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The Orphic Hymns

the Orphic tradition · Hymn 46, lines 1–3 · The god in the winnowing basket

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Hymn 46 · Liknites

ΛΙΚΝΙΤΟΥ, θυμίαμα μάνναν Of Liknites · incense: frankincense powder

46.1

The Orphic Hymns 46.1 · The god in the winnowing basket

Dionysus as Liknites, the infant who lay in the winnowing basket and grew up on Nysa among the Nymphs.

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ΛΙΚΝΙΤΟΥ¹

Liknítou

Of Liknitesgod of the winnowing basket

θυμίαμα²

thymíama

Incense

μάνναν³

mánnan

frankincense powdergranules

κικλήσκω⁴

kiklḗskō

I call

Διόνυσον⁵

Diónyson

Dionysus

Λικνίτην⁶

Liknítēn

Liknites

ἐπʼ⁷

ep’

with

ταῖσδε⁸

taîsde

these

εὐχαῖς⁹

euchaîs

prayers

Νύσιον¹⁰

Nýsion

Nysian

ἀμφιθαλῆ¹¹

amphithalê

bloomingblooming on both sides

πεποθημένον¹²

pepothēménon

longed for

εὔφρονα¹³

eúphrona

kindly

Βάκχον¹⁴

Bákchon

Bacchus

ἐραστὸν¹⁵

erastòn

the lovely

ἔρνος¹⁶

érnos

shoot

νυμφῶν¹⁷

nymphôn

of the Nymphs

τʼ¹⁸

t’

and

ἐυστεφάνου¹⁹

eustephánou

of fair-crowned

Ἀφροδίτης²⁰

Aphrodítēs

Aphrodite

Of Liknites. Incense: frankincense powder. I call Dionysus Liknites with these prayers, Nysian, blooming, longed for, kindly Bacchus, the lovely shoot of the Nymphs and of fair-crowned Aphrodite,

Interpretation

Of Liknites. Incense: frankincense powder. With these prayers I call Dionysus Liknites, the god of Nysa, in full bloom, longed for, kindly Bacchus, lovely offspring of the Nymphs and of fair-crowned Aphrodite,

A liknon was the broad basket in which threshed grain was tossed against the wind to separate it from the chaff. It was sacred to Dionysus and carried on the head at his festivals, and Liknites is the god of the basket, the infant who lay in it. Plutarch, who served as a priest at Delphi, writes that the Thyiads, the women devoted to Dionysus there, "wake the Liknites" at a secret rite. "Nysian" names Nysa, the mountain where, in a Homeric hymn, the Nymphs reared the child.

Athenian red-figure hydria, about 460 to 450 BC, attributed to the Villa Giulia Painter. A satyr holds up the young Dionysus between two women, the nymphs who raised the god on Mount Nysa.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, X.313.1 · CC0

46.4

The Orphic Hymns 46.4 · Dancing in the woods with the Nymphs

As a young god he danced in the woods with the Nymphs, driven by Bacchic frenzy.

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you who once shook your dancing steps through the woods with the graceful Nymphs, driven by frenzies,

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