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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 0, lines 36–39 · Sweet-voiced Victory and the four-pillared world
0.36
The Orphic Hymns 0.36 · Sweet-voiced Victory and the four-pillared world
Victory and Adrasteia, Asclepius the healer, Athena, and the whole sky with its winds and thunder.
· · ·
θʼ1
th’
And
αὐδῶ2
audô
I nameI speak
ἡδυέπειαν3
hēdyépeian
sweet-voiced
Νίκην4
Níkēn
VictoryNike
ἰδʼ5
id’
and
ἄνασσαν6
ánassan
queen
Ἀδρήστειαν7
Adrḗsteian
Adrasteiathe Inescapable
, καὶ8
kaì
and
μέγαν9
mégan
the great
βασιλῆα10
basilêa
king
Ἀσκληπιὸν11
Asklēpiòn
Asclepius
, ἠπιοδώτην12
ēpiodṓtēn
giver of gentle curesgiver of soothing things
, τʼ13
t’
and
Παλλάδα14
Palláda
Pallas
, ἐγρεμάχην15
egremáchēn
rouser of battle
, κούρην16
koúrēn
maiden
, τε17
te
and
πρόπαντας18
própantas
all
Ἀνέμους19
Anémous
the Winds
, καὶ20
kaì
and
Βροντὰς21
Brontàs
the Thunders
, τε22
te
and
μέρη23
mérē
the parts
τετρακίονος24
tetrakíonos
of the four-pillared
Κόσμου25
Kósmou
Worldthe ordered whole
. And I name sweet-voiced Victory and queen Adrasteia, and the great king Asclepius, giver of gentle cures, and Pallas, rouser of battle, maiden, and all the Winds, and the Thunders, and the parts of the four-pillared World.
And I name sweet-voiced Victory and queen Adrasteia, and the great king Asclepius, giver of gentle cures, and Pallas, rouser of battle, maiden, and all the Winds, and the Thunders, and the parts of the four-pillared World.
Interpretation
And I name sweet-voiced Victory and queen Adrasteia, and the great king Asclepius, giver of gentle cures, and Pallas, rouser of battle, the maiden, and all the Winds, and the Thunders, and the parts of the four-pillared World.
Adrasteia, whose name the Greeks took to mean "the one no one escapes," is a goddess of retribution, close to Nemesis. Asclepius is ēpiodōtēs, "giver of gentle things," the soothing remedies of medicine; his own hymn (67) calls him the healer of all. The world, kosmos, is pictured here as a building standing on four pillars.
0.40
The Orphic Hymns 0.40 · Come kindly to this rite
The last gods named come from Asia Minor; Beginning and End follow, and then the prayer asks all of them to come.
· · ·
and I call the Mother of the immortals, Attis and Men, and the Heavenly goddess, and with her holy, immortal Adonis, Beginning and End, for this is the greatest for all, to come kindly, with rejoicing hearts, to this holy rite of offering and to the solemn libation.