ORPHIC COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY  HellenicGods.org  In general, the philosophical view of Hellenismos is kosmogonical. In other words, everything in the religion, if you call it a religion, stems from the kosmogony and has it as its center. Despite the fantastic imagery, when properly understood, the Orphic kosmogony provides a natural and materialistic, rather than spiritual (incorporeal or immaterial), explanation for the creation of the Kosmos. To a great extent, it could be said that this entire website is an attempt to explain the kosmogony and why it is a natural view of the universe. In antiquity, many theogonies are known to us, such as those by Akousilaos of Argos (Acusilaus; Gr. Ἀκουσίλαος), Æpimænithis (Epimenides; Gr. Ἐπιμενίδης) of Knohssos (Knossos; Gr. Κνωσσός), and Phærækythis (Pherecydes; Gr. Φερεκύδης) of Syros (Gr. Σύρος) [1a], but only one has come down to us in complete form, the Thæogonia of Isiothos (Hesiod; Gr. Ἡσίοδος). Isiothos' Theogony is viewed by many Hellenic reconstructionists as definitive and orthodox, in contrast to Orphic theogony, which some view as of a more recent and perhaps eccentric authorship, but this view of precedence is questioned by some scholars and most certainly by ancient authors. The Isiothos is a fixed, known text; the Orphic theogonies vary somewhat from author to author and, to complicate matters, the major Orphic theogony (The Rhapsodies) is not preserved in complete form. According to W.K.C. Guthrie, "Among the many names to which theogonical and cosmogonical writings were attached, two, as is rightly remarked by the Christian apologist, stand out, Orpheus and Hesiod. The other writers whose names I have quoted (ed., as in the above paragraph, the theogonies of Akousilaos, Æpimænithis, and Phærækythis) were always known to be later than Hesiod, who was sometimes regarded as the father of this kind of composition. Herodotus thought him so, and there were others too who doubted the authenticity of the theogony of Orpheus. The weight of that ancient name, however, was not taken away from it, and this must have suggested to many of the ancient world that, if not the poems, at least the stories which they told belonged to a time before Hesiod and Homer himself." [1b] Guthrie seems to think that the Orphic theogonic mythology likely pre-dates Isiothos and Homer. He goes on to say that the content of the Orphic theogony can be found in Neoplatonic writings and even Plato himself: "In their (ed. the Neoplatonists) commentaries therefore they made a point of illustrating a sentence of Plato, whenever they could, by a quotation from the Orphic poems." Here Guthrie is trying to demonstrate how these philosophers tried to justify their ideas or those of Plato by substantiating them with the weight of Orphic corpus, making obvious their reverence for the texts and the very name of Orphefs (Orpheus; Gr. Ὀρφεύς). In reference to the Orphic theogony, there appears to have existed a group of twenty-four Orphic Rhapsodiai (parts or lays) viewed as the Orphic theology, according to the Neoplatonist Damaskios (Damascius; Gr. Δαμάσκιος). The Neoplatonists believed that Orphefs himself wrote these poems. The poems have come down to us only in fragmentary form, found scattered throughout Neoplatonic writings as quotations. Damaskios tells us of three theogonies, one by Efthimos (Eudemus; Gr. Εὔδημος), a pupil of Aristotælis (Aristotle; Gr. Ἀριστοτέλης), another by Iærohnymos Rothios (Hieronymus of Rhodes; Gr. Ιερώνυμος Ῥόδιος) or Ællanikos (Hellanicus; Gr. Ἑλλάνικος), and lastly, the Rhapsodiai, the "orthodox" Orphic theogony. [1c] There is the brief but important theogony found at the beginning of the Orphic Argonaftika (Argonautica; Gr. Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικά), and that found in the Argonaftika of Apollohnios Rothios (Apollonius Rhodius; Gr. Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος), and the Orphic theogony quoted by Alæxanthros o Aphrothisiefs (Alexander of Aphrodisias; Gr. Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς). "Finally Gruppe mentions a theogony in Clemens Romanus not named as Orphic but belonging to the same circle of thought, which again shows points of difference from the rest.” [1c] Further still, there is the Pythagorean kosmogony of the Timaios of Plato; Pythagoras (Gr. Πυθαγόρας), Sohkratis (Socrates; Gr. Σωκράτης), and Platohn (Plato; Gr. Πλάτων) are regarded here as in the lineage of Orphefs. Of more recent discovery, but of quite ancient origin (fourth century BCE), is the Derveni Papyrus, a commentary of the school of Anaxagoras (Gr. Ἀναξαγόρας) on an Orphic text; this commentary includes a theogony. THE BASIC ORPHIC THEOGONY Prologue: Here follows the skeletal Orphic theogony derived from two sources: the Iærohnymos-Ællanikos (Hieronymus-Hellanicus) theogony and the Orphic Rhapsodies as found in the Orphicum Fragmenta. The paraphrased contents are derived entirely from the texts with no additions unless found in brackets; it is for this reason that the story-line is a bit fragmented.
