THE ORPHIC FRAGMENTS

OF OTTO KERN

16. ΚΑΘΑΡΜΟΙ

(PURIFICATIONS)

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

Under this title I have placed two fragments, observing which, seem to pertain to this poem, regarding Ὀρφικὸν βίον “The Orphic Life;” Νόμοι Πλάτωνος 6.782 c Orphic Critical Testimony 212:

τὸ δὲ μὴν θύειν ἀνθρώπους ἀλλήλους ἔτι καὶ νῦν παραμένον ὁρῶμεν πολλοῖς· καὶ τοὐναντίον ἀκούομεν ἐν ἄλλοις, ὅτε οὐδὲ βοὸς ἐτόλμων μὲν (Schanz] ἐτολμῶμεν codd.) γεύεσθαι, θύματά τε οὐκ ἦν τοῖς θεοῖσι ζῶια, πέλανοι δὲ καὶ μέλιτι καρποὶ δεδευμένοι καὶ τοιαῦτα ἄλλα ἁγνὰ θύματα, σαρκῶν δ᾽ ἀπείχοντο (nr. 90) ὡς οὐχ ὅσιον ὂν ἐσθίειν οὐδὲ τοὺς τῶν θεῶν βωμοὺς αἵματι μιαίνειν, ἀλλὰ Ὀρφικοί τινες λεγόμενοι βίοι ἐγίγνοντο ἡμῶν τοῖς τότε, ἀψύχων μὲν ἐχόμενοι πάντων, ἐμψύχων δὲ τοὐναντίον πάντων ἀπεχόμενοι.

“Again, the practice of men sacrificing one another still exists among many nations; while, on the other hand, we hear of other human beings who did not even venture to taste the flesh of a cow and had no animal sacrifices, but only cakes and fruits dipped in honey, and similar pure offerings, but no flesh of animals; from these they abstained under the idea that they ought not to eat them, and might not stain the altars of the Gods with blood. For in those days men are said to have lived a sort of Orphic life, having the use of all lifeless things, but abstaining from all living things.”

(trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1892)

...which is testified in Hieronymi Adversus Jovinianum II 14 ed. Dominico Vallarsi II 1, 344 b. c:

Xenocrates (v. Richard Heinze Xenokrates p. 194 fr. 98) philosophus de Triptolemi legibus apud Athenienses tria tantum praecepta in templo Eleusinae (Eleusine Bernays) residere scribit: honorandos parentes, venerandos deos, carnibus non vescendum. Orpheus in carmine suo esum carnium penitus detestabur.

“The philosopher Xenocrates, from the laws of Triptolemus given unto the Athenians, writes that three injunctions of immensity remain in the temple of Eleusis: honoring parents, venerating the Gods, and not eating meat. Orpheus in his poetry entirely detests the consumption of meat.”

(trans. by the author)

(Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 246; Ab. fr. 270), which Jacob Bernays Theophrastos’ Schrift ueber Froemmigkeit 1866, 159 has demonstrated to have been taken from Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων Πορφυρίου (De abstinentia) I. IV, presently mutilated; compare to Porphyrii philosophi Platonici opuscula selecta ed. Johann August Nauck² 269.

See also Πολιτεία Πλάτωνος II 364 e Orphic fragment 3:

καθαρμοὶ ἀδικημάτων

“purifications for wrongs,”

Ἱστορίαι Ἡροδότου II 81 Orphic Critical Testimony 216:

ἱρὸς λόγος λεγόμενος.

“a discourse called the holy”

Ἱππόλυτος Εὐριπίδου 952 Orphic Critical Testimony 213:

ἤδη νυν αὔχει καὶ δι᾽ ἀψύχου βορᾶς

σίτ’ ἐκκαπήλευ᾽, Ὀρφέα τ᾽ ἄνακτ᾽ ἔχων

βάκχευε πολλῶν γραμμάτων τιμῶν καπνούς.

Theseus to Hippolytus:

“Go then, boast of yourself, and drive your petty trade in foods

formed of lifeless grain; take Orpheus for your chief

and go a-revelling, with all honour for the vaporings of many a written scroll.

(trans. E. P. Coleridge, 1892, but with the English slightly modernized)

Μαρίνου βίος Πρόκλου, Marini Procli vita 18 p. 160, 33 Jean François Boissonade Orphic Critical Testimony 239:

νύκτωρ τε καὶ μεθ’ ἡμέραν ἀποτροπαῖς καὶ περιρραντηρίοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις καθαρμοῖς χρώμενος, ὁτὲ μὲν Ὀρφικοῖς, ὁτὲ δὲ Χαλδαϊκοῖς

“...using both night and day prayers, lustrations, and other purifications, as well according to the Orphic as the Chaldaic institutions...”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1788)

(v. Christian Lobeck I 237, Josef Heeg Die Angeblichen Orphischen Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι - Inaugural Dissertation 8 n.);

Εὑαγγελικὴ προπαρασκευὴ Εὐσεβίου V 31, 226 c (I 260, 11 Dind.):

ὡς μὴ μᾶλλον τῆς Κρήτης σὺ καθαρμοῦ προσδέηι, Ὀρφικούς τινας ἢ Ἐπιμενιδείους καθαρμοὺς φανταζόμενος.

“Beware lest thou need lustration more than Crete, for inventing lustrations such as those of Orpheus and Epimenides.”

(trans. Edwin Hamilton Gifford, 1903)

Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικὰ 38 Orphic Critical Testimony 224:

ἁγνοπόλον τε καθαρμόν

“purifying expiation”

Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικὰ 904·

εἰ μή τις τελετὰς πελάσει καὶ θύσθλα καθαρμῶν,

ὅσσα περ ἀρήτειρα καθάρματα μύστις ἔκευθεν.

“...except one approach the rites and sacrifices of purification,

purifications as great by far that the mystic priestess was concealing...”

(trans. by the author)

Lisa Hamburg RE² X 2516; Otto Kern Orpheus 35. See also further on in 28. ΣΩΤΗΡΙΑ on p. 315, and those things I collected before on pages 61-63 (VITA ORPHICA, Orphic Critical Testimony numbers 212-219) concerning the Orphic life.

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.