ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 58

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony consists of four quotations again affirming the association of Orpheus with the lyre and music.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 58.

Πυθιόνικαι Πινδάρου IV 176:

ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτὰς ἀοιδᾶν πατὴρ

ἔμολεν, εὐαίνητος Ὀρφεύς.

“And Apollo’s son came also, even that minstrel of the lyre, that father of song, the famous Orpheus.”

(trans. Sir John E. Sandys, 1915)

c. schol. (II p. 139 s. Drachm.) v. nr. 22 77.

Ἀργοναυτικὰ Ἀπολλωνίου Ῥοδίου I 31 nr. 51:

θελγομένας φόρμιγγι κατήγαγε Πιερίηθεν.

“the same (trees) which under the charm of his lyre he led down from Pieria.”

(trans. R. C. Seaton, 1912)

[Theocr.] Ἐπιτάφ. Βίωνος (Mosch. III) 123:

Ὀρφέι ἁδέα φορμίζοντι

“To Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς), who sweetly sang to the lyre.”

(trans. by the author)

v. nr. 62.

Servii Grammatici in Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii VI 645 (nec non Threicius longa cum veste sacerdos “And in fact, the Thracian priest in a long garment”) (~myth. Vat. II 44; III 19. 20; v. Robert Raschke De Alberico mythologo, Breslauer philologische Abhandlungen 45, 86):

Orpheus Calliopes musae et Oeagri fluminis filius fuit, qui primus orgia instituit, primus etiam deprehendit harmoniam, id est circulorum mundanorum sonum, quos novem esse novimus. e quibus summus quem anastron dicunt, sono caret, item ultimus, qui terrenus est. reliqui septem sunt, quorum sonum deprehendit Orpheus, unde uti septem fingitur chordis... ‘sacerdos’ autem, quia et theologus fuit et orgia primus instituit.

“Orpheus was the son of the Muse Calliope and the Oeagrus River, the first to establish the Mysteries, and also the first to comprehend harmony, that is, the sound of the orbit of the universe, which we came to know to be nine. From these, they say that the highest one is without stars and free from sound, but also, that the lowest is terrestrial. The remaining are seven, of which Orpheus comprehended the sound, for which (the lyre) is arranged with seven strings... but (he was) a ‘priest,’ and a theologian, because he was the first to establish the Mysteries.”

(trans. by the author)

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.