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

SUMMARY: This fragment states that Orpheus knew of the Crater of Dionysus.

217. (p. 216) σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Τιμαίου Πλάτωνος 41 d (III 250, 17 Diehl):

ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄλλοι παραδέδονται κρατῆρες ὑπό τε Ὀρφέως καὶ Πλάτωνος· Πλάτων τε γὰρ ἐν Φιλήβωι (61 b. c) τὸν μὲν Ἡφαίστειον κρατῆρα παραδίδωσι, τὸν δὲ Διονυσιακόν, καὶ Ὀρφεύς οἶδε μὲν καὶ τὸν τοῦ Διονύσου κρατῆρα, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους ἱδρύει περὶ τὴν Ἡλιακὴν τράπεζαν.

“... since other Craters also are delivered both by Orpheus and Plato. For Plato in the Philebus mentions two Craters, the one Vulcanian (Ἡφαίστειον), but the other Dionysiacal. And Orpheus knew indeed of the Crater of Bacchus, but he also establishes many others about the solar table.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1820)

Lobeck I 376. 731; Kern Arch. Gesch. Philos. II 1889, 393; Gruppe Suppl. 698.

On the poems Κρατῆρες see the sections ahead entitled Κρατήρ.

On the table of the Sun Ἱστορίαι Ἡροδότου 3.17.2 - 3.18.1:

ὀψομένους τε τὴν ἐν τούτοισι τοῖσι Αἰθίοψι λεγομένην εἶναι ἡλίου τράπεζαν εἰ ἔστι ἀληθέως, καὶ πρὸς ταύτῃ τὰ ἄλλα κατοψομένους, δῶρα δὲ τῷ λόγῳ φέροντας τῷ βασιλέι αὐτῶν.

ἡ δὲ τράπεζα τοῦ ἡλίου τοιήδε τις λέγεται εἶναι, λειμὼν ἐστὶ ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ ἐπίπλεος κρεῶν ἑφθῶν πάντων τῶν τετραπόδων, ἐς τὸν τὰς μὲν νύκτας ἐπιτηδεύοντας τιθέναι τὰ κρέα τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ἑκάστοτε ἐόντας τῶν ἀστῶν, τὰς δὲ ἡμέρας δαίνυσθαι προσιόντα τὸν βουλόμενον. φάναι δὲ τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ταῦτα τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν ἀναδιδόναι ἑκάστοτε.

“to Ethiopia he (Καμβύσης II) would first send spies, to see what truth there was in the story of a Table of the Sun in that country, and to spy out all else besides, under the pretext of bringing gifts for the Ethiopian king.

“Now the Table of the Sun is said to be something of this kind: there is a meadow outside the city, filled with the boiled flesh of all four-footed things; here during the night the men of authority among the townsmen are careful to set out the meat, and all day whoever wishes comes and feasts on it. These meats, say the people of the country, are ever produced by the earth of itself. Such is the story of the Sun's Table.”

(trans. A. D. Godley, 1920)

Also on the table of the Sun Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις Παυσανίου, Book 6.26.2 Ἦλις (Gruppe 1. 1. 700):

λέγουσι δὲ καὶ Ἄνδριοι παρὰ ἔτος σφίσιν ἐς τοῦ Διονύσου τὴν ἑορτὴν ῥεῖν οἶνον αὐτόματον ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ. εἰ πιστεύειν χρὴ ταῦτα Ἕλλησιν, εἰ ἀποδέχοιτο ἄν τις τῷ λόγῳ γε τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ὅσα Αἰθίοπες οἱ ὑπὲρ Συήνης ἐς τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν τράπεζαν λέγουσιν.

“The Andrians too assert that every other year at their feast of Dionysus wine flows of its own accord from the sanctuary. If the Greeks are to be believed in these matters, one might with equal reason accept what the Ethiopians above Syene say about the table of the sun.”

(trans. W. H. S. Jones, 1918)

Compare also Φερεκύδης Diels II³ 205 n. 12 (Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων Διογένους Λαερτίου I 119):

ἔλεγέ τε ὅτι οἱ θεοὶ τὴν τράπεζαν θυωρὸν καλοῦσιν.

“He (Φερεκύδης) said that the Gods call the table thyôrós (θυωρός).”*

*Pamela Mensch notes in her translation of the Lives that the meaning is that altars are the table of the Gods. (Lives of the Eminent Philosophers Diogenes Laertius, Compact Edition, Oxford 2020, p. 42, note 200.)

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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