ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 247

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony, from the Life of Pythagoras by Iamblichus, says that Orpheus is the most ancient of the poets and that he used the Doric dialect.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 247

The Doric dialect, in Ιαμβλίχου Χαλκιδέως περί βίου Πυθαγορικού λόγος 34, 243, Johann August Nauck Iamblichi De Vita Pythagorica Liber p. 170, 1:

κεχρῆσθαι δὲ τῆι Δωρικῆι διαλέκτωι καὶ τὸν Ὀρφέα, πρεσβύτατον (Cobet] πρεσβύτερον codd.) ὄντα τῶν ποιητῶν.

“Orpheus also, who is the most ancient of the poets, used the Doric dialect.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1818)

(Metrodorus [Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 722 n. b; Johann August Nauck Iamblichi De Vita Pythagorica Liber p. 168; Erwin Rohde Rhein. Mus. XXVII 1872, 57 = Kl. Schr. II 167])

Geffcken N. Jahrb. XXIX 1912, 610; see also Orphic Critical Testimony 28 (ed. a quotation of the poet Moschus which refers to the “Dorian Orpheus”).

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.