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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 22, lines 9–10 · Send a fair wind to the ships
22.9
The Orphic Hymns 22.9 · Send a fair wind to the ships
The prayer to the Sea: help us, and send ships a fair wind.
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κλῦθί1
klŷthí
Hear
μευ2
meu
me
, ὦ3
ô
O
πολύσεμνε4
polýsemne
most revered
one
,καὶ5
kaì
and
ἐπαρήγοις6
eparḗgois
may you help
us
εὐμενέουσʼ7
eumenéous’
kindly
, πέμπουσα8
pémpousa
sending
οὖρον9
oûron
a fair wind
to
εὐθυδρόμοις10
euthydrómois
straight-running
νηυσὶν11
nēusìn
ships
, μάκαιρα12
mákaira
blessed one
. Hear me, O most revered one, and may you help us kindly, sending a fair wind to straight-running ships, blessed one.
Hear me, O most revered one, and may you help us kindly, sending a fair wind to straight-running ships, blessed one.
Interpretation
Hear me, most revered one, and help us kindly, blessed one, sending a fair wind to ships that run a straight course.
Ouros is the sailor's word for a fair wind, the steady breeze from behind that fills the sail. In the Odyssey it is a gift that goddesses give: Calypso promises Odysseus, "I will send a fair wind behind you," with the same verb as this hymn. A ship that "runs straight" (euthydromos) holds its course all the way to port.
23.1
The Orphic Hymns 23.1 · The Old Man of the Sea and his fifty daughters
Nereus lives in the depths of the sea and delights in his fifty daughters dancing in the waves.
· · ·
Of Nereus. Incense: myrrh. O you who hold the roots of the sea, a dark-gleaming dwelling, delighting in your fifty daughters among the waves, in the dances of fair children, Nereus, glorious god,