ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 231

OTTO KERN

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


SUMMARY: This testimony, from the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, refers to a text by Nicomedes on Orpheus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 231

An Orphic text by Νικομήδης (Ἀκάνθιος?) entitled simply:

Περὶ Ὀρφέως

On Orpheus

Δειπνοσοφισταί Ἀθηναίον Ναυκρατίου XIV 637 a (14.40 elsewhere):

οἶδα δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ὄργανον [nomen instrumenti intercidisse observavit Kaibelius] ὧι τῶν Θραικῶν οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις χρῶνται, ὥς φησιν Νικομήδης ἐν τῶι Περὶ* Ὀρφέως.

“I am acquainted, too, with another (ed. musical) instrument [Georg Kaibel noted that the name of the instrument has been lost] which the Thracian kings use in their banquets, as Nicomedes tells us in his essay on Orpheus*.”

(trans. Charles Duke Yonge, 1854)

*Kern capitalizes Περὶ Ὀρφέως assuming it is a title, but the Greek text in Kaibel’s edition does not.

Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (FHG) IV 465; Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 342.


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.