ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 31

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony gives us two quotations, the first says that Orpheus was a Thracian and a cultivator of music, the second says that he was a bard and that he made the Bistonian (Thracian) land proud.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 31.

Γεωγραφικὰ Στράβωνος X 471 [elsewhere numbered 10.3.17] (from Apollódoros in opposition to [the grammarian] Dîmítrios of Skípsios [Δημήτριος ὁ Σκήψιος] ? v. Ed. Schwartz RE² I 2865):

οἵ τ’ ἐπιμεληθέντες τῆς ἀρχαίας μουσικῆς Θρᾶικες λέγονται, Ὀρφεύς τε καὶ Μουσαῖος καὶ Θάμυρις, καὶ τῶι Εὐμόλπωι δὲ τοὔνομα ἐνθένδε, καὶ οἱ τῶι Διονύσωι τὴν Ἀσίαν ὅλην καθιερώσαντες μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἐκεῖθεν καὶ τὴν πολλὴν μουσικὴν μεταφέρουσι.

“The cultivators of ancient music are said to have been Thracians, as Orpheus, Musaeus, Thamyris; hence also Eumolpus had his name. Those who regard the whole of Asia as far as India as consecrated to Bacchus, refer to that country as the origin of a great portion of the present music.”

(trans. H.C. Hamilton, W. Falconer, M.A., 1903)

Publius Ovidius Naso Epistulae ex Ponto II 9, 53:

neve sub hoc tractu vates foret unicus Orpheus,

Bistonis ingenio terra superba tuo est.

“and that beneath this sky Orpheus might not be the only bard,

by thy talent is the Bistonian (ed. Thracian) land made proud.”

(trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler, 1924)

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.