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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 36, lines 13–16 · Send sickness to the mountain tops
36.13
The Orphic Hymns 36.13 · Send sickness to the mountain tops
The prayer: come with good harvests, peace and health, and send sickness and pain away to the mountain peaks.
· · ·
ἐλθέ1
elthé
Come
, σώτειρα2
sṓteira
savior
θεὰ3
theà
goddess
, φίλη4
phílē
dear one
, εὐάντητος5
euántētos
graciouseasy to approach
ἅπασιν6
hápasin
to all
μύστῃσιν7
mýstēisin
the initiates
, ἄγουσα8
ágousa
bringing
καλοὺς9
kaloùs
fine
καρποὺς10
karpoùs
fruits
ἀπὸ11
apò
from
γαίης12
gaíēs
the earth
, τʼ13
t’
and
ἐρατὴν14
eratḕn
lovely
εἰρήνην15
eirḗnēn
peace
θʼ16
th’
and
καλλιπλόκαμόν17
kalliplókamón
fair-hairedwith lovely braids
ὑγίειαν18
hygíeian
health
; δʼ19
d’
and
πέμποις20
pémpois
may you send
νούσους21
noúsous
diseases
τε22
te
—
καὶ23
kaì
and
ἄλγη24
álgē
pains
εἰς25
eis
to
κορυφὰς26
koryphàs
the peaks
ὀρέων27
oréōn
of the mountains
. Come, savior goddess, dear one, gracious to all the initiates, bringing fine fruits from the earth, and lovely peace and fair-haired health; and may you send diseases and pains to the peaks of the mountains.
Come, savior goddess, dear one, gracious to all the initiates, bringing fine fruits from the earth, and lovely peace and fair-haired health; and may you send diseases and pains to the peaks of the mountains.
Interpretation
Come, savior goddess, dear one, gracious to all the initiates, bringing fine fruits from the earth, and lovely peace, and fair-haired Health; and may you send diseases and pains away to the peaks of the mountains.
The prayer brings good things in and sends bad things out. Health is "fair-haired," a person as well as a blessing: she is Hygieia, who has her own hymn later in the book (68). Disease and pain are to go to the mountain peaks, the wild country where Artemis hunts and no one lives, where they can do no harm.
37.1
The Orphic Hymns 37.1 · Titans, ancestors of our fathers
The hymn to the Titans, sung over frankincense. They are the children of Earth and Sky, imprisoned deep beneath the earth in Tartarus.
· · ·
Of the Titans. Incense: frankincense. Titans, splendid children of Earth and of Sky, ancestors of our fathers, dwelling beneath the earth in homes of Tartarus, in the depths of the earth,