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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 6, lines 4–5 · Seed, Erikepaios, shining shoot
6.4
The Orphic Hymns 6.4 · Seed, Erikepaios, shining shoot
More names for the First-born: a seed long remembered, a god of many rites, Erikepaios, a secret not to be spoken, a shining young shoot.
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πολύμνηστον1
polýmnēston
much-remembered
σπέρμα2
spérma
seed
, πολυόργιον3
polyórgion
honored with many rites
, Ἠρικεπαῖον4
Ērikepaîon
Erikepaios
, ἄρρητον5
árrēton
unspeakablenot to be spoken
, κρύφιον6
krýphion
hidden
, ῥοιζήτορα7
rhoizḗtora
whirring onemoving with a rushing sound
, παμφαὲς8
pamphaès
all-shining
ἔρνος9
érnos
shoot
, much-remembered seed, honored with many rites, Erikepaios, unspeakable, hidden, whirring one, all-shining shoot,
much-remembered seed, honored with many rites, Erikepaios, unspeakable, hidden, whirring one, all-shining shoot,
Interpretation
much-remembered seed, honored with many rites, Erikepaios, unspeakable, hidden, whirring one, all-shining shoot,
Erikepaios is a name the Orphic poems give to the First-born; what it meant is unknown. The manuscripts of the hymns had garbled it into two ordinary words, and editors restored it. Two titles are words of the mysteries: polyorgios, "honored with many rites" (orgia were the secret rites of a cult), and arrhētos, "unspeakable," the word for the things an initiate was forbidden to tell. The god is hidden and unspeakable, and in the same line he is all-shining.
6.6
The Orphic Hymns 6.6 · For this I call you Phanes
The First-born flew through the world beating his wings and brought the first light, clearing the darkness from every eye, and from that light comes his best-known name, Phanes.
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you who cleared away the dark mist from the eyes, whirling everywhere through the world with the beating of your wings, bringing pure bright light, from which I call you Phanes, and lord Priapus, and quick-glancing Antauges.