The Orphic Hymns

by Unknown

  1 blooming: Health is naturally described as blooming, and her gift is described in similar terms (cf. “every house blossoms” in line 4). The bulk of Ariphron’s fragment cited in the introduction is a conditional sentence that runs as follows: if there is any pleasure for men, “then with you, blessed Hygieia, it is in full bloom and shines with the gentle talk of the Graces.” The theme of vegetation is found in the previous hymn, where Asklepios is called a “blessed spirit of joyful growth” (OH 67.5+n). It appears in Persephone’s hymn (OH 29.18–19), and it is a prominent motif in the hymns to Dionysos (see OH 50i+5n).

  2 mother of all: Compare the Likymnios fragment, cited in the introduction to this hymn, and see also OH 10.1n.

  6 loathed by Hades: Hygieia, in her capacity as a healer of disease and consequently a goddess who keeps living things alive, perforce delays Hades from increasing his kingdom.

  7 apart from you: The same sentiment is found in Ariphon’s poem; see note to line 1.

  8 wealth: Some combination of wealth, riches, and prosperity are desired along with health throughout the collection; see OH 15.10–11n.

  9 the many pains of old age: The idea here is not that Hygieia keeps young men healthy so that they survive to experience the suffering connected with old age. Rather, the wish is to reach old age without pains, i.e., in good health; cf. OH 29.19, OH 67.4n and OH 87.12+n.

  69. To the Erinyes

  The Erinyes (often translated as “Furies,” after the Latin Furiae, but the etymology is uncertain) are a group of female divinities who take vengeance for criminal acts; they are particularly concerned with the slaughtering of kin and the breaking of one’s oath. We find different origins in the mythological record. Hesiod tells us that they were born from the blood that fecundated Earth after Kronos castrated his father Sky (Theogony 183–187). Although the violent Giants were also born from this act, it is especially appropriate for the Erinyes in light of their role as instruments of vengeance. Later in the poem (469–473), Rhea asks her parents Earth and Sky “to contrive such a plan that the birth of her dear child [Zeus]/would go unnoticed and her father’s Erinys would take revenge.” Sometimes, though, the Erinyes are said to be daughters of Night (e.g., Aeschylus Eumenides 321–323). In either case, their origin is from a primeval, chthonic entity. Sophokles ingeniously combines both traditions by describing the Eumenides (who here are equivalent to the Erinyes; see below) as “daughters of Earth and Darkness” (Oedipus at Kolonos 40). Darkness is a male figure (Greek Skotos) and thus an appropriate masculine analogue to the feminine Night.

  The Erinyes also have fertility associations, and this might have been their original domain. This connection with fertility is suggested by the fact that Earth is sometimes their mother. It is also evidenced by their close relation with the Eumenides. The two groups were originally distinct but later were usually identified with one another—the Erinyes representing the negative, punitive aspect of transgressing boundaries and the Eumenides the positive, beneficial result of maintaining such. A process of transformation is described in Aeschylus’ Eumenides, where he connects the mythical Erinyes, who form the chorus to this play, with the cult of the Eumenides (called Semnai Theai, the August Goddesses, at Athens). At the end of the play, the Erinyes, having been denied their prerogative to mete out punishment to Orestes for his matricide, threaten to afflict Athens with disease that would make the land “leafless” and “childless”; after Athene assuages their anger by offering them honors in Athens, the Erinyes in turn promise benedictions for a prosperous land. This ability to destroy or nurture life hints at their powers of fertility. Furthermore, we find Demeter worshipped as Demeter Erinys (sometimes called just Erinys). According to Pausanias (8.25.4–10), Demeter, while searching for Persephone, turns herself into a horse in order to escape the unwanted attentions of Poseidon. Upon recognizing the ruse, he transforms himself into a horse as well. The result of their union is a mysterious daughter (whose name is not given) and the wonder horse Areion, who is sometimes said to have Earth as his mother. Demeter was given the name Erinys due to her initial anger over the encounter; compare the anger of Nemesis (OH 61i) and Melinoe (OH 71.4–5+n). The name Erinys is also found among other divinities in a Linear B tablet from Knossos, but nothing about this goddess is known. It may be that she was a completely independent fertility goddess who eventually became identified with Demeter, and, in a separate development, was expanded into a plurality representing different aspects of the original goddess, whatever they were (cf. note to line 1).

