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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 47, lines 4–6 · The bond of all things
47.4
The Orphic Hymns 47.4 · The bond of all things
The lightning that struck Semele shook the whole earth. The god shot up and held all things together.
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ἡνίκα1
hēníka
when
πυρφόρος2
pyrphóros
the fire-bearing
αὐγὴ3
augḕ
flash
ἐκίνησε4
ekínēse
shook
πᾶσαν5
pâsan
the whole
χθόνα6
chthóna
earth
ῥοίζοις7
rhoízois
with the roar
πρηστῆρος8
prēstêros
of the lightning storm
; δʼ9
d’
and
ὃ10
hò
he
ἀνέδραμε11
anédrame
shot upran up
, δεσμὸς12
desmòs
the bond
ἁπάντων13
hapántōn
of all things
. ἐλθέ14
elthé
Come
μάκαρ15
mákar
blessed
βακχευτά16
bakcheutá
reveler
, γεγηθυίαις17
gegēthyíais
with rejoicing
πραπίδεσσι18
prapídessi
heartmidriff
. when the fire-bearing flash shook the whole earth with the roar of the lightning storm; and he shot up, the bond of all things. Come, blessed reveler, with rejoicing heart.
when the fire-bearing flash shook the whole earth with the roar of the lightning storm; and he shot up, the bond of all things. Come, blessed reveler, with rejoicing heart.
Interpretation
when the fire-bearing flash shook the whole earth with the roar of the lightning storm; and he shot up, the bond of all things. Come, blessed reveler, with a rejoicing heart.
The words "and he shot up", ho d' anedrame, are Homer's. In the Iliad Thetis says of the young Achilles, "he shot up like a sapling", and the dictionary gives this verb a sense of its own for plants that shoot up. So the god of this hymn rises like the ivy of his title, and the hymn names him "the bond of all things".
48.1
The Orphic Hymns 48.1 · Sabazios, who sewed the child into his thigh
Sabazios, a god from Phrygia, is called "son of Kronos", which makes him Zeus himself. He sewed the unborn Dionysus into his thigh. A line or more is missing here, after the third line; when the text resumes, the child is on his way to Mount Tmolus in Lydia and to Hippa.
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Of Sabazios. Incense: aromatics. Hear, father, son of Kronos, Sabazios, glorious god, you who sewed Bacchus Dionysus, the loud-roaring Eiraphiotes, into your thigh, so that he might come fully formed … to holy Tmolus and to fair-cheeked Hippa.