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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 52, lines 7–9 · Leader of the revels
52.7
The Orphic Hymns 52.7 · Leader of the revels
The god of raw flesh and of the dance leads the revels at his feasts every other year, among the nurses who raised him.
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ὠμάδιε1
ōmádie
eater of raw flesh
, σκηπτοῦχε2
skēptoûche
scepter-bearer
, χοροιμανές3
choroimanés
mad for the dance
, ἡγέτα4
hēgéta
leader
κώμων5
kṓmōn
of revels
, βακχεύων6
bakcheúōn
celebratingin Bacchic frenzy
ἁγίας7
hagías
the holy
τριετηρίδας8
trietērídas
triennial feasts
ἀμφὶ9
amphì
among
τιθήνας10
tithḗnas
your nurses
, ῥήξιχθον11
rhḗxichthon
bursting from the earth
, πυριφεγγές12
pyriphengés
blazing with fire
, ἐπάφιε13
epáphie
Epaphios
, διμῆτορ14
dimêtor
twice-born
κοῦρε15
koûre
youth
, eater of raw flesh, scepter-bearer, mad for the dance, leader of revels, celebrating the holy triennial feasts among your nurses, bursting from the earth, blazing with fire, Epaphios, twice-born youth,
eater of raw flesh, scepter-bearer, mad for the dance, leader of revels, celebrating the holy triennial feasts among your nurses, bursting from the earth, blazing with fire, Epaphios, twice-born youth,
Interpretation
eater of raw flesh, scepter-bearer, mad for the dance, leader of the revels, celebrating the holy feasts of every third year among your nurses, bursting from the earth, blazing with fire, Epaphios, twice-born youth,
Ōmadios, the god "of raw flesh", names the wildest act of the Bacchic rite as the Greeks imagined it, the tearing apart and eating of a raw animal; the chorus of Euripides' Bacchae sings of the god's "joy in raw meat". In the same line he is a king with a scepter and a dancer mad for the dance. His nurses are old figures. In the Iliad Lycurgus, son of Dryas, once chased "the nurses of raving Dionysus" down holy Nysa with an ox-goad.
52.10
The Orphic Hymns 52.10 · Eros and Paian; come, always welcome
The list ends with Eros and Paian, the names of love and of healing, before the last call: come, always welcome.
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roaming the mountains, Eros, clad in fawnskin, honored every year, Paian with the thyrsus for spear, held in the lap, decked with grapes, Bassaros, delighting in ivy, with many maidens, glorious youth; come, blessed one, to the initiates, overflowing, always welcome.