ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 3

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony, from the geographer Pausanias, reports that some people said that Orpheus took his own life in grief at the loss of his wife Eurydice.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 120

Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις Παυσανίου 9.30.6 (Βοιωτία):

ἄλλοις δὲ εἰρημένον ἐστὶν ὡς προαποθανούσης οἱ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐπὶ τὸ Ἄορνον ^[1] δι᾽ αὐτὴν τὸ ἐν τῆι Θεσπρωτίδι ἀφίκετο· εἶναι γὰρ πάλαι νεκυομαντεῖον αὐτόθι. νομίζοντα δέ οἱ ἕπεσθαι τῆς Εὐρυδίκης τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἁμαρτόντα ὡς ἐπεστράφη, αὐτόχειρα αὐτὸν ὑπὸ λύπης αὑτοῦ γενέσθαι. λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Θρᾶικες, ὅσαι τῶν ἀηδόνων ἔχουσι νεοσσιὰς ἐπὶ τῶι τάφωι τοῦ Ὀρφέως, ταύτας ἥδιον καὶ μεῖζόν τι ἁιδειν.

“Others have said that his (ed. Orpheus’) wife died before him, and that for her sake he came to Aornum* in Thesprotis, where of old was an oracle of the dead. He thought, they say, that the soul of Eurydice followed him, but turning round he lost her, and committed suicide for grief. The Thracians say that such nightingales as nest on the grave of Orpheus sing more sweetly and louder than others.”

(trans. W. H. S. Jones, 1918)

* Ἄορνον was an oracle in Θεσπρωτία, one of the regional units of modern Greece and the ancient home of the Thesprotians (Θεσπρωτοί). The oracle of Ἄορνον was within a cave (Χαρώνειον ἄντρον) named after Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld, the land of the dead. The cave, which emitted poisonous fumes, was believed to be an entrance to Hades.

M. Ninck Philolog. Suppl. XIV 2 (1921), 80.

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.