Beginning with the Ierohnymos-Ællanikos (Hieronymus-Hellanicus) Kosmogonia as told by Damaskios [2] Before the beginning of all that is: The Unutterable Principle First: Water and solid matter that hardened into Earth. (See Mystic Materialism) Out of Water and Earth came a serpent with the heads of a bull and a lion between which was the face of a God, with wings on its shoulders: his name was Un-ageing Time (Khronos or Chronos; Gr. Χρόνος) and Iraklis (Heracles; Gr. Ἡρακλῆς). Along with and united with Khronos was born Necessity (Anangki or Ananke; Gr. Ἀνάγκη) and Athrasteia (Adrasteia; Gr. Ἀδράστεια) whose extended arms stretch to the limits of the Kosmos. Time has triple offspring: moist Aithir (Ether; Gr. Αἰθήρ), unlimited Khaos (Chaos; Gr. Χάος), and misty Ærævos (Erebos; Gr. Ἔρεβος) (described as "a great yawning gulf, and darkness over all"). Among these, Khronos creates an Egg and from among these the third intelligible triad emerges: The Egg; the Dyad of the two natures (male and female) with the plurality of the seeds in between; and thirdly, the incorporeal God with the golden wings on his shoulders, Phanis (Phanes; Gr. Φάνης), the son of Aithir. Phanis is described as being incorporeal, yet having golden wings on his shoulders, the head of a bull emerging from his shanks, and a massive serpent, showing the form of every type of animal. Further, this theology has a hymn to Prohtogonos (Protogonos = the First-born = Phanis; Gr. Πρωτογόνος), calling him Zefs (Zeus; Gr. Ζεύς) who ministers the whole Kosmos, calling him Pan (Pan = All; Gr. Πᾶν). Continuing with the Orphicorum Fragmenta: The rest of the cosmogony is now constructed from quotations of the Rhapsodies found in the writings of other Neoplatonists, collected and placed in order by Prof. Otto Kern (1863-1942), the classical philologist who uncovered much of the Orphic corpus. The Orphicum Fragmenta or Rhapsodies provide the most common theogony, the one customarily used by the Neoplatonists, so claims Damaskios. (For the complete extant fragments, visit this page: ORPHIC RHAPSODIES - ΙΕΡΌΣ ΛΌΓΟΣ ΣΕ 24 ΡΑΨΩΔΊΕΣ) At the birth of Phanis, the "misty abyss below" and Aithir were torn. Phanis has both sexes and is able to give birth all of himself. He is imagined as marvelously beautiful, a figure of shining light, with golden wings on his shoulders, four eyes, and the voice of a bull and a lion. He has many names: Phaæthohn (Phaeton; Gr. Φαέθων), the First-born (Protogonos; Gr. Πρωτογόνος), Ærohs (Eros; Gr. Ἔρως), Mitis (Metis; Gr. Μῆτις), and Irikapaios (Erikepaios; Gr. Ἠρικαπαῖος) among them. Phanis gave birth to Nyx (Nyx = Night; Gr. Νύξ). He gave her his scepter and prophecy. Night gave birth to Gaia (= Earth; Gr. Γαῖα) and Ouranos (Uranus; Gr. Οὐρανός), to whom Nyx gave supreme power. [Earth] gave birth to the Titanæs (Titans: Gr. Τιτᾶνες), Kronos (Cronus; Gr. Κρόνος), Ræa (Rhea; Gr. Ῥέα), and the rest. The Titanæs [those necessary] were defeated (by the Olympians) and cast into Tartaros (Gr. Τάρταρος) by Ouranos. Ouranos is castrated (by Kronos). Kronos fathers Zefs who conspires to overthrow him. Zefs asks Nyx how he should establish his kingdom and have all things one and yet separate. Nyx answers that he should surround all things in his Aithir and suspend within it heaven and all its constellations and the earth. Zefs now becomes the Dimiourgos (Demiurge or Creator; Gr. Δημιουργός). How can this be since Phanis is the creator? Zefs swallows Phanis, and with Phanis, who is the first-born and the origin of all, he may be regarded as taking into himself all things that exist. With this act, Zefs creates or reveals everything anew. Zefs makes Dionysos (Gr. Διόνυσος) king. [The Titanæs] cut him into seven parts. Zefs