ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 125

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony, from Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of philosophers, says that there was an inscription at Dium in Macedonia which claimed that Orpheus was killed by a thunderbolt of Zeus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 125

Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων Διογένους Λαερτίου προοίμιον

I 4 (from Παλατινή Ανθολογία VII 617):

τοῦτον δὲ ὁ μὲν μῦθος ὑπὸ γυναικῶν ἀπολέσθαι φησί· τὸ δ᾽ ἐν Δίωι τῆς Μακεδονίας ἐπίγραμμα, κεραυνωθῆναι αὐτόν λέγον οὕτως·

‘Θρήϊκα (θρῆκα Laertii B 2) χρυσολύρην τῆιδ᾽ Ὀρφέα Μοῦσαι ἔθαψαν,

ὃν κτάνεν ὑψιμέδων (ὑψιμέδης Laertii F) Ζεὺς ψολόεντι βέλει.’ ”

“And tradition relates that he was murdered by women; but there is an inscription at Dium in Macedonia, saying that he was killed by lightning, and it runs thus: –

‘Here the bard buried by the Muses lies,

The Thracian Orpheus of the golden lyre;

Whom mighty Jove, the Sovereign of the skies,

Removed from earth by his dread lightning’s fire.’ ”

(trans. C. D. Yonge, 1853)

The epigram is composed from nr. 124, 1 and 123, 2 v. Preger n. 26.

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.