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, notes that the Theogony of Hesiod calls the Graces (Charites) the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, and that their names are Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia, and that this agrees with Onomacritus. The Orphic hymn to the Graces also agrees.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 192

II (Ki. 3) Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις Παυσανίου 9.35.5 (Βοιωτία):

Ἡσίοδος δὲ ἐν Θεογονίαι (vs. 907) — προσιέσθω δὲ ὅτωι φίλον τὴν Θεογονίαν —, ἐν δ᾽ οὖν τῆι ποιήσει ταύτηι τὰς Χάριτάς φησιν εἶναι Διός τε καὶ Εὐρυνόμης καί σφισιν ὀνόματα Εὐφροσύνην τε καὶ Ἀγλαΐαν εἶναι καὶ Θαλίαν. κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὲ ἐν ἔπεσίν ἐστι τοῖς Ὀνομακρίτου.

“Hesiod in the Theogony (though the authorship is doubtful, this poem is good evidence) says that the Graces are daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, giving them the names of Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia. The poem of Onomacritus agrees with this account.”

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

Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 335; Schuster 54 n. 6; Erwin Rohde Psyche II⁶ 112 n. 1.

ὕμνος Ὀρφέως 60.2 Χαρίτων·

θυγατέρες Ζηνός τε καὶ Εὐρυνόμης (Schrader] Εὐνομίης codd.) βαθυκόλπου,

Ἀγλαΐη Θαλίη τε (Herm.] τε θάλεια codd.) καὶ Εὐφροσύνη πολύολβε.

“From Jove descended and Eunomia fam’d;

Thalia, and Aglaia fair and bright,

And blest Euphrosyne whom joys delight”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1792)

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.