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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 80, lines 1–2 · Come from snowy Thrace
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Hymn 80 · Boreas, the North Wind
ΒΟΡΕΟΥ, θυμίαμα λίβανον
Of Boreas · incense: frankincense
80.1
The Orphic Hymns 80.1 · Come from snowy Thrace
The hymn to Boreas, the North Wind, sung over frankincense. He is called to come down from Thrace, the cold land to the north of Greece.
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ΒΟΡΕΟΥ1
Boréou
Of Boreasthe North Wind
. θυμίαμα2
thymíama
Incense
λίβανον3
líbanon
frankincense
. δονῶν4
donôn
Shaking
βαθὺν5
bathỳn
the deep
ἠέρα6
ēéra
air
κόσμου7
kósmou
of the world
Χειμερίοις8
Cheimeríois
with wintry
αὔρῃσι9
aúrēisi
gustsbreezes
, κρυμοπαγὲς10
krymopagès
freezingfrost-congealing
Βορέα11
Boréa
Boreas
, ἔλθʼ12
élth’
come
ἀπὸ13
apò
from
χιονώδεος14
chionṓdeos
snowy
Θρῄκης15
Thrḗikēs
Thrace
, Of Boreas. Incense: frankincense. Shaking the deep air of the world with wintry gusts, freezing Boreas, come from snowy Thrace,
Of Boreas. Incense: frankincense. Shaking the deep air of the world with wintry gusts, freezing Boreas, come from snowy Thrace,
Interpretation
Of Boreas. Incense: frankincense. You who shake the deep air of the world with wintry gusts, freezing Boreas, come from snowy Thrace,
Boreas is the North Wind, and for the Greeks he blew from Thrace, the cold country to their north; the Iliad has the North and West winds "both blowing from Thrace." He was also a figure of Athenian legend. At the start of Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates and Phaedrus walk along the river Ilissus and wonder whether this is the spot where Boreas carried off Oreithyia, the daughter of an Athenian king.
80.3
The Orphic Hymns 80.3 · Make all the sky clear
The prayer: break up the clouds and the rain, and let the bright sky shine on the earth again.
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and break up the cloud-filled stillness of the moist air, fanning the rain-born water into damp spray, making all things clear, making the bright-eyed sky shine upon the earth with the rays of the sun.