ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 209
OTTO KERN
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SUMMARY: This testimony, from the satirist and rhetorician Lucian, discusses the Bacchic pantomimic dancing in which the dancers depicted Titans, Corybantes, Satyrs, and cattle-herders.
ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 209
Περὶ ὀρχήσεως Λουκιανοὺ 79:
ἡ μὲν γε Βακχικὴ ὄρχησις ἐν Ἰωνίαι μάλιστα καὶ ἐν Πόντωι σπουδαζομένη, καίτοι σατυρικὴ οὖσα, οὗτω κεχείρωται τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς ἐκεῖ, ὥστε κατὰ τὸν τεταγμένον ἕκαστοι καιρόν ἁπάντων ἐπιλαθόμενοι τῶν ἄλλων κάθηνται δι᾽ ἡμέρας Τιτᾶνας καὶ Κορύβαντας καὶ Σατύρους καὶ βουκόλους ὁρῶντες· καὶ ὀρχοῦνταί γε ταῦτα οἱ εὐγενέστατοι καὶ πρωτεύοντες ἐν ἑκάστηι τῶν πόλεων, οὐχ ὅπως αἰδούμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέγα φρονοῦντες ἐπὶ τῶι πράγματι μᾶλλον ἤπερ ἐπ᾽ εὐγενείαις καὶ λειτουργίαις καὶ ἀξιώμασι προγονικοῖς.
“The Bacchic form of Pantomime, which is particularly popular in Ionia and Pontus, in spite of its being confined to satyric subjects has taken such possession of those peoples, that, when the Pantomime season comes round in each city, they leave all else and sit for whole days watching Titans and Corybantes, Satyrs and neat-herds*. Men of the highest rank and position are not ashamed to take part in these performances: indeed, they pride themselves more on their pantomimic skill than on birth and ancestry and public services.”
(trans. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, 1905)
*cow herders.
On the cattle-herders see Kern Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft 2 III 1013; Carl Robert Genethliakon 1910, 96. You can also find Βουκόλος in a ritual booklet P. II fr. 31 vs. 25.
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