by Unknown
8 the eye that sees all: Here Apollon is clearly identified with Sun; see OH 8.1+n. The eye in this line is a terrestrial one, looking down on human activity. Compare with the “gaze” in line 11, which begins the second section, where Apollon’s eye encompasses the entire cosmos. When Orpheus invokes Apollon at the beginning of the Rhapsodies, he addresses him as the “eye that sees all” (Orphic fragment 102; see also West 1983, p. 6).
11–15: The classic tri-partite view of the world, already in Hesiod, is present here: sky-earth-underworld. The expanse of Apollon’s gaze is comparable to the power of other divinities described elsewhere in the collection; see OH 10.14–16n. There may also be an implied transition day-twilight-night, with the “day” component being understood from the identification Apollon/Sun and his position in the ether.
16–23: The theme of cosmic harmony has already appeared at OH 8.9, 11, and OH 11.6, but here gets its most detailed treatment, being explicitly connected to the seasons (already anticipated at OH 8.9 and perhaps OH 11.4). See OH 8.9n and 11n, as well as OH 11i. The musical ideas expressed in this hymn seem to have been drawn from Claudius Ptolemaeus (called Ptolemy in modern times), the famous astronomer who was active at Alexandria in the second century AD. At Harmonics 3.12 he writes: “In connection with these movements, the Dorian tonos, being the most central of the tonoi, we must compare to the middle crossings in latitude, those positioned towards the equinox, as it were, in each sphere.… Those tonoi which on account of their higher melody are higher than the Dorian are arranged as if in summer, with the crossings at the raised pole, that is, where the North Pole rises, and with those at the arctic, where the south [sic] is at the opposite. Those which on account of their lower melody are lower than the Dorian are arranged as if in winter, with the crossings at the invisible pole, that is, where the South Pole rises towards those at the arctic, where the North is at opposite” (translation by Solomon 1999, pp. 160–161; see also Barker 1989, pp. 386–387). The geocentric view we find elsewhere in the collection (see OH 4.3+n) might also have been influenced by Ptolemy. If there is a connection between him and the Hymns, this would provide a fairly secure terminus post quem of around 200 AD for their composition (see further the introduction to the translation). A mode in ancient times represented a collection of notes of certain pitches at fixed intervals out of which a melody might be composed, a kind of tonal palette. Aristides Quintilianus preserves six that he terms ancient ones, among them the Dorian (18.5–19.10; see Barker 1989, pp. 419–420, for translation and notes; see also the discussion in Barker 1984, pp. 165–166). The term Ptolemy employs, “tonos,” can also be used to mean “mode,” or it can signify what we would call a key (see Barker 1989, pp. 17–27, and West 1992, pp. 184–189). Traditionally, the Dorian mode had the characteristics of being steady, calm, and restrained (it was also considered to be the most manly and dignified; see West 1992, pp. 179–180). Ptolemy, as seen in the quote above, gives a similar valuation to the Dorian tonos as the means between extremes (see also Harmonics 3.7). The emphasis on the Dorian in our hymn might also have been facilitated by Apollon’s prominence among Dorian areas such as Sparta and Krete (see introduction). One of the most famous dictums of the ancient world, “mēden agan” (“nothing in excess”), was inscribed on the temple of Apollon at Delphi. Sun in Proclus’ first hymn is said to fill the cosmos with harmony (1.23; see further van den Berg 2001, pp. 169–170 and line 4 of that hymn), while his son Phoibos calms the strife of elements as he sings to the kithara (1.13–14 and 19–20; see van den Berg 2001, pp. 168–169).
24–25: For Pan and his “whistling winds” see OH 11.10–12+n. Sun is also associated with string and wind instruments (OH 8.11). All three divinities are called Paian in their hymns (see note to line 1). An identification of Pan and Apollon is not as far-fetched as it may seem at first blush. Besides their association with music, both are pastoral gods (see Euripides Alkestis 1–7 and Kallimakhos Hymn to Apollon 47–54). Pan is connected with Mount Lykaion (“wolf mountain”) in Arkadia (see Larson 2007, p. 151) and Apollon is sometimes called “Lykeios” (which can mean “wolf-like, of a wolf”; Pan also bore this name at Tegea). Both Apollon and Pan, among other gods, were also worshipped on Mount Kotilion in Arkadia (see Larson 2007, p. 99). Apollodoros (1.4.1) tells us that Apollon learned prophecy from Pan, but this Pan is said to be the son of Zeus and Hybris and thus to be distinguished from the Pan whose father is Hermes (see OH 11i). Nevertheless, such a fine distinction might well be lost or misunderstood, and it is possible that our composer was influenced by an account that made the god Pan Apollon’s teacher (a relationship perhaps even intentionally imitating the centaur Kheiron’s traditional role in training mortal heroes, including in the arts of music).
