ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 230

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony, from the Roman historian Olympiodorus of Thebes (as quoted in the Bibliotheca of Photius I of Constantinople), says that Herodorus of Heraclea wrote The History of Orpheus and Musaeus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 230

Ὀλυμπιόδωρος ὁ Θηβαῖος as quoted in Βιβλιοθήκη τοῦ Πατριάρχου Φωτίου Α´ 80, p. 61 a 31:

Ἡρόδωρος [τῆς Ἡρακλείας;] δὲ, ὁ τὴν Ὀρφέως καὶ Μουσαίου συγγράψας ἱστορίαν.

“But Iródôros (Ἡρόδωρος) [of Heraclea?], the composer of the History of Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς) and Mousaios (Μουσαῖος).”

(Ed. The same quotation, but in context:

λέγει δὲ ὅτι νήσος [sc. Oasis] τὸ παλαιὸν ἦν καὶ ἀπεχερσώθη καὶ ὅτι ταύτην καλεῖ Ἡρόδοτος [III 26] ‘μακάρων νήσους’. Ἡρόδωρος δέ ὁ τὴν Ὀρφέως καὶ Μουσαίου συγγράψας ἱστορίαν Φαιακίδα ταύτην καλεῖ

“And he [Ὀλυμπιόδωρος] says that in ancient times [Oasis] was an island, detached [from the mainland], and that Iródotos [Ἡρόδοτος] calls this ‘The Islands of the Happy Ones.’* But Iródôros [Ἡρόδωρος], who wrote the History of Orphéfs [Ὀρφεύς] and Mousaios [Μουσαῖος],” calls this [the ‘Islands of the] Phaeacians [Φαίακες].’

[trans. by the author]

* Ἱστορίαι Ἡροδότου 3.26.1:

ὁ μὲν ἐπ᾽ Αἰθίοπας στόλος οὕτω ἔπρηξε: οἱ δ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπ᾽ Ἀμμωνίους ἀποσταλέντες στρατεύεσθαι, ἐπείτε ὁρμηθέντες ἐκ τῶν Θηβέων ἐπορεύοντο ἔχοντες ἀγωγούς, ἀπικόμενοι μὲν φανεροί εἰσι ἐς Ὄασιν πόλιν, τὴν ἔχουσι μὲν Σάμιοι τῆς Αἰσχριωνίης φυλῆς λεγόμενοι εἶναι, ἀπέχουσι δὲ ἑπτὰ ἡμερέων ὁδὸν ἀπὸ Θηβέων διὰ ψάμμου: ὀνομάζεται δὲ ὁ χῶρος οὗτος κατὰ Ἑλλήνων γλῶσσαν Μακάρων νῆσος.

“So fared the expedition against Ethiopia. As for those who were sent to march against the Ammonians, they set out and journeyed from Thebes with guides; and it is known that they came to the city of Oasis, inhabited by Samians said to be of the Aeschrionian tribe, seven days’ march from Thebes across sandy desert; this place is called, in the Greek language, Islands of the Blest.”

[trans. A. D. Godley, 1920] )

Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (FHG) II 27 b; IV 65 n. 33; Hermann Diels Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker II³ 167 n. 13 a; Felix Jacoby Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft ² VIII 986 (on Herodotus) v. nr. 5.

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.