ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 142

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony, with a quotation from Pausanias and another from Callistratus, gives descriptions of a statue of Orpheus on Helicon; it is uncertain if both of these quotations refer to the same statue, or to two different statues.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 142

On Helicon Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις Παυσανίου 9.30.4 (Βοιωτία):

Ὀρφεῖ δὲ τῶι Θραικὶ πεποίηται μὲν παρεστῶσα αὐτῶι Τελετή* (compare IG IV 676; Otto Kern Orpheus 50 n. 5), πεποίηται δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν λίθου τε καὶ χαλκοῦ θηρία ἀκούοντα ἄιδοντος.

“By the side of Orpheus the Thracian stands a statue of Telete*, and around him are beasts of stone and bronze listening to his singing.”

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

* Τελετή, the personification of a sacred rite or initiation, is the daughter of Διόνυσος and Νίκαια.

Εκφράσεις Καλλιστράτου 7 ἔκφρασις εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἄγαλμα (“Description of the statue of Orpheus”) p. 58 Schenkl-Reisch:

ἐν τῶι Ἑλικῶνι, τέμενος δὲ τῶν Μουσῶν σκιερὸν ὁ χῶρος, παρὰ τοὺς Ὀλμειοῦ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥύακας καὶ τὴν ἰοειδέα Πηγάσου κρήνην Ὀρφέως ἄγαλμα τοῦ τῆς Καλλιόπης παρὰ τὰς Μούσας εἱστήκει ἰδεῖν μὲν κάλλιστον· ὁ γὰρ χαλκὸς τὴι τέχνηι συναπέτικτε τὸ κάλλος τῆι <δὲ> τοῦ σώματος ἀγλαίαι τὸ μουσικὸν ἐπισημαίνων τῆς ψυχῆς. ἐκόσμει δὲ αὐτὸν τιάρα Περσικὴ χρυσῶι κατάστικτος ἀπὸ κορυφῆς εἰς ὕψος ἀνέχουσα, χιτὼν δὲ ἐξ ὤμων ἀπαγόμενος εἰς πόδας τελαμῶνι χρυσέωι κατὰ στέρνων ἐσφίγγετο. κόμη δὲ οὕτως ἦν εὐανθὴς καὶ ζωτικὸν ἐπισημαίνουσα καὶ ἔμπνουν, ὡς ἀπατᾶν τὴν αἴσθησιν, ὅτι καὶ πρὸς τὰς ζεφύρου πνοὰς σειομένη δονεῖταιἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐπαυχένιος κατὰ νώτου χυθεῖσα, ἡ δὲ ταῖς ὀφρύσιν ἄνωθεν δισχιδὴς ἐπιβαίνουσα καθαρὰς τῶν ὀμμάτων ἔφαινε τὰς βολάςτὸ πέδιλον δὲ αὐτῶι ξανθοτάτωι χρυσῶι κατήνθιστο καὶ πέπλος ἄφετος κατὰ νώτου εἰς σφυρὸν κατῄει, μετεχειρίζετο δὲ τὴν λύραν, ἡ δὲ ἰσαρίθμους ταῖς Μούσαις ἐξῆπτο τοὺς φθόγγους· ὁ γὰρ χαλκὸς καὶ νευρὰς ὑπεκρίνετο καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἑκάστου μίμησιν ἀλλαττόμενος πειθηνίως ὑπήγετο μικροῦ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν ἠχὴν τῶν φθόγγων φωνήεις γενόμενος. ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ποδῶν τὴν βάσιν οὐκ οὐρανὸς ἦν τυπωθεὶς οὐδὲ Πλειάδες τὸν αἰθέρα τέμνουσαι οὐδὲ Ἄρκτου περιστροφαὶ τῶν Ὠκεανοῦ λουτρῶν ἄμοιροι, ἀλλ' ἦν πᾶν μὲν τὸ ὀρνίθων γένος πρὸς τὴν ὠιδὴν ἐξιστάμενον, πάντες δὲ ὄρειοι θῆρες καὶ ὅσον ἐν θαλάττης μυχοῖς νέμεται καὶ ἵππος ἐθέλγετο ἀντὶ χαλινοῦ τῶι μέλει κρατούμενος καὶ βοῦς ἀφεὶς τὰς νομὰς τῆς λυρωιδίας ἤκουε καὶ λεόντων ἄτεγκτος φύσις πρὸς τὴν ἁρμονίαν κατηυνάζετο. εἶδες ἂν καὶ ποταμοὺς τυποῦντα τὸν χαλκὸν ἐκ πηγῶν ἐπὶ τὰ μέλη ῥέοντας καὶ κῦμα θαλάσσης ἔρωτι τῆς ὠιδῆς ὑψούμενον καὶ πέτρας αἰσθήσει πληττομένας μουσικῆς καὶ πᾶσαν βλάστην ὥριον ἐξ ἠθῶν ἐπὶ τὴν μοῦσαν τὴν Ὀρφικὴν σπεύδουσαν.

“On Helicon – the spot is a shaded precinct sacred to the Muses – near the torrent of the river Olmeius and the violet-dark spring of Pegasus, there stood beside the Muses a statue of Orpheus, the son of Calliope, a statue most beautiful to look upon. For the bronze joined with art to give birth to beauty, indicating by the splendour of the body the musical nature of the soul. It was adorned by a Persian tiara spangled with gold and rising high up from the head, and a chiton hanging from the shoulders to the feet was confined at the breast by a golden belt. The hair was so luxuriant and so instinct with the spirit of life as to deceive the senses into thinking it was being tossed and shaken by gusts of wind – for the hair behind on the neck fell free down the back, while the parted hair which lay above the eyebrows gave full view of the pure glance of the eyes. The sandal shone brightly with yellowest of gold, and a robe fell ungirded down the back to the ankle; and he was carrying the lyre, which was equipped with as many notes as the number of the Muses. For the bronze even acted the part of strings and, being so modified as to imitate each separate note, it obediently carried out the deceit, almost indeed becoming vocal and producing the very sound of the notes. Beneath his feet heaven was not represented nor the Pleiades coursing the aether nor the revolving Bear that ‘has no part in the baths of Oceanus,’ but there was every kind of bird, brought under the spell of the singing, and all beasts of the mountains and whatever feeds in the recesses of the sea, and a horse stood entranced, held in control, not by a bridle, but by the music, and a bull, having abandoned its pasturage, was listening to the strains of the lyre, and lions by nature fierce were being lulled to sleep in response to its harmony. You could see the bronze taking on the shape of rivers flowing from their sources toward the singing, and a wave of the sea raising itself aloft for love of the song, and rocks being smitten with the sensation of music, and every plant in its season hastening from its usual abode towards the music of Orpheus; and though there was nothing that gave out a sound or roused the lyre’s harmony, yet art made manifest in all the animals the emotions excited by their love of music, and cursed their pleasure to be visible in the bronze, and in a wonderful manner expressed the enchantment that springs up in the sense-perceptions of the animals.”

(trans. Arthur Fairbanks, 1931)

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.