ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 17

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony consists of two quotations: the first states that Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus are the most ancient of the Greek theologians, but that they lived before the time of the Seven Sages; the second quotation discusses the doctrine which says that daimons are in a mean between Gods and men, and that this doctrine came from Orpheus, or Zoroaster, or from Egypt, or Phrygia.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 17.

Porphyr. ap. Εὑαγγελικὴ προπαρασκευὴ Εὐσεβίου X 4 p. 470 B (I 542, 2 Dind.):

συνομολογοῦσί γέ τοι Ἕλληνες αὐτοὶ, μετά γε Ὀρφέα Λίνον τε καὶ Μουσαῖον , οἳ δὴ πάντων μάλιστα θεολόγων παλαιότατοί τε καὶ πρῶτοι κατῆρξαν αὐτοῖς τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης, τοὺς ἑπτὰ παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἄνδρας ἐπὶ σοφίαι θαυμασθῆναι, οὓς δὴ καὶ ἐπονομάσαι σοφούς.

“Indeed the Greeks themselves confess that it was after Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus, the most ancient of all their theologians and the first to introduce among them the error of polytheism, that their seven men whom they surnamed Sages were celebrated for wisdom.”

(trans. E. H. Gifford, 1903)

Ἠθικὰ Πλουτάρχου· 29 Περὶ τῶν ἐκλελοιπότων χρηστηρίων ~ Εὑαγγελικὴ προπαρασκευὴ Εὐσεβίου V 4 p. 164 b (I 215, 17 Dind.):

ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκοῦσι πλείονας λῦσαι καὶ µείζονας ἀπορίας οἱ τὸ τῶν δαιµόνων γένος ἐν µέσωι θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων* θέντες, καὶ τρόπον τινὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν ἡµῶν συνάγον εἰς ταὐτὸ καὶ συνάπτον ἐξευρόντες, εἴτε μάγων τῶν περὶ Ζωροάστρην ὁ λόγος οὗτός ἐστιν, εἴτε Θράικιος ἀπʼ Ὀρφέως, ἢ Αἰγύπτιος ἢ Φρύγιος, ὡς τεκμαιρόμεθα ταῖς ἑκατέρωθι τελεταῖς ἀναμεμιγμένα πολλὰ θνητὰ καὶ πένθιμα τῶν ὀργιαζομένων καὶ δρωμένων ἱερῶν ὁρῶντες. v. also nr. 99 a.

“so it seems to me, that those who have ranked the genus of Daemons between that of Gods and men* have solved greater doubts and difficulties, as having found the knot which does, as it were, join and hold together our society and communication with them. It is uncertain whence this opinion arose, whether from the ancient Magi by Zoroaster, or from Thrace by Orpheus, or from Egypt, or Phrygia; as may be conjectured from the sight of the sacrifices which are made in both countries, where amongst their holy and divine ceremonies there is seen a mixture of mortality and mourning.”

(trans. from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, 1874)

Another translation: “yet to me it seems that those men solved more and greater difficulties, who set the race of daemons midway between Gods and men*, and discovered that it, in a manner, brings together and unites our society with them; whether this doctrine comes from the Magi and Zoroaster, or is Thracian and derived from Orpheus, or Egyptian, or Phrygian, as we conjecture from seeing that with the initiations in both regions there are mingled many symbols of mortality and mourning in the orgiastic performance of their sacred rites.”

(trans. E. H. Gifford, 1903)

*Editor's (JVK) note: This is referring directly to Συμπόσιον Πλάτωνος 202 e: “He (i. e. Ἔρως) is a great spirit (δαίμων), and like all spirits (δαίμονες) he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal.” (trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1892)

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.