  In cult, the Erinyes do not appear to have been directly worshipped. Aside from the cult of Demeter Erinys, who might not be connected with the group, there was a temple to the Erinyes of Laios and Oedipus in Sparta and its colony Thera (Herodotos 4.149.2); it is interesting to note that we have evidence for the close proximity between a tomb of Oedipus and the Eumenides’ cult both in Athens and the Attic deme Kolonos. The Spartan cult, though, was founded by a particular clan in an effort to ward off continued infanticide (compare the threats made by the Erinyes in the Eumenides, which are another sign of their connection with fertility), but the nature of worship is unclear. In general, however, it is likely that in many cases the cults to the Eumenides are, in fact, to the Erinyes, albeit in their capacity to bring blessings. One approaches divinities for favors, and the invocation of the deity by means of a euphemistic name was felt to increase the chance that the divinity would appear in its friendlier guise. To call on the Erinyes by this name would increase the risk that the goddesses would appear in their unpleasant aspect (cf. OH O.12+n and OH 71.11n). By the same token, it is the Erinyes (alongside other chthonic powers)—and not the Eumenides—who are invoked in curse tablets, where their violent and deadly powers are deliberately sought for deleterious effect. For a similar reason, they also at times appear in magical spells, e.g., to help bring back a lover or catch a thief. The Erinyes are sometimes portrayed in the literature as physical manifestations of curses, and in fact are called Curses (Greek Arai) from time to time. They can also be found rationalized as a perpetrator’s guilty conscience. Both the Erinyes and Eumenides are mentioned in the first few columns of the Derveni papyrus; see further OH 70i. Very little of the text can be read, let alone understood, and addressing the various possible interpretations is beyond the scope of this commentary; see Betegh 2004, pp. 74–91, 218–219.

  The close connection between the Erinyes and Eumenides is maintained in our collection. The hymns to these goddesses form a contiguous pair (cf. OH 14.8–9n), and there are many correspondences in language and imagery. Some of these are pointed out in the notes below, as well as in the following hymn. Yet, despite these similarities, the two groups are not identified with one another but rather are kept distinct. The Eumenides are given a genealogy, for example. Even more surprising, in view of the tradition, is that they are described in demonic terms—more so than the Erinyes. Further differences are that each group is summoned for somewhat different reasons and given different offerings. Since the Hymns were composed for a specific, pragmatic purpose, such a material distinction implies a conceptual one. The negative/positive polarity of the Erinyes/Eumenides found in earlier times has been effaced; instead we have two very similar sets of divinities, invoked in a slightly different, but related, manner. This allows for a certain consistency with the often conflicting literary and religious traditions. A similar explanation applies to the close relationship of the Erinyes with the Fates (see OH 59i) and Nemesis (see OH 61i).

  This hymn begins a series (OH 69–77) whose placement within the collection is curious. The other hymns show evidence of having been deliberately positioned (see in particular OH 15i, OH 30i, OH 55i, OH 61i, OH 79i, and OH 87i), but these hymns seem out of place, a mere listing of pairs (except for the hymn to Melinoe, which is nevertheless closely related to the Eryines/Eumenides pair and clearly belongs with them; see OH 71i). Now, it may very well be that our composer did not know how to integrate these entities and so just tossed t
hem together in a sort of random miscellany near the end of the collection. On the other hand, one thread that ties them together is that all of the addressees are much more bound up with cult worship than with literary mythology. The exception to this proves the rule: both the Muses and Mnemosyne are explicitly connected with cult practice in their hymns (OH 76.7 and OH 77.9–10), and note that memory plays an important role in the eschatology of some of the Bacchic gold tablets. Here, though, Mnemosyne is invoked right before Dawn to help the initiates, who have probably been worshipping the entire night, to remember the rest of the hymns and the ritual (see OH 77i). The block of OH 69–77 may further be connected with the Dionysian hymns (OH 45–54) through their cultic, mythological, and linguistic associations (e.g., the maenadic imagery in OH 69, Leukothea the addressee of OH 72, the Muses and Mnemosyne as founders of mystic rites). There might also be ring composition with the final group of hymns, as they end with death (literally) and the OH 69–77 group begins with death figures (Erinyes, Eumenides, and Melinoe).

