⸻ · ⸻

The Orphic Hymns

the Orphic tradition · Hymn 70, lines 1–3 · The Eumenides, the kindly ones

⸻ · ⸻

Hymn 70 · The Eumenides

ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΩΝ, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα Of the Eumenides · incense: aromatics

70.1

The Orphic Hymns 70.1 · The Eumenides, the kindly ones

A second hymn to the avenging goddesses, now under their gentler name, the Eumenides. Here they are daughters of the king of the dead and Persephone.

· · ·

ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΩΝ¹

Eumenídōn

Of the Eumenidesthe Kindly Ones

θυμίαμα²

thymíama

Incense

ἀρώματα³

arṓmata

aromatics

Κλῦτέ⁴

Klŷté

Hear

μευ⁵

meu

Εὐμενίδες⁶

Eumenídes

Eumenides

μεγαλώνυμοι⁷

megalṓnymoi

of great name

with

εὔφρονι⁸

eúphroni

kindly

βουλῇ⁹

boulêi

intent

ἁγναὶ¹⁰

hagnaì

holy

θυγατέρες¹¹

thygatéres

daughters

μεγάλοιο¹²

megáloio

of great

Διὸς¹³

Diòs

Zeus

χθονίοιο¹⁴

chthoníoio

of the underworld

τʼ¹⁵

t’

and

Φερσεφόνης¹⁶

Phersephónēs

of Persephone

the

ἐρατῆς¹⁷

eratês

lovely

κούρης¹⁸

koúrēs

maiden

καλλιπλοκάμοιο¹⁹

kalliplokámoio

with beautiful hair

Of the Eumenides. Incense: aromatics. Hear me, Eumenides of great name, with kindly intent, holy daughters of great Zeus of the underworld and of Persephone, the lovely maiden with beautiful hair,

Interpretation

Of the Eumenides. Incense: aromatics. Hear me, Eumenides of great name, with kindly intent, holy daughters of great Zeus of the underworld and of Persephone, the lovely maiden with beautiful hair,

Eumenides means "the Kindly Ones," and it was a way of not saying "Erinyes." Aeschylus gave the name to the last play of his Oresteia, where the Furies are persuaded to stay in Athens and be honored there, and in Euripides' Orestes Electra speaks of "the goddesses I shrink from naming, the Eumenides." The hymn asks them, fittingly, to listen "with kindly intent." It also gives them an Orphic family. Hesiod has the Erinyes spring from the blood of Ouranos, and Aeschylus calls them daughters of Night; here their father is "great Zeus of the underworld," the name the hymn to Plouton (18) gives the king of the dead, and their mother is Persephone, whose own hymn (29) calls her "mother of the Eumenides."

Apulian red-figure mixing bowl, 380 to 370 BC, by the Eumenides Painter. At Delphi the veiled ghost of Clytemnestra tries to wake the sleeping Furies. In Aeschylus' play The Eumenides these same Furies at last become kindly goddesses of Athens.Musée du Louvre, Cp 710 · photo Bibi Saint-Pol, public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

70.4

The Orphic Hymns 70.4 · Avengers of the unjust

The Eumenides watch the lives of the impious and punish the unjust.

· · ·

you who look down on the life of all mortals who are impious, avengers of the unjust, presiding over Necessity,

↓ Keep reading in the book