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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 35, lines 6–7 · Come to the rite for all the gods
35.6
The Orphic Hymns 35.6 · Come to the rite for all the gods
The prayer: come kindly to the rite and bring it a sweet end.
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κλῦθι1
klŷthi
Hear
θεὰ2
theà
goddess
δέσποινα3
déspoina
lady
, καὶ4
kaì
and
ἔχουσα5
échousa
with
ἵλαον6
hílaon
a gracious
ἦτορ7
êtor
heart
βαῖνʼ8
baîn’
come
ἐπὶ9
epì
to
the
τελετὴν10
teletḕn
riteinitiation
πάνθειον11
pántheion
for all the gods
, φέρουσα12
phérousa
bringing
ἡδὺ13
hēdỳ
a sweet
τέλος14
télos
endfulfillment
. Hear, goddess, lady, and with a gracious heart come to the rite for all the gods, bringing a sweet end.
Hear, goddess, lady, and with a gracious heart come to the rite for all the gods, bringing a sweet end.
Interpretation
Hear, goddess and lady, and with a gracious heart come to this rite for all the gods, bringing it a sweet end.
The prayer plays on two related words. Leto is to come to the teletē, the rite, and bring it a sweet telos, a good ending. Both come from the idea of completion, and telos itself could mean a rite of the mysteries: Sophocles speaks of the "holy rites" that the two goddesses keep at Eleusis. The rite here is pantheios, "for all the gods," which fits the way this collection works, with one god after another called to the same ceremony.
36.1
The Orphic Hymns 36.1 · Hear me, many-named daughter of Zeus
The hymn to Artemis, sung over frankincense powder, begins with her names: archer, torch-bearer, Diktynna, goddess of childbirth.
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Of Artemis. Incense: frankincense powder. Hear me, O queen, many-named daughter of Zeus, Titaness, loud-roaring, of great name, archer, revered, shining on all, torch-bearer, goddess Diktynna, of childbirth,