ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 250

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: From commentaries by the great philosopher Proclus, the head of the Platonic school in ancient Athens, this testimony shows the enormous influence of Orpheus on Pythagoras; the final quotation says that the entire Greek theology is derived from Orpheus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 250

σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Τιμαίου Πλάτωνος V prooem. (III 168, 9 Ernst Diehl, Procli Diadochi in Platonis Timaeum Commentaria) following Iámvlikhos (Ἰάμβλιχος) principally (nr. 249):

αὗται δέ εἰσιν αἱ Ὀρφικαὶ παραδόσεις· ἃ γὰρ Ὀρφεὺς δι᾽ ἀπορρήτων λόγων μυστικῶς παραδέδωκε, ταῦτα Πυθαγόρας ἐξέμαθεν ὀργιασθεὶς ἐν Λιβήθροις (Λεβήθροις codd.) τοῖς Θραικίοις Ἀγλαοφάμω τελεστᾶ (τελέστα codd.] τελετὰς Christian Lobeck, by another, τελετᾶ Hermann Diehl) μεταδόντος ἣν περὶ θεῶν Ὀρφεὺς σοφίαν παρὰ Καλλιόπης τῆς μητρὸς ἐπινύσθη· ταῦτα γὰρ αὐτός φησιν ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἐν τῶι Ἱερῶι λόγωι.

“For what Orpheus delivered mystically through arcane narrations, this Pythagoras learned, being initiated by Aglaophemus in the mystic wisdom which Orpheus derived from his mother Calliope. For these things Pythagoras says in The Sacred Discourse.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1820)

σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Τιμαίου Πλάτωνος 40 E (III 161, 1 Ernst Diehl):

τοιαῦτα μὲν ἄν τις ἀπὸ τῶν προκειμένων λάβοι δόγματα. Πυθαγόρειον δὲ καὶ τὸ ταῖς Ὀρφικαῖς ἕπεσθαι γενεαλογίαις· ἄνωθεν γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς Ὀρφικῆς παραδόσεως διὰ Πυθαγόρου καὶ εἰς Ἕλληνας ἡ περὶ θεῶν ἐπιστήμη προῆλθεν, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ Πυθαγόρας φησὶν ἐν τῶι Ἱερῶι λόγωι.

“And such like dogmas indeed may be assumed from the words before us. But it is Pythagoric to follow the Orphic genealogies. For the science concerning the Gods proceeded from the Orphic tradition through Pythagoras, to the Greeks, as Pythagoras himself says in THE SACRED DISCOURSE.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1820)

Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα θεολογίας Πρόκλου I 6 p. 13, 3:

ἅπασα γὰρ ἡ παρ’ Ἕλλησι θεολογία τῆς Ὀρφικῆς ἐστὶ μυσταγωγίας ἔκγονος, πρώτου μὲν Πυθαγόρου παρὰ Ἀγλαοφήμου τὰ περὶ θεῶν ὄργια διδαχθέντος. δευτέρου δὲ Πλάτωνος ὑποδεξαμένου τὴν παντελῆ περὶ τούτων ἐπιστήμην ἔκ τε τῶν Πυθαγορείων καὶ τῶν Ὀρφικῶν γραμμάτων.

“For all the Grecian theology is the progeny of the mystic tradition of Orpheus; Pythagoras first of all learning from Aglaophemus the orgies of the Gods, but Plato in the second place receiving an all-perfect science of the divinities from the Pythagoric and Orphic writings.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1816)

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.