The Orphic Hymns are a collection of eighty-seven hymns addressed to various deities, and are among the few extant works of Orphic literature. They were most likely composed in Asia Minor, possibly in the second or third centuries AD. The poems, in dactylic hexameter, are relatively short in length, and the collection is prefaced by a dedication entitled "Orpheus to Musaeus"; each individual hymn comes alongside a prescribed offering. Among the deities praised in the Hymns, Dionysus is given the place of highest importance.[1] The poems survive through a manuscript which also contained the Homeric Hymns, the Orphic Argonautica, and the hymns composed by Callimachus and Proclus.[2] At the beginning of the 20th century, Otto Kern postulated that the poems belonged to a religious community in Pergamon, a view which some later scholars have accepted.
Estimates for the date of the Orphic Hymns composition vary widely.[3] While there are several Greek authors who mention hymns attributed to Orpheus, the earliest certain reference to the collection of 87 hymns comes from the 12th-century AD writer John Galenos.[4] It is possible that they were composed at an early date without being mentioned, though it is more likely that they were produced somewhere from the 1st to 4th centuries AD.[5] Christian Petersen, who saw the influence of Stoicism in the Hymns, posited that they must have been composed after the flourishing of Stoic thought, though others have instead seen Platonic or Neoplatonic influence in the collection.[6] On the basis of the language and meter of the Hymns, Wilamowitz judged that they can not have been composed before the 2nd century AD,[7] but were earlier than Nonnus,[8] and van Liempt saw their language as the same used in 3rd and 4th-century AD poetry.[9] More recently, most scholars have dated the collection to around the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD,[10] with Gabriella Ricciardelli pointing to the prominence of Dionysism at that time in Asia Minor.[11]
A number of early scholars believed that the Hymns were produced in Egypt, primarily on the basis of stylistic similarities to Egyptian magical hymns, and the presence in the proem of deities which are found elsewhere in Egyptian literature.[12] Modern scholarship, however, now essentially unanimously agrees upon Asia Minor as the place of composition;[13] in particular, the names of deities such as Mise, Hipta, and Melinoe, otherwise known only through the Hymns, have been found in inscriptions in the region.[14] In 1910, a number of such inscriptions were discovered in a temenos of Demeter in Pergamon, which led Otto Kern to postulate that the city was the location in which the collection was composed.[15] While Christian Lobeck conceived of the collection as a "purely literary work", written by a scholar as an exercise,[16] others such as Albrecht Dieterich argued that the Hymns were liturgical in function, designed for ritual performance by a cult community, a perspective almost universally accepted by modern scholars.[17] Kern argued that this group existed at the temenos in Pergamon itself, a view with which some have subsequently agreed.[18] Scholars have at times stated that the collection was the product of a single author,[19] though it has also been questioned whether or not the proem was composed separately.[20]
The Orphic Hymns are one of the few extant works of Orphic literature.[21] The collection is attributed to Orpheus in the manuscripts in which it survives,[22] and is written in the voice of Orpheus, opening with the dedication "Orpheus to Musaeus", in which the poet addresses his pupil.[23] In the Hymns themselves, there are a few traces of Orpheus as their composer:[24] OH 76 to the Muses mentions "mother Calliope",[25] and OH 24 to the Nereids refers to "mother Calliope and lord Apollo", alluding to the parentage of Orpheus (whose father was sometimes considered to be Apollo).[26] The collection can be seen as an example of the broader genre of hymns in Orphic literature,[27] which go back at least as far as the 5th century BC;[28] though some scholars have brought into question how "Orphic" the collection can be considered, partly due to the apparent lack of Orphic narratives and eschatological ideas,[29] there are several places in which the language bears similarity to other works of Orphic literature.[30] W. K. C. Guthrie, who placed the Hymns at the temenos in Pergamon, went so far as to state that the group to whom they belonged was an "Orphic society";[31] Ivan Linforth, however, contests that it is equally likely that the name of Orpheus was simply stamped upon the work for its "prestige".[32]
In addition to the proem, the Orphic Hymns consist of 87 very brief poems,[33] which range from 6 to 30 lines in length.[34] In the surviving manuscripts, the hymn addressed to Hecate is appended to the proem,[35] though modern editions present it separately, as the first hymn of the collection.[36] In the order of the hymns there occurs a progression from life to death:[37] the second hymn is addressed to Prothyraia, a goddess associated with birth, while the last is dedicated to Thanatos (Death), and ends in the word γῆρας ("old age").[38] The collection is also arranged in such a way that the earliest primordial deities appear in the first hymns, while later gods are found further on.[39] As such, the earliest hymns are addressed to deities who feature in Orphic cosmogony, such as Nyx (OH 3), Uranus (OH 4), Aether (OH 5), and Protogonos (OH 6).[40] There often exists a link between adjacent hymns - such as the shared "allness" of Pan (OH 11) and Heracles (OH 12) - and a "logic of cosmogonies" is present in, for example, the placement of the hymns to Cronus (OH 13) and Rhea (OH 14) ahead of those to their children (OH 15 - 8).[41] Fritz Graf also sees religious significance in the ordering of the hymns.[42]
