THE ORPHIC FRAGMENTS

OF OTTO KERN


21. ΚΡΑΤΗΡ

CRATER (MIXING VESSEL)

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


Λόγος Στρώματα Κλήμεντος του Ἀλεξανδρέως I 21, 131, 3 (II 81, 8 Otto Stählin Clemens Alexandrinus) Orphic Critical Testimony nr. 222:

Κρατῆρα δὲ τὸν Ὀρφέως Ζωπύρου τοῦ Ἡρακλεώτου (Orphic Critical Testimony nr. 179):

“the Crateres of Orpheus the production of Zopyrus of Heraclea (they say to be).”

(trans. William Wilson, 1885)

Servii Grammatici in Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii VI 667 (Musaeus before all) Orphic Critical Testimony nr. 167:

theologus fuit iste post Orpheum et sunt variae de hoc opiniones: nam eum alii Lunae (endymionis add. F.; Lini Fabricius) filium, alii Orphei (orphi H; orfeum FC) volunt, cuius eum constat fuisse discipulum; nam ad ipsum (i. e. Musaeum) primum carmen scripsit, quod appellatur Crater (quod cratera appellauit M).

“He (Musaeus) was a theologian after Orpheus, and there are diverse opinions about him: for some consider him to be the son of the Moon (Luna), others of Orpheus, of whom it is well established that he was a pupil; for it was to him that he wrote the first poem, which is called Crater.”

(trans. by the author)

Hermann Diels in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker II3 180 n. 7 shows that I misjudged in (my essay in) Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie II 1889, 388 along with Franz Passow in Musaeos 1810, 51.

Souda (Adler nr. 654) Orphic Critical Testimony nrr. 179. C. T. 223 d; v. Κρατὴρ ὁ μικρότερος “The Little Kratír”:

Κρατῆρες· ταῦτα Ζωπύρου φασί

“Mixing Bowls (Κρατῆρες): which are said to be by Zóhpyros.”

Compare to σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Τιμαίου Πλάτωνος 41 d (III 250, 17 Diehl):

ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄλλοι παραδέδονται κρατῆρες ὑπό τε Ὀρφέως καὶ Πλάτωνος· Πλάτων τε γὰρ ἐν Φιλήβωι (61 b. c) τὸν μὲν Ἡφαίστειον κρατῆρα παραδίδωσι, τὸν δὲ Διονυσιακόν, καὶ Ὀρφεύς οἶδε μὲν καὶ τὸν τοῦ Διονύσου κρατῆρα, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους ἱδρύει περὶ τὴν Ἡλιακὴν τράπεζαν.

“... since other Craters also are delivered both by Orpheus and Plato. For Plato in the Philebus mentions two Craters, the one Vulcanian (Ἡφαίστειον), but the other Dionysiacal. And Orpheus knew indeed of the Crater of Bacchus, but he also establishes many others about the solar table.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1820)

...a passage which the Neoplatonic Ἱεροὶ λόγοι (“Sacred Words”) is likely to have in mind; see Orphic fr. 217, and in the section entitled ΒΑΚΧΙΚΑ see Orphic fr. 241. Kern l. l. p. 392. The narration of Aridæus (who became Thespesius) on the crater of the Underworld (from Ἠθικὰ Πλουτάρχου· 44.22 Περὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου βραδέως τιμωρουμένων) also looks to the Orphic doctrine (Albrecht Dieterich Nekyia p. 147), Cf. concerning this description of the Underworld look back to Orphic fr. 294.

Chapter IV (V) of the Hermetica with the title: Ἑρμοῦ πρὸς Τάτ, ὁ Κρατὴρ ἢ Μονάς “From Tat of Hermes, the Crater or the Monad” Richard Reitzenstein Poimandres: Studien zur griechisch-ägyptischen und frühchristlichen Literatur pp. 193-194. 214 n. 1.

See also Papyrus Berolinensis I Gustav Parthey vs. 308:

ὁρκίζω κρητῆρα θεοῦ πλοῦτον κατέχοντα

“I implore* the drinking-cup of God possessing wealth.”

(trans. by the author)

*or “I swear on”

See further on in the section entitled ΟΡΚΟΙ (p. 312 in the book) and Richard Reitzenstein Poimandres l. l. 100.

Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I pp. 375. 731; Eugenius Abel Orphica frr. 159-169; Bernhard Ludwig Giseke Rheinisches Museum für Philologie vol. 8 1853, p. 118; Kern l. l. 387-393; Otto Gruppe Suppl. 698. 729 n. 1. 735; Erwin Rohde Psyche II6 p. 112 n. 1; Albrecht Dieterich l. l.; Eduard Norden in P. Virgilius Maro Aeneis Buch VI p. 47.

Fragments which are not extant. Whether Plato’s famous myth of psychogonia (the birth of the soul) has the flavor of Orphic doctrine, is very doubtful (Timaeus 35. 41 d; Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I p. 736); see also Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Platon II1 p. 264 n. 1.


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