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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 18, lines 12–15 · The gates of Hades at Eleusis
18.12
The Orphic Hymns 18.12 · The gates of Hades at Eleusis
The story of Persephone: Plouton carried Demeter's daughter off from her meadow and brought her down into the earth at Eleusis.
· · ·
Εὔβουλʼ1
Eúboul’
wise in counselEuboulos
, ὅς2
hós
you who
ποτε3
pote
once
νυμφεύσας4
nympheúsas
took as your bride
παῖδα5
paîda
the daughter
of
ἁγνοπόλου6
hagnopólou
purifying
Δημήτερος7
Dēmḗteros
Demeter
, ἀποσπαδίην8
apospadíēn
torn away
λειμῶνος9
leimônos
from the meadow
, and
ἤγαγες10
ḗgages
carriedled
her
διὰ11
dià
across
πόντου12
póntou
the sea
with
τετρώροις13
tetrṓrois
four-yoked
ἵπποισιν14
híppoisin
horses
ὑπʼ15
hyp’
down to
the
ἄντρον16
ántron
cave
Ἀτθίδος17
Atthídos
of Attica
, δήμου18
dḗmou
in the district
Ἐλευσῖνος19
Eleusînos
of Eleusis
, τόθι20
tóthi
where
περ21
per
—
πύλαι22
pýlai
the gates
Ἀίδαο23
Aídao
of Hades
εἰσʼ24
eis’
are
. wise in counsel, you who once took as your bride the daughter of purifying Demeter, torn away from the meadow, and carried her across the sea with four-yoked horses down to the cave of Attica, in the district of Eleusis, where the gates of Hades are.
wise in counsel, you who once took as your bride the daughter of purifying Demeter, torn away from the meadow, and carried her across the sea with four-yoked horses down to the cave of Attica, in the district of Eleusis, where the gates of Hades are.
Interpretation
wise in counsel, you who once took the daughter of purifying Demeter as your bride, tore her away from the meadow, and carried her across the sea with your four-horse team down to the cave of Attica, in the district of Eleusis, where the gates of Hades are.
Eleusis, near Athens, was the home of the most famous mysteries in the Greek world, the rites of Demeter and her daughter. This version of the story takes Persephone across the sea and brings her down into the earth through a cave at Eleusis, and the sanctuary there did have a cave sacred to Plouton.
Euboulos, "wise in counsel," is close to Eubouleus, a name that belongs to the world below. Later hymns in this book give it to Dionysus, the son of Persephone (29, 30), and Eubouleus is one of the gods greeted in the Orphic texts written on gold leaves and buried with the dead.
18.16
The Orphic Hymns 18.16 · Judge of hidden and open deeds
Plouton alone judges what people did in secret and in the open. The hymn ends by asking him to come gladly to the initiates.
· · ·
you alone are judge of deeds hidden and open, divine, almighty, most holy, splendidly honored, rejoicing in the solemn celebrants of the mysteries and in holy worship; I call on you to come gracious, rejoicing, to the initiates.