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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 8, lines 1–3 · Hear, blessed one, with your all-seeing eye
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Hymn 8 · The Sun
ΗΛΙΟΥ, θυμίαμα λιβανομάνναν
Of the Sun · incense: frankincense powder
8.1
The Orphic Hymns 8.1 · Hear, blessed one, with your all-seeing eye
The Sun is called on first by his all-seeing eye and by his old names, Titan and Hyperion.
· · ·
ΗΛΙΟΥ1
Hēlíou
Of the SunHelios
. θυμίαμα2
thymíama
Incense
λιβανομάνναν3
libanománnan
frankincense powder
. Κλῦθι4
Klŷthi
Hear
μάκαρ5
mákar
blessed one
, you
ἔχων6
échōn
who have
αἰώνιον7
aiṓnion
the eternal
πανδερκὲς8
panderkès
all-seeing
ὄμμα9
ómma
eye
, χρυσαυγής10
chrysaugḗs
gold-gleaming
Τιτὰν11
Titàn
Titan
, ὑπερίων12
hyperíōn
Hyperion
, οὐράνιον13
ouránion
heavenly
φῶς14
phôs
light
, αὐτοφυής15
autophyḗs
self-bornself-grown
, ἀκάμας16
akámas
untiring
, ἡδεῖα17
hēdeîa
sweet
πρόσοψι18
prósopsi
sight
ζῴων19
zṓiōn
to living things
, Of the Sun. Incense: frankincense powder. Hear, blessed one, you who have the eternal, all-seeing eye, gold-gleaming Titan, Hyperion, heavenly light, self-born, untiring, sweet sight to living things,
Of the Sun. Incense: frankincense powder. Hear, blessed one, you who have the eternal, all-seeing eye, gold-gleaming Titan, Hyperion, heavenly light, self-born, untiring, sweet sight to living things,
Interpretation
Of the Sun. Incense: frankincense powder. Hear, blessed one, you who have the eternal, all-seeing eye, gold-gleaming Titan, Hyperion, heavenly light, self-born, untiring, sweet sight to living things,
The Sun's eye that sees everything goes back to Homer. In the Iliad, when Agamemnon swears an oath, he calls on Helios, "who oversees all things and hears all things," because a god who sees everything is the best witness of a promise. Homer also calls the Sun Hyperion, while in Hesiod Hyperion is a Titan and the Sun's father; so the hymn can call Helios a Titan too. "Sweet sight" is the phrase Hymn 2 used of the goddess of childbirth.
8.4
The Orphic Hymns 8.4 · Father of dawn on the right hand
The Sun makes the dawn on one side of the sky and the night on the other. He holds the seasons in balance and drives his chariot round the boundless turning sky.
· · ·
begetter of dawn on the right hand, of night on the left, holding the blending of the seasons, dancing on four-footed feet, swift runner, whirring one, fiery, bright-faced, charioteer, driving your path in the turnings of the boundless whirl,