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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 70, lines 8–11 · I call you to holy minds
70.8
The Orphic Hymns 70.8 · I call you to holy minds
A last flood of titles, and then the request: come near to those whose thoughts are pure.
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ἀίδιοι1
aídioi
eternal
, φοβερῶπες2
phoberôpes
fearful-eyed
, ἀπόστροφοι3
apóstrophoi
dreadfulto be turned from
, αὐτοκράτειραι4
autokráteirai
sovereign queensruling by yourselves
, λυσιμελεῖς5
lysimeleîs
loosening the limbs
οἴστρῳ6
oístrōi
with frenzywith the gadfly's sting
, βλοσυραί7
blosyraí
grim
, νύχιαι8
nýchiai
nocturnal
, πολύποτμοι9
polýpotmoi
of many fates
, κοῦραι10
koûrai
maidens
νυκτέριαι11
nyktériai
of the night
, ὀφιοπλόκαμοι12
ophioplókamoi
snake-haired
, φοβερῶπες13
phoberôpes
fearful-eyed
: κικλήσκω14
kiklḗskō
I call
ὑμᾶς15
hymâs
you
πελάζειν16
pelázein
to draw near
to
ὁσίῃσι17
hosíēisi
holy
γνώμαις18
gnṓmais
minds
. eternal, fearful-eyed, dreadful, sovereign queens, loosening the limbs with frenzy, grim, nocturnal, of many fates, maidens of the night, snake-haired, fearful-eyed: I call you to draw near to holy minds.
eternal, fearful-eyed, dreadful, sovereign queens, loosening the limbs with frenzy, grim, nocturnal, of many fates, maidens of the night, snake-haired, fearful-eyed: I call you to draw near to holy minds.
Interpretation
eternal, fearful-eyed, dreadful, sovereign queens, loosening the limbs with frenzy, grim, nocturnal, of many fates, maidens of the night, snake-haired, fearful-eyed: I call you to draw near to holy minds.
Lysimelēs, "limb-loosening," is a word with a history. Homer gives it to sleep, and Hesiod and Sappho to Eros, the desire that turns the knees to water. Here the limbs give way under oistros: the gadfly whose sting drives cattle mad, and so the Greek word for frenzy. The request at the end is careful. The singer calls these goddesses close only to "holy minds," to people whose thoughts are pure.
71.1
The Orphic Hymns 71.1 · Born by the river of wailing
Melinoe is a goddess of the underworld, and little is known of her beyond this hymn. She is a daughter of Persephone, born beside one of the rivers of the dead.
· · ·
Of Melinoe. Incense: aromatics. I call Melinoe, nymph of the underworld, saffron-robed, whom revered Persephone bore at the mouth of Kokytos, in the holy bed of Zeus, son of Kronos,