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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 40, lines 4–7 · Seed, heap and threshing floor
40.4
The Orphic Hymns 40.4 · Seed, heap and threshing floor
Demeter of the farmer's year, from the seed and the heaps of grain to the threshing floor and the first green crop, at home in the vales of Eleusis.
· · ·
χαίρουσα1
chaírousa
delighting
εἰρήνῃ2
eirḗnēi
in peace
καὶ3
kaì
and
πολυμόχθοις4
polymóchthois
in toilsome
ἐργασίαις5
ergasíais
labors
, σπερμείη6
spermeíē
lady of the seedpresiding over seeds
, σωρῖτις7
sōrîtis
lady of the heapsgiver of heaps of grain
, ἀλωαίη8
alōaíē
of the threshing floor
, χλοόκαρπε9
chloókarpe
bringer of green fruit
, ἣ10
hḕ
you who
ναίεις11
naíeis
live
ἁγνοῖσιν12
hagnoîsin
in the holy
γυάλοισιν13
gyáloisin
valeshollows
Ἐλευσῖνος14
Eleusînos
of Eleusis
, ἱμερόεσσʼ15
himeróess’
lovely
, ἐρατή16
eratḗ
beloved
, θρέπτειρα17
thrépteira
nurse
προπάντων18
propántōn
of all
θνητῶν19
thnētôn
mortals
, delighting in peace and in toilsome labors, lady of the seed, lady of the heaps, of the threshing floor, bringer of green fruit, you who live in the holy vales of Eleusis, lovely, beloved, nurse of all mortals,
delighting in peace and in toilsome labors, lady of the seed, lady of the heaps, of the threshing floor, bringer of green fruit, you who live in the holy vales of Eleusis, lovely, beloved, nurse of all mortals,
Interpretation
delighting in peace and in toilsome labor, lady of the seed and of the heaps of grain, goddess of the threshing floor, bringer of the green crop, you who live in the holy vales of Eleusis, lovely, beloved, nurse of all mortals,
One line holds four titles from the farmer's work: the seed, the heap of grain, the threshing floor and the green crop. The threshing-floor title, alōaiē, belongs with the Haloa, an Athenian festival of Demeter named after halōs, the threshing floor. Before them all the hymn sets peace beside hard work, and then it brings the goddess home to "the holy vales of Eleusis", the town west of Athens where her mysteries were held.
40.8
The Orphic Hymns 40.8 · Sharing a hearth with Bromios
Demeter's gifts: the plough, the good life that grows out of the soil, and the harvest with its sickles. She also shares a hearth with Bromios, that is Dionysus.
· · ·
the first who yoked the oxen's neck for plowing, and sent up for mortals a lovely life, rich in blessings, giver of growth, sharing the hearth of Bromios, splendidly honored, torch-bearing, pure, delighting in summer sickles;