ORPHEUS:

NAMES AND EPITHETS

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Aglaóphimos - (aglaophemus; Gr. ἀγλαόφημος, ΑΓΛΑΟΦΗΜΟΣ) splendidly famous.

Celeustes - See Kælefstís.

Chrysaorus - See Khrysáoros.

Chrysolyres - See Khrysolýris.

Euaenetus - See Evainitos.

Evainitos - (euaenetus; Gr. εὐαίνητος, ΕΥΑΙΝΗΤΟΣ) much praised. (Πίνδαρος Πυθιόνικαι 4.177)

Founder of All Mystery Religions - Orphéfs is regarded as the first to reveal the rites of Tælætai (= Initiation, Teletai; Gr. Τελεταί). (Orpheus and Greek Religion by W.K.C. Guthrie, 1952 and 1993, p. 17)

"some consider him to have introduced and established the rites of the Gods and all Mysterious worship in Greece, to have travelled over many regions of the earth as a priest and a prophet, to have been confounded with Linus, Melampus, and Camus, and his wife Eurydice with the most ancient divinities of paganism ; others maintain that the religious system of Greece did not originate with him, but that he very much contributed to its formation, by the communication of the knowledge which he had acquired in his travels of the Mysteries of Egyptian superstition." (A Classical Manual, Being a Mythological, Historical, and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Æneid of Virgil, 1833; p.442)

Great Reformer, The - It is believed that the religion had become corrupted and fallen into great superstition; Orphéfs reformed the religion and restored the mystical teachings.

Kælefstís - (celeustes; Gr. κελευστής, ΚΕΛΕΥΣΤΗΣ) Orphéfs is the Kælefstís, the boatswain who counts time to the rowers of the Argóh (Argo; Gr. Ἀργώ) as they, the Argonáftai (Argonauts; Gr. Αργοναύται), go in search of the Khrysómallon Dǽras (the Golden Fleece; Gr. Χρυσόμαλλον Δέρας).

Khrysáoros - (chrysaorus; Gr. χρυσάορος, ΧΡΥΣΑΟΡΟΣ; masc. and fem. adj. = χρυσάωρ.) yielding a sword of gold.

Khrysolýris - (chrysolyres; Gr. χρυσολύρης, ΧΡΥΣΟΛΥΡΗΣ) Like Apóllohn (Apollo), Orphéfs is most famous for his singing, by which he accompanies himself with a lyre of gold, given to him as a child by Phívos himself.

Orphéfs - (Orpheus; Gr. Ὀρφεύς, ΟΡΦΕΥΣ) – his common name. There is a strange story concerning the name of Orphéfs: "The ancients represent Orpheus as living during the time, and sharing in the Argonautic expedition. If we search for the origin of this fable, we must again have recourse to Egypt, the mother-country of fiction. In July, when the sun entered Leo, the Nile overflowed all the plains. To denote the public joy at seeing the inundation rise to its due height, the Egyptians exhibited a youth playing on the lyre, or the sistrum, and sitting by a tame lion. When the waters did not increase as they should, the Horus was represented stretched on the back of a lion, as dead. This symbol they called Oreph, or Orpheus, (from oreph, the back part of the head) to signify that agriculture was then quite unseasonable and dormant. The songs the people amused themselves with during this period of inactivity, for want of exercise, were called the Hymns of Orpheus ; and as husbandry revived immediately after, it gave rise to the fable of Orpheus's returning from hell. The Isis placed near this Horus, they called Eurydice, (from eri, a lion, and daca, tamed, is formed Eridaca, Eurydice, or the lion tamed, i.e. the violence or rage of the inundation overcome), and as the Greeks took all these figures in the literal, not in the emblematical sense, they made Eurydice the wife of Orpheus." (Bell's New Pantheon; or, Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity, 1790; Vol. II, p.145)

Prophetes - See Prophítis.

Prophítis - (prophetes; Gr. προφήτης, ΠΡΟΦΗΤΗΣ) prophet who speaks the will of a God and explains the meaning to the people.

Rhodoreius - See Rodópeios.

Rodópeios - (Rhodopeius; Gr. Ῥοδόπειος, ΡΟΔΟΠΕΙΟΣ) from Mount Rodópi (Rhodope; Gr. Ῥοδόπη), in Thráki (Thrace; Gr. Θράκη), to which Orphéfs was associated.

Tælætárkhis - (teletarches; Gr. τελετάρχης, ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΗΣ) founder of Mysteries.

Teletarches – See Tælætárkhis.

Thæológos - (theologus; Gr. θεολόγος, ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΣ) theologian.

Theologian - See Thæológos.

Thracius Sacerdos – See Thrákios Sakǽrdohs.

Thrákios Sakǽrdohs - (Thracius Sacerdos; Gr. Θρᾴκιος Σακέρδως, ΘΡΑΙΚΙΟΣ ΣΑΚΕΡΔΩΣ, ) - from his Thracian origin.

Urphe - Urphe is the Etruscan name for Orphéfs.

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.