The collection begins with a poem entitled "Orpheus to Musaeus",[43] often referred to as the proem,[44] proemium, or prologue,[45] in which Orpheus speaks to Musaeus (who is usually described as his son or student in Greek literature).[46] The proem has 54 lines, including the final ten which make up the hymn to Hecate (which is attached without separation or a title).[47] It opens with a two-line dedication in which Orpheus asks Musaeus to learn the rite (θυηπολίη) and prayer (εὐχή), the latter of these referring to the address which follows from lines 3 to 44, in which around 70 different deities are called upon to attend the rite in question (which would go alongside the performance of the text).[48] The purpose of this prayer is seemingly to name and devote a hymn to "all" the gods,[49] though it addresses numerous deities not mentioned in the collection itself, and omits others who are subjects of hymns.[50] Partly on the basis of this difference in the deities mentioned, as well as the presence of the word θυηπολίη ("a ritual usually linked with sacrifice"),[51] which does not appear in the rest of the collection, at the beginning and end of the proem, M. L. West argues that the proem was originally a separate Orphic poem, and that this poem was called Θυηπολικόν (a title listed among the works of Orpheus in the Suda).[52] Anne-France Morand, however, argues for the common authorship of the proem and the rest of the collection, pointing to the similarities in the usage of epithets, and in the way deities are characterised between the two.[53]
Each individual hymn in the collection has three internal parts: the invocation, the development, and the request.[54] In some hymns, however, especially those shorter in length, these three parts can be difficult to distinguish, and may not occur in order.[55] The invocation is brief, typically appears at the start of the hymn, and is designed to gain the attention of the hymn's addressee.[56] It names the deity (sometimes using an epiclesis), and usually calls upon them with a verb, which may be in the imperative,[57] though sometimes no such verb is present, in which case the god is simply named.[58] The development (also referred to as the amplification)[59] makes up the main, central portion of the hymn, and is the longest section;[60] it follows immediately from the invocation, with the point at which it begins often being difficult to distinguish.[61] It consists mostly of descriptions of the deity, particularly in the form of numerous epithets, and may discuss different features or aspects of the god, as well as include information such as their familial relations, or locations in which they are worshipped;[62] the purpose of this section is to gratify the deity so that they choose to make themselves present.[63] The request (also referred to as the prayer)[64] generally finishes the hymn, and is usually only around one or two lines in length.[65] It opens with several verbs which typically ask for the god to listen to what the speaker has to say, and for them to be present.[66]
The hymns in the collection are similar to each other in their style and language (with several exceptions, which Ricciardelli suggests may not have been part of the original collection).[67] They are written in dactylic hexameter, and also display a consistency in metrical composition.[68] According to, in terms of vocabulary and grammar, the Hymns find a "distant model" in the works of Hesiod and Homer, but also contain a number of words and forms from later literature, spanning up to the imperial period.[69] In particular, the language of the collection bears similarity to that of late works such as Nonnus's Dionysiaca, the Greek Magical Papyri, and several poems from the Greek Anthology.[70] The most distinctive feature of the Hymns is their use of concatenations of epithets, which make up a large part of their content.[71] They also contain a number of language devices, such as anaphora, alliteration, assonance, and repetition,[72] as well as forms of wordplay, such as etymologies on the names of gods.[73] Other notable stylistic elements include the frequent use of compound adjectives as epithets, the tendency to juxtapose contrasting descriptions of deities, and the use of asyndeton.[74]
It is largely accepted in modern scholarship that the Orphic Hymns were liturgical in function, and were used in religious rites by a cult which existed in Asia Minor.[75] According to Morand, this group performed initiations into some form of mysteries.[76] Within the Hymns themselves, a number of different members of the group's religious hierarchy are mentioned:[77] the μύσται, the regular members of the cult (and the group mentioned most frequently);[78] the νεομύστης, the "new initiates";[79] the μυστιπόλος, who were likely members involved in initiations and ritual activity;[80] and the ὀργιοφάντης, who seem to have been members involved in initiation rites (similarly to the μυστιπόλος), and who may also have been responsible for displaying holy objects.[81] The term βουκόλος ("cowherd") is also found in the Hymns, a religious title which is often used elsewhere to refer to worshippers of Dionysus, and is connected to Orpheus in some contexts.[82] The use of the word βουκόλος and the prominence of Dionysus in the collection indicate that he was the central god of the cult which used the Hymns.[83]
Most of the hymns in the collection contain a specification of an offering to be made to the deity, which is given as part of the title of the hymn;[84] only eight hymns lack such an offering in the title.[85] In ritual, these offerings would likely have been burned.[86] For most of the hymns, the offering specified is an aromatic, incense (or incense powder or granules), storax, or myrrh.[87] In some cases a combination of offerings is asked for.[88] Several hymns specify a unique offering to be given to the deity, such as torches to Nyx, saffron to Aether, poppies to Hypnos, and grain (excluding beans or herbs) to Earth; OH 53 to Amphietes asks for a libation of milk in addition to an offering.[89] While in a few cases there is a recognisable link between a deity and their offering, as with poppies for Hypnos, or grain for Earth, for most of the hymns there is no clear reasoning behind the choice of offering.[90] The absence of animals from the offerings may be related to the supposed prohibition of animal sacrifice in Orphic belief.[91]
The ceremony in which the Hymns played a role was the τελετή,[92] a rite of initiation into the mysteries.[93] Within the Hymns, there are numerous references to the τελετή,[94] including several mentions of the πάνθειος τελετή, an initiation rite to all of the gods.[95] This rite appears to have occurred at nighttime, and may have included the playing of a tambourine at points.[96] The Hymns also contain several instances of the term ὄργιον, which may refer to sacred objects which featured in the rite.[97] According to Fritz Graf, the placement of the hymn to Hecate (OH 1) at the beginning of the collection may reflect the placement of a hekataion at the entry to the building in which the rite took place, which participants would have walked past before its commencement.[98] Graf also argues that the presence of the hymn to Nyx (OH 3) early on is an indication that the Hymns accompanied a nocturnal ritual, which began at dusk and lasted through the night.[99]