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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 29, lines 9–11 · Playmate of the Seasons
29.9
The Orphic Hymns 29.9 · Playmate of the Seasons
Bright, horned, the companion of the Seasons and a maiden teeming with fruit: titles of a goddess of growth and of light.
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συμπαίκτειρα1
sympaíkteira
playmate
Ὡρῶν2
Hōrôn
of the Seasons
, φαεσφόρος3
phaesphóros
light-bringer
, ἀγλαόμορφε4
aglaómorphe
of radiant form
, σεμνή5
semnḗ
revered
, παντοκράτειρα6
pantokráteira
ruler of all
, κόρη7
kórē
maiden
βρύουσα8
brýousa
teeming
καρποῖσι9
karpoîsi
with fruits
, εὐφεγγές10
euphengés
bright-shining
, κερόεσσα11
keróessa
horned
, μόνη12
mónē
alone
ποθεινή13
potheinḗ
longed for
θνητοῖσι14
thnētoîsi
by mortals
, playmate of the Seasons, light-bringer, of radiant form, revered, ruler of all, maiden teeming with fruits, bright-shining, horned, alone longed for by mortals,
playmate of the Seasons, light-bringer, of radiant form, revered, ruler of all, maiden teeming with fruits, bright-shining, horned, alone longed for by mortals,
Interpretation
playmate of the Seasons, bringer of light, radiant in form, revered, ruler of all, maiden teeming with fruits, bright-shining, horned, the one mortals long for,
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Persephone is picking flowers with her companions in a meadow when Hades seizes her. Here her playmates are the Seasons, the goddesses who bring each part of the year in its turn, which suits a goddess whose going down and coming back mark the year. Two of her titles, "bright-shining" and "horned," belong more often to the Moon, who in Hymn 9 is "bull-horned," and some later writers, Plutarch among them, linked Persephone with the Moon.
29.12
The Orphic Hymns 29.12 · Spring shoots and an autumn wedding
In spring she shows herself in the green shoots; in autumn she was carried off to her marriage.
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of spring, delighting in the breezes of the meadows, showing your holy body in green-fruited shoots, wedded in autumn in a marriage by abduction,