  1 Tisiphone, Allekto, noble Megaira: We have only sparse attestations for the names, one of which is Apollodoros (1.1.4), whose source seems ultimately to have been derived from an Orphic theogony (West 1983, pp. 121–126). Therefore, it is possible that they are Orphic in origin. The names are significant. “Tisiphone” means “vengeance for murder,” Allekto (sometimes Alekto) “unceasing,” and Megaira “grudge.” Taken together, they represent in particular the Erinyes’ role as punishers of murderers. The dead victim bears a “grudge” that requires “vengeance for the murder,” and this grudge is “unceasing” until the murderer is punished. The same exact line appears in the Orphic Argonautika (968), and these are the only places where all three Erinyes are named together in extant poetry. Persephone appears in place of Tisiphone in a prayer to Moon found in a magical handbook, but it is possible that this was a lapse by the writer; Persephone’s name appears again a few lines later in the text; see note to line 16.

  2 Bacchic cries: Throughout this hymn, the Erinyes are described through Dionysian and particularly maenadic imagery (see OH 1.3n and OH 52i). Like the maenads, they raise Bacchic cries, they are active at night (line 3), they are rabid (line 6), they howl (line 6), they wear animal skins (line 7), and snakes adorn their hair (line 16; see note below). This association already appears in Greek tragedy; for references and an interpretation, see Johnston 1999, pp. 253–256. For loud noise in Dionysian worship, see OH 30.1n.

  4 Styx: A river in the underworld. Its name means “hate.” The Olympian gods, when making an oath, swear by its waters (Hesiod Theogony 775–806). Hesiod tells us that the Erinyes assisted in the birth of Oath, whose mother was Strife (Works and Days 803–804). The water of the Styx is described as splendid in Orpheus’ address to Mousaios (OH O.29), and this is the only other mention of the river in our collection. Styx is a daughter of Okeanos; see OH 83.3n.

  9 phantoms airy, invisible: Two closely related passages in Hesiod seem relevant to this description. First, Dike, whenever wronged in a court of law, visits ruin on the city clothed in airy mist (Works and Days 222–224). A little later in the same poem, Hesiod addresses the kings and reminds them that “upon this earth that nurtures many Zeus can levy/thirty thousand deathless guardians of mortal men, / who keep a watchful eye over verdicts and cruel acts/as they rove the whole earth, clothed in mist” (252–255). Thereupon Dike is represented as a girl who runs to daddy Zeus whenever men make false charges in order that vengeance be taken on them (the verb used, “apoteisei” (260), is cognate with the “tisi” in Tisiphone; see note to line 1). See also OH 61i and OH 62i. The Erinyes as described in our hymn have a similar function, and it is very suggestive that a fragment attributed to Orpheus (Orphic fragment 851) implies that the Erinyes are the agents of Zeus’ indignation at those who do not respect the ordinances of their “ancestors.” A forged letter attributed to Herakleitos explicitly connects the Erinyes with the Hesiodic guardians: “Many are the Erinyes of justice [dikē], the watchers of moral failings. Hesiod lied when he said there were thirty thousand. They are few and not sufficient for the evil in the world. There is much wickedness” (9.3.1). For the Erinyes’ connection with Dike, see note to line 15 below. Homer twice uses the epithet “mist-roving” (Iliad 9.571, 19.87) to describe an Erinys; the same word is used to describe Moon (OH 9.2), but there the word does not have the connotation of invisibility. Words denoting “air(y)” or “mist(y)” appear with some frequency in the Hymns. Usually they merely refer to the element “air” and are not used descriptively of a phantasmal appearance. Both ideas, however, are combined, when Zephyros is called “airy, … invisible” (OH 81.6), just as the Erinyes are here. For more information on airy phantoms, see OH 71i.