asks for the parts. Vakkhos (Bacchus; Gr. Βάκχος) rules after Zefs. Theogony in the Rhapsodies (another version) This second version of the Rhapsodies is derived from Gábor Betegh's book The Derveni Papyrus [3]. It is included here because Betegh quite helpfully "fills in" details not found in the above version, details missing from the extant fragments of the original text. First: Khronos or Time From Khronos were born Aithir and Khaos. Khronos places an egg in Aithir, called the white tunic or cloud. Phanis (also called Mitis, Irikapaios, Prohtogonos, Ærohs, Zefs, and Vromios [Bromios; Gr. Βρὀμιος]), the first king, emerges from the egg. This concludes direct information from the Rhapsodies. We continue with testimony from other Neoplatonists (i.e., gathered from quotations from the Rhapsodies by various Neoplatonists): Next comes Night (Nyx, the second king), the daughter and lover of Phanis, to whom Phanis passes the power of the sceptre. Night gives birth to Ouranos (the third king) and Gaia. Ouranos and Gaia give birth to a great number of Gods, including the royal couple, Kronos and Ræa (identified as Dimitir {Gr. Δημήτηρ}). Kronos castrates Ouranos and becomes the fourth king. Kronos' phallus is thrown in the sea and from the foam, Aphrothiti (Aphrodite; Gr. Ἀφροδίτη) is born. Zefs is born to Kronos and Ræa and castrates his father as Kronos had to Ouranos, becoming the fifth king. Night and the oracular advice of Kronos assist Zefs: he must swallow Phanis and by doing so, the whole Kosmos is within him to give new birth. The universe is created anew and numerous Gods are fathered by Zefs. By a union with Ræa/Dimitir, Kori (Core; Gr. Κόρη) is born, with whom Zefs commingles, giving birth to Dionysos. Dionysos is the sixth and final king. Zefs enthrones him. The Titanæs, jealous of Dionysos, kidnap and tear him into seven pieces, eating of his flesh. The beating heart is retrieved by Athina (Athena; Gr. Ἀθηνᾶ) from whom a new Dionysos is created. Zefs strikes the Titanæs with a thunderbolt and from their ashes Mankind rises up. Theogony According to Efthimos (Eudemus) We have very little theogony of Efthimos (Eudemus; Gr. Εὔδημος) but this significant quotation of Damaskios: "The theology described in the Peripatetic Eudemus as being that of Orphefs is silent about the entire realm of the intelligible for it is completely inexpressible and unknowable by the method of exposition and narration: it made its start from Night, from whom also Homer begins, although he (sc. Homer) did not make his genealogy continuous. For we should not believe Eudemus when he says that he (sc. Homer) begins from Okeanos and Tethys. For he too manifestly knows that Night is the greatest divinity, so that even Zeus feels awe before her..." [4] And now we have a summary of Efthimos as presented by M.L. West: "In the beginning was Night. From her came Uranos and Ge; from them Oceanus and Tethys; from them the twelve Titans. Rhea bore children to Kronos, but he swallowed them as they were born. Zeus, however, was born secretly in a cave in Crete (Ida/Dicte), nursed by nymphs, and guarded by the Kouretes. Kronos was given a stone to swallow. When Zeus was grown up, Rhea made Kronos drunk with honeycombs, whereupon Zeus tied him up, castrated him, and with the help of Metis induced him to regurgitate his children. His three sons drew lots, and Hades took the lower world, Poseidon the sea, and Zeus Heaven, whither he proceeded on a goat. Zeus fathered children by several Goddesses, and others of the younger Gods also had families. Persephone bore Dionysus to Zeus in Crete. There followed the story of the murder of Dionysus by the Titans and his restoration to life. The Titans were blasted to Tartarus, and