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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 15, lines 1–2 · A testimony and a prayer
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Hymn 15 · Zeus
ΔΙΟΣ, θυμίαμα στύρακα
Of Zeus · incense: storax
15.1
The Orphic Hymns 15.1 · A testimony and a prayer
The singers address Zeus twice by name and say what they are offering him: a testimony and a prayer.
· · ·
ΔΙΟΣ1
Diós
Of Zeus
. θυμίαμα2
thymíama
Incensewhat is burned
στύρακα3
stýraka
storax
. πολυτίμητε4
polytímēte
Much-honored
Ζεῦ5
Zeû
Zeus
, ἄφθιτε6
áphthite
undyingunwithering
Ζεῦ7
Zeû
Zeus
, ἡμεῖς8
hēmeîs
we
τιθέμεσθα9
tithémestha
offerset down
τοι10
toi
to you
τήνδε11
tḗnde
this
μαρτυρίην12
martyríēn
testimony
λυτήριον13
lytḗrion
of release
, ἠδὲ14
ēdè
and
a
πρόσευξιν15
próseuxin
prayer
. Of Zeus. Incense: storax. Much-honored Zeus, undying Zeus, we offer to you this testimony of release, and a prayer.
Of Zeus. Incense: storax. Much-honored Zeus, undying Zeus, we offer to you this testimony of release, and a prayer.
Interpretation
Of Zeus. Incense: storax. Much-honored Zeus, undying Zeus, we offer you this testimony of release, and this prayer.
The singers say what they are offering. Martyriē is the word for testimony, the evidence a witness gives, and they lay it before Zeus as they would lay an offering on the altar; the lines that follow are the testimony itself, a statement of what Zeus has done and is. It is also lytērios, "releasing." Aeschylus uses the word of gods who deliver a city, and doctors used it of a sign of healing.
15.3
The Orphic Hymns 15.3 · Through your head all these appeared
Everything in the world came to light through Zeus, from the earth and the mountains to all that the sky holds.
· · ·
O king, through your head these things appeared with ease: Earth, the goddess, the mother, and the echoing heights of the mountains, and the sea, and all things that the sky encloses within.