  15 you gaze as the eye of Dike: For the eye of Dike, see OH 62.1+n. The Erinyes are often connected with Dike in literature. The chorus of Erinyes in Aeschylus’ Eumenides declare that fear of their punishment makes a man obey Dike (490–565); compare the Sisyphos fragment mentioned in OH 61.5n. Their role in the social order of man also finds curious reflection in a fragment of the Pre-Socratic philosopher Herakleitos (Kirk, Raven, and Schofield 1983, no. 226), which happens also to be cited in the Derveni papyrus. Herakleitos says that the sun will not overstep its proper measure; otherwise the Erinyes, “assistants of Dike,” will find him out (see also note to line 9). A similar portrayal of the Erinyes is found in an enigmatic saying attributed to Pythagoras by Hippolytos: “If you travel abroad from your own [land?], do not turn back; otherwise the Erinyes, helpers of Dike, will come after you” (Refutation of All Heresies 6.26.1). Perhaps the mention of the “speedy flames of the sun and the moon’s glow” (line 10) is a remnant of such philosophical speculation. Our hymn certainly portrays the Erinyes as part of divine order: they “howl over Necessity’s dictates” (line 6) and are called “goddesses of fate” (line 16; see note below). Their connection with Dike reinforces the idea that not only is there order in the world but that it also possesses an ethical dimension; see further OH 64i.

  16 snake-haired: A traditional characteristic in literature and art. Aeschylus is the first extant writer to describe the Erinyes thus (Libation Bearers 1048–1050), and, if Pausanias (1.28.6) is to be believed, he was the first one to do so. The same word appears in line 10 of the next hymn in the same metrical position (and see OH 70.9–10+n).

  16 many-shaped goddesses of fate: Compare “of the thousand faces” (line 8; the two words both end in “-morph,” “shape”). Their connection with “Necessity’s dictates” (line 6) is consistent with their equivalence to the Fates. In Vergil’s Aeneid, the Erinys Allekto is described as having “a thousand [= many, countless] names” (7.337), and Servius in his comment on this line reports that Euripides in one of his tragedies (now lost) has Allekto claim that she was not born to fulfill a single function (implied are her traditional roles, as described above) but that she is Fortune (probably Tyche in the original), Nemesis, Fate, and Necessity (fragment 1022). This probably is what Herakleitos and Pythagoras had in mind (see note to line 15), and, indeed, Euripides might have been directly influenced by one or both of them. A prayer to Moon in a magical handbook also calls the Erinyes “many-shaped.” Even more pertinent, at the beginning of this prayer Moon is equated with them (they are named here, with Persephone in place of Tisiphone; see note to line 1), Dike, and the Fates, while at the end she is equated with Necessity, Fate, Erinys, and Dike (PGM 4.2795–2799; 2858–2860; see also note to line 9). This shows how easily the Erinyes could be seen as a different manifestation of similar divinities, not just of the Eumenides. Usually, though, the Fates and Erinyes are kept separate. Both are, in some accounts, daughters of Night, and so could be considered sisters (see the introduction to this hymn). Agamemnon blames Zeus, Fate, and the Erinys for his ruinous dispute with Akhilleus (Iliad 19.86–90). In the Eumenides, Fate is said to have conferred on the Erinyes their prerogatives (334–339). In our collection the two groups are kept distinct, despite the number of ver
bal and conceptual correspondences between their hymns (as with the Eumenides; see OH 70i). They are both concerned with the moral order of the cosmos (see OH 59i), albeit from different perspectives. The Fates work from above—while still maintaining chthonic associations (see OH 59.3–4n)—and the Erinyes from below, with us hapless mortals caught in between.