mankind came into being from the sooty fall-out. So theirs is a bad inheritance; Dionysus, however, can help them by his purification rites, which were first established in Crete but soon spread everywhere." [5] Theogony according to the Timaios of Platohn The Timaios (Timaeus; Gr. Τίμαιος) of Platohn (Plato; Gr. Πλάτων) is of enormous significance. While the general thrust of Platonic writing encourages questions more than answers, in the Timaios, Platohn speaks extensively of a Creator, the Dimiourgos (Δημιουργὸς). He puts these words, not in the mouth of Sohkratis (Socrates; Gr. Σωκράτης), but in that of the natural philosopher and Pythagorean, Timaios o Lokros (Timaeus of Locri; Gr. Τίμαιος ὁ Λοκρός). While the perspective expressed in this dialogue may appear different from the Rhapsodies, the Timaios is Pythagorean and Platonic; therefore it is in the Orphic tradition.
As is typical in Platohn, the Timaios takes the position that the Gods, or in this case the Creator, is good and not evil or neutral:
The text goes on to describe how the Dimiourgos, the Creator or Maker, brought order to Khaos (Chaos; Gr. Χάος):
And he endowed the world with a soul:
The Timaios goes on to describe two cosmogonic substances, Fire and Earth, and further, Water and Air:
Platohn speaks of the two cosmogonic substances being combined to create the soul:
As for the Gods, the Timaios describes them as having arisen from Earth and Heaven (Ouranos): Next follows some statements that may surprise many people:
For comparison in another translation, the same section:
The Timaios seems to be saying that the hosts of Gods are the creation of a Creator or Dimiourgos, where the Rhapsodies imply that the Gods ultimately self-generate from Earth and Water. Of course there are many interpretations. It should be kept in mind that the Timaios is Platonic literature and, keeping in line with the general thrust of Platonic thought, it cannot be found that Sohkratis, for example, or even Platohn himself, insists on this cosmogony. It is simply presented, as the dialogue states "as a likely story." All these quotations from the Timaios, very critical in view of the dialogue, are at the beginning of the cosmogony; there is a vast amount of material beyond it, but (to the consternation of some Platonists) for the purposes of this brief essay, we end here. In truth, this very important work should be studied in its totality. Read the Timaios in either English or Greek: Platohn: Timaios Download a free MP3 audiobook of the Timaeus: LibriVox » Timaios by Platohn. Proclus: Orphic Theogony compared to Plato "...Timæus being a Pythagorean, follows the Pythagorean principles. But these are the Orphic traditions. For what Orpheus delivered mystically through arcane narrations, these Pythagoras learned, being initiated by Aglaophemus in the Mystic wisdom which Orpheus derived from his mother Calliope. For these things Pythagoras says in the Sacred Discourse. What then are the Orphic traditions, since we are of opinion that the doctrine of Timæus about the Gods should be referred to these? They are as follows: Orpheus delivered the kingdoms of the Gods who preside over wholes, according to a perfect number, viz. Phanes, Night, Heaven, Saturn (ed. Kronos), Jupiter (ed. Zeus), Bacchus (ed. Dionysos). For Phanes is the first that bears a sceptre, and the first king is the celebrated Ericapæus. But the second is Night, who receives the sceptre from her father [Phanes]. The third is Heaven, who receives it from Night. The fourth is Saturn, who, as they say, offered violence to his father. The fifth is Jupiter, who subdued his father. And after him, the sixth is Bacchus. All these kings, therefore, beginning supernally from the