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

SUMMARY: This fragment presents a quotation from an oracle found in Syrianus which glorifies Zeus and contains segments of the Great Orphic Hymn to Zeus (Orphic Fragment 168).

169. (124) Θεοσοφία τοῦ Αριστοκρίτου Μανιχαίων (Tubingensis) 50 p. 109, 23 Bur.:

ὅτι ὁ Συριανὸς ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πονήμασιν (test. 238) ἀναφέρει χρησµὸν τοιοῦτον·

| ^{110 Bur.} Ἓν κράτος, εἷς δαίµων, γενέτης µέγας, ἀρχὸς ἁπάντων,

ἓν δὲ δέµας βασίλειον, ἐν ᾧ τάδε πάντα κυκλοῦται,

πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ αἰθήρ, νύξ τε καὶ ἦμαρ

ϰαὶ Μῆτις, πρῶτη γενέτις ϰαὶ Ἔρως πολυτερπής.

5 πάντα γὰρ ἐν Ζηνὸς μεγάλωι τάδε σώματι κεῖται,

πάντα μόνος δὲ νοεῖ πάντων προνοεῖ τε θεουδῶς·

πάντῃ δὲ Ζηνὸς καὶ ἐν ὄµµασι πατρὸς ἄνακτος

ναίουσ’ ἀθάνατοί τε θεοὶ θνητοί τε ἄνθρωποι,

θῆρές τ’ οἰωνοί θ’ ὁπόσα πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει.

10 οὐδὲ ἕ που λήθουσιν ἐφήμερα φῦλ’ ἀνθρώπων,

ὅσσ' ἀδίκως ῥέζουσί περ, οὐδ’ εἰν οὔρεσι θῆρες

ἄγριοι, τετράποδες, λασιότριχες, ὄμβριμόθυμοι.

“Syrianós in his books (test. 238) reports this oracle:

‘One power, one daimôn, mighty ancestor, ruler of all,

and one royal body, in whom he encircles all these,

fire, water, earth, and aithír (αἰθήρ), night and day

and Mítis (Μῆτις), first mother and much-delighting Ǽrôs (Ἔρως).

5 For all this is laid up in the vast body of Zefs (Ζεύς),

and he alone conceives everything and divinely foreknows all things;

and everything is from Zefs, and under the watch of their father and lord

the immortal Gods and mortal men dwell,

and the beasts, the birds, and as many as breathe and walk.

10 But the ephemeral tribes of men do not escape his notice -

how many unjust things they all do - nor the beasts in the mountains

wild, the four-footed ones, hairy and strong of spirit.’ ”

(trans. by the author)

Quotation of verses 7. 8 from the above hymn in σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Παρμενίδου Πλάτωνος IV 959, 21 Cous.:

καὶ οὐκ ἂν θαυμασαίμεθα τῶν Ὀρφικῶν ἀκούοντες ἐπῶν, ἐν οἷς φησιν ὁ θεολόγος·

αὕτη δὲ Ζηνὸς καὶ ἐν ὄµµασι πατρὸς ἄνακτος

ναίουσ’ ἀθάνατοί τε θεοὶ θνητοί τε ἄνθρωποι,

ὅσσα τ’ ἕην γεγαῶτα καὶ ὕστερον ὁππόσ’ ἔμελλεν (fragment 167 b verse 6)

πάντων γὰρ ἐστι πλήρης τῶν νοητῶν καὶ πάντων ἔχει τὰς διηιρημένας αἰτίας, ὥστε καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ τἆλλα πάντα γεννᾶι κατὰ τὰς αὐτῶν ἰδιότητας, οὐ καθόσον ἕκαστον θεῖόν ἐστιν ὥσπερ ὁ πρὸ αὐτοῦ πατὴρ ὁ νοητός.

“And we should not marvel hearing (the words) of Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς), in which the theologian says:

‘And this is (all) from Zefs (Ζεύς); and under the watch of their father and lord

the immortal Gods and mortal men dwell,

as in what has come to be already and as in what is destined to come later.’

“For he is filled with all intelligible things and has the distinguishing causes of all things, so that he generates both men and all other things according to their specific characteristics, not in so far as each one is divine, even as his intelligible father before him.”

(trans. by the author)

Herm. XXXV; Lobeck I 526.

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.

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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.

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