ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 83

OTTO KERN

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


SUMMARY: This testimony, from the Cyclops of Euripides, has the leader of the chorus saying to Odysseus that he knows a spell of Orpheus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 83.

Κύκλωψ Εὐριπίδου 646:

Ἡγεμών Χοροῦ Σατύρων·

ἀλλ᾽ οἶδ᾽ ἐπωιδὴν Ὀρφέως ἀγαθὴν πάνυ,

ὥστ᾽ αὐτόματον τὸν δαλὸν ἐἰς τὸ κρανίον

στείχονθ᾽ ὑφάπτειν τὸν μονῶπα παῖδα γῆς.

Leader of the Chorus of Satyrs:

“Well, but I know a spell of Orpheus, a most excellent one, to make the brand enter his skull of its own accord, and set alight the one-eyed son of Earth.”

(trans. Edward P. Coleridge, 1891)

Herman Diels ll. n. 9.


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.