intelligible and intellectual Gods, proceed through the middle orders, and into the world, that they may adorn mundane affairs. For Phanes is not only in intelligibles, but also in intellectuals, in the demiurgic, and in the supermundane order; and in a similar manner, Heaven and Night. For the peculiarities of them proceed through all the middle orders. And with respect to the mighty Saturn, is he not arranged prior to Jupiter, and does he not after the Jovian kingdom, divide the Bacchic fabrication in conjunction with the other Titans? And this indeed, he effects in one way in the heavens, and in another in the sublunary region; in one way in the inerratic sphere, and in another among the planets. And in a similar manner Jupiter and Bacchus. These things, therefore, are clearly asserted by the ancients."If, however we are right in these assertions, these divinities have every where an analogous subsistence; and he who wishes to survey the progressions of them into the heavens, or the sublunary region, should look to the first and principal causes of their kingdoms. For from thence, and according to them, their generation is derived. Some, therefore, say, that Plato omits to investigate the Gods who are analogous to the two kings in the heavens, I mean Phanes and Night. For it is necessary to place them in a superior order, and not among the mundane Gods, being eternally established in the adytum, as Orpheus says of Phanes, who by the word adytum, signifies their occult and immanifest order. Whether, therefore, we refer the circulation of same and different, mentioned by Plato in this dialogue, to the analogy of these, as male and female, or paternal and generative, we shall not wander from the truth. Or whether we refer the sun and moon, as opposed to each other among the planets, to the same analogy, we shall not err. For the sun indeed through his light preserves a similitude to Phanes, but the moon to Night. Jupiter, or the demiurgus, in the intellectual, is analogous to Phanes in the intelligible order. And the vivific crater Juno is analogous to Night, who produces all life in conjunction with Phanes from unapparent causes; just as Juno is parturient with, and emits into light, all the soul contained in the world. For it is better to conceive both these as prior to the world; and to arrange the demiurgus himself as analogous to Phanes; since he is said to be assimilated to him according to the production of wholes; but to arrange the power conjoined with Jupiter, (i.e. Juno) and which is generative of wholes, to Night, who produces all things from the father Phanes. After these, however, we must consider the remaining as analogous to the intellectual kingdoms. "If, likewise, it should be asked why Plato does not mention the kingdoms of Phanes and Night, to whom we have said Jupiter and Juno are analogous? It may be readily answered, that the tradition of Orpheus contains these; on which account Plato celebrates the kingdom of Heaven and Earth as the first, the Greeks being more accustomed to this than to the Orphic traditions; as he himself says in the Cratylus, where he particularly mentions the Theogony of Hesiod, and recurs as far as to this kingdom according to that poet. Beginning, therefore, from this Theogony as more known, and assuming Heaven and Earth as the first kingdoms above the world, he produces the visible Heaven and Earth analogous to those in the intellectual order, and celebrates the latter as the most ancient of the Gods within the former. From these also, he begins the Theogony of the sublunary Gods. These things, however if divinity pleases, will be manifest from what follows. At present we shall only add, that it is requisite to survey all these names