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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 4, lines 7–9 · Bring a holy life to the new initiate
4.7
The Orphic Hymns 4.7 · Bring a holy life to the new initiate
The last titles of Heaven, among them "father of Kronos." Then the request: hear, and bring a holy life to someone who has just been initiated.
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κυανόχρως1
kyanóchrōs
dark-blue
, ἀδάμαστε2
adámaste
untamed
, παναίολος3
panaíolos
star-spangled
, αἰολόμορφε4
aiolómorphe
of changing form
, πανδερκές5
panderkés
all-seeing
, Κρονότεκνε6
Kronótekne
father of Kronoswhose child is Kronos
, μάκαρ7
mákar
blessed one
, πανυπέρτατε8
panypértate
supreme
δαῖμον9
daîmon
powerdaimon
, κλῦθʼ10
klŷth’
hear
, ἐπάγων11
epágōn
bringing
ὁσίην12
hosíēn
a holy
ζωὴν13
zōḕn
life
to the
νεοφάντῃ14
neophántēi
newnewly shown the rites
μύστῃ15
mýstēi
initiate
. dark-blue, untamed, star-spangled, of changing form, all-seeing, father of Kronos, blessed one, supreme power, hear, bringing a holy life to the new initiate.
dark-blue, untamed, star-spangled, of changing form, all-seeing, father of Kronos, blessed one, supreme power, hear, bringing a holy life to the new initiate.
Interpretation
dark-blue, untamed, star-spangled, changing in form, all-seeing, father of Kronos, blessed one, supreme power: hear, and bring a holy life to the new initiate.
Kronoteknos means "the one whose child is Kronos." In Hesiod's story Kronos castrated his father Heaven and took his rule, so the title recalls the oldest quarrel among the gods. The hymn asks for a holy life for a mystēs neophantēs, a new initiate. Neophantēs comes from phainō, "show": an initiate was someone to whom the sacred things had been shown, and at Eleusis the chief priest was the hierophantēs, "the one who shows the holy things."
5.1
The Orphic Hymns 5.1 · The high-roofed might of Zeus
Aether is the bright, burning air high above the clouds, where the stars shine. The hymn calls it the might of Zeus, the prop that holds up the stars, the sun and the moon.
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Of Aether. Incense: saffron. O you who hold the high-roofed might of Zeus, ever unwearied, prop of the stars and the sun and the moon, tamer of all, fire-breathing, spark for all living things,