tasted his flesh. And, Zefs, thus angered, struck them with thunderbolts, and from out of the soot of the vapors rising up was produced the mud from which men are born. Therefore, it is absolutely not allowed to commit suicide. This is not, as the dialogue seems to say, because the body is bondage, for that is obvious, and he (Σωκράτης) would not have spoken of it as esoteric teaching, but, rather, we are not permitted to commit suicide because our body is from Diónysos; we are a part of him, certainly, that is to say, composed from the soot of the Titans who had tasted of his flesh.”

(trans. by the author)

Compare above in frr. 209 ss. and ὕμνος Ὀρφέως 37 Τιτάνων vs. 1:

Τιτῆνες, Γαίης τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ ἀγλαὰ τέκνα,

ἡμετέρων πρόγονοι πατέρων, γαίης ὑπένερθεν

οἴκοις Ταρταρίοισι μυχῶι χθονὸς ἐνναίοντες,

ἀρχαὶ καὶ πηγαὶ πάντων θνητῶν πολυμόχθων

εἰναλίων, πτηνῶν τε καὶ οἳ χθόνα ναιετάουσιν·

ἐξ ὑμέων γὰρ πᾶσα πέλει γενεὰ κατὰ κόσμον.

ὑμᾶς κικλήσκω μῆνιν χαλεπὴν ἀποπέμπειν,

εἴ τις ἀπὸ χθονίων προγόνων οἴκοις ἐπελάσθη.

O Mighty Titans, who from heav’n and earth

Derive your noble and illustrious birth,

Our fathers sires, in Tartarus profound

Who dwell, deep merg’d beneath the solid ground:

Fountains and principles, from whom began

Th’ afflicted, miserable, race of man:

Who not alone in earths retreats abide,

But in the ocean and the air reside;

Since ev’ry species from your nature flows,

Which all prolific, nothing barren knows:

Avert your rage, if from th’ infernal seats

One of your tribe should visit our retreats.

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1792)

Lobeck 579 ss; Luebbert De Pindaro theologiae Orphicae censore. Ind. Bonnens. 1888/9 p. VIII; Rohde Psyche II⁶ 117; Dieterich De hymn. Orph. 6 = Kl. Schr. 72; Kroll De oraculis Chaldaicis 38 n. 2; Kern Herm. LI 1916, 554; Orpheus 43.

The story of the birth of the Gods: Orphic Theogony.

We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.

Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.

Introduction to the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods.

How do we know there are Gods? Experiencing Gods.

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We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.

Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.

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