divinely or dæmoniacally, and according to the allotments of these divinities in the four elements. For this ennead is in ether and water, in earth and in air, all-variously, according to the divine, and also according to the dæmonical peculiarity. And again, these names are to be surveyed aquatically and aerially, and likewise in the earth terrestrially, in order that all of them may be every where, according to an all-various mode of subsistence. For there are many modes of providence divine and dæmoniacal, and many allotments according to the division of the elements." [15] The story of Iasohn (Jason; Gr. Ἰάσων) and the Argonaftai (Argonauts; Gr. Ἀργοναῦται) has several variants, the most common being that which was told by Apollohnios Rothios (Apollonios of Rhodes; Gr. Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος), but there is a one which is in the Orphic tradition which includes a brief cosmogony: ORPHIC ARGONAUTICA - ὈΡΦΈΩΣ ἈΡΓΟΝΑΥΤΙΚΆ NOTES: [1a] Orpheus and Greek Religion by W.K.C. Guthrie, 1952 but in the 1993 Princeton Univ. Press Princeton edition, p. 71. [1b] Ibid. Guthrie, pp. 71-72. [1c] Ibid. Guthrie, p. 74. [2] Damaskios I.317.15 Ruelle; summarized from THE DERVENI PAPYRUS - Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation by Gábor Betegh, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 143-144. (I.317.15 Ruelle) Betegh here is quoting Damaskios directly. [3] Summarized from: Ibid. Betegh, pp. 140-143. Betegh provides numerous citations in the form of notes, supporting the entire Theogony. [4] Quoted directly from Betegh, p. 146, who gives this citation for the quotation: Damaskios, De princ. 3.162 Combès-Westerink = 1.319 Ruelle. [5] The Orphic Poems by M.L. West, 1983, pages 138-139 [6] Plato's Timaeus 27d-29d; translated by Benjamin Jowett, 1892, found in volume II of the 1937 Random House edition of The Dialogues of Plato on pp.12-13 [7] Timaeus 29d, Jowett, pp.13-14 [8] Timaeus 30a, Jowett, p.14 [9] Timaeus 30 b-c, Jowett, p.14 [10] Timaeus 31b -32 c, Jowett, pp.14-15 [11] Plato Timaeus 34c-35a, trans. Robin Waterfield in Timaeus and Critias, Oxford World's Classics, 2008, pp.22-23 [12] Timaeus 40e - 41a, Jowett, p. 22 [13] Timaeus 41a-b, Jowett, p. 22 [14] Timaeus 41a-b, from Plato: Timaeus and Critias by Robin Waterfield, 2008, Oxford World's Classics, p. 30 [15] Proclus' The Theology of Plato, Book Seven, Chapter XXVII, translated by Thomas Taylor, 1816; found in the 1999 Prometheus Trust edition on pp.548-550. PLEASE NOTE: Throughout the pages of this website, you will find fascinating stories about our Gods. These narratives are known as mythology, the traditional stories of the Gods and Heroes. While these tales are great mystical vehicles containing transcendent truth, they are symbolic and should not be taken literally. A literal reading will frequently yield an erroneous result. The meaning of the myths is concealed in code. To understand them requires a key. For instance, when a God kills someone, this usually means a transformation of the soul to a higher level. Similarly, sexual union with a God is a transformation. SPELLING: HellenicGods.org uses the Reuchlinian method of pronouncing ancient Greek, the system preferred by scholars from Greece itself. An approach was developed to enable the student to easily approximate the Greek words. Consequently, the way we spell words is unique, as this method of transliteration is exclusive to this website. For more information, visit these three pages: PHOTO COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: The many pages of this website incorporate images, some created by the author, but many obtained from outside sources. 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