ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 256

OTTO KERN

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

PANTOMIMUS (PANTOMIME)

SUMMARY: In this testimony from the essay On Pantomime of Lucian of Samosata, the author states that pantomime draws on the stories of the floating head of Orpheus and the rending of Dionysus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 256

Περὶ ὀρχήσεως Λουκιανοὺ (On Pantomine by Lucian) 51:

ἔχει καὶ Θράικη πολλὰ τῶι ὀρχησομένωι ἀναγκαῖα, τὸν Ὀρφέα, τὸν ἐκείνου σπαραγμὸν καὶ τὴν λάλον αὐτοῦ κεφαλὴν τὴν ἐπιπλέουσαν τῆι λύραι, καὶ τὸν Αἷμον καὶ τὴν Ῥοδόπην, καὶ τὴν Λυκούργου κόλασιν.

“Thrace, too, has much that is indispensable to the pantomime: of the head of murdered Orpheus, that sang while it floated down the stream upon his lyre; of Haemus and of Rhodope; and of the chastisement of Lycurgus.”

(trans. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, 1905)

Compare to Ἰάκχου σπαραγμόν (the tearing apart of Iákkhos) Περὶ ὀρχήσεως Λουκιανοὺ 39:

Δευκαλίωνα ἐπὶ τούτοις, καὶ τὴν μεγάλην ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνου τοῦ βίου ναυαγίαν, καὶ λάρνακα μίαν λείψανον τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους φυλάττουσαν, καὶ ἐκ λίθων ἀνθρώπους πάλιν εἶτα Ἰάκχου σπαραγμὸν καὶ Ἥρας δόλον καὶ Σεμέλης κατάφλεξιν καὶ Διονύσου ἀμφοτέρας τὰς γονάς, καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ἡφαίστου καὶ Ἐριχθονίου, καὶ τὴν ἔριν τὴν περὶ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, καὶ Ἁλιρρόθιον καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐν Ἀρείωι πάγωι κρίσιν, καὶ ὅλως τὴν Ἀττικὴν πᾶσαν μυθολογίαν.

“He (ed. the dancer of pantomime) must know of Deucalion, in whose days the whole world suffered shipwreck, of that single chest wherein were preserved the remnants of the human race, of the new generation born of stones; of the rending of Iacchus, the guile of Hera, the fiery death of Semele, the double birth of Dionysus; of Athene and Hephaestus and Erichthonius, of the strife for the possession of Athens, of Halirrhothius and that first trial on the Areopagus, and all the legendary lore of Attica.”

(trans. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, 1905)

Otto Kern Orpheus 56.

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.