35. To Leto
Leto is the daughter of the Titans Koios and Phoibe (Hesiod Theogony 404-408; see also line 2 of this hymn). Her importance in Greek myth is fully derived from that of her children, Apollon and Artemis. Hesiod emphasizes her gentle ways; compare also Iliad 21.497–504 and the folk-etymologies of her name at Plato Cratylus 406a–b. However, even she can be roused to anger, such as when Niobe boasts of her own children (Ovid Metamorphoses 6.146–312). She sometimes has her own cult (see Burkert 1985, pp. 171–172), but her role in cult is more often subordinate to one or both of her children, and she seems to have played no role in Orphic myth.
5 Ortygia, … Delos: Ortygia (from the Greek “ortux,” meaning “quail”), is sometimes another name for Delos, e.g., in Kallimakhos Hymn to Apollon 2.59. Leto’s sister Asteria, while fleeing the advances of Zeus, turns herself into a quail, dives into the ocean, and becomes the island Delos (Apollodoros 1.4.1). However, these two places are often distinguished from each other, as in Homeric Hymn to Apollon 3.16, which is identical to line 5 of this hymn. If Ortygia is to be understood as a separate place, one likely candidate is the small island Rheneia that lies opposite Delos and that, according to Strabo 10.5.5, once was called Ortygia. Thucydides reports that Polykrates, the tyrant of Samos in the middle of the sixth century BC, once chained the two islands together (3.104). Perhaps our composer sees them as two parts that form a unity, for he does refer to Apollon and Artemis as twins in line 1, which would be difficult to reconcile if their respective places of birth were significantly far apart. Nevertheless, calling them twins is conventional, and the “problem” might not have been felt as such; the gods, after all, are capable of many wonders. Of the other places known as Ortygia, the most likely alternate candidate would be the sacred grove near Ephesos, where a competing narrative of the birth of Apollon and Artemis was told (Strabo 14.1.20; for the importance of Ephesos for Artemis, see OH 36i). The more traditional account places the birth of Apollon (and sometimes Artemis) on Delos (see Homeric Hymn to Apollon 3.14–139, Kallimakhos Hymn to Delos, and Apollodoros 1.4.1). Note that Artemis is called Ortygia at Sophokles Women of Trakhis 213, and in the Birds, Aristophanes puns on a Greek word to call Leto “quail-mother” (870).
36. To Artemis
Artemis, like her brother Apollon, governs many different spheres, some contradictory. She loves to hunt wild animals with her bow and arrow, yet she also protects them. Artemis is called “Mistress of Animals” (e.g., Iliad 21.470) and often appears as such in early iconography, usually winged, with animals to her left and/or right that she holds in a firm grasp (e.g., Boardman 1991, pl. 46.2). The wilderness is her domain, particularly forests and mountains, far away from human settlements, but she is also a goddess who protects cities. As our hymn mentions in lines 3–5, she assists in childbirth (including that of her brother, Apollon, according to Apollodoros 1.4.1), even though, as a virgin goddess (Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 5.16–20), she never experiences this process herself. Similarly, she is the one who protects and nurtures the young, while at other times she is blamed for the premature deaths of children. As with many Greek divinities, the ability to do one thing entails the capacity for its opposite, particularly expressed in terms of preservation versus destructio
n.
The dark side of the goddess is seen in her connection, at least in myth, with human sacrifice. While the Greek army is mustering at Aulis for the expedition to Troy, Agamemnon kills a deer sacred to Artemis. The goddess prevents the Greeks from sailing, and the seer Kalkhas reveals that the only way to propitiate her is for Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia as recompense for the slaying of Artemis’ “daughter.” The father grimly complies (see, e.g., Aeschylus Agamemnon 104–257). In some versions of the story, Artemis substitutes a deer for Iphigeneia at the last moment, unbeknownst to the men. This is the storyline adopted in Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Tauris, but here, too, human sacrifice plays a role: Iphigeneia has been made Artemis’ priestess in this barbarous land and now presides over the sacrifice of strangers (cf. Herodotos 4.103.1–2). Her brother Orestes comes to rescue her. They steal the statue of the goddess and bring it back to Athens, where a ritual is enacted that involves a worshipper slightly slitting his throat and letting the drops of blood fall on the altar. Artemis’ belligerent nature appears in the great slugfest among the gods at Iliad 21.468–496, during which she chides her brother for refusing to fight Poseidon and then is soundly thrashed when confronted by her step-mother Hera.
Yet there is a joyous side to her as well. Nymphs typically attend her as she roams the countryside and hunts. She is also a leader of the dance and song, often as her brother Apollon provides the music (see, e.g., Homeric Hymn to Artemis 27.11–20 and Homeric Hymn to Apollon 3.186–206). In fact, dances of young girls, particularly those on the cusp of marriage, are a prevalent feature of her worship (for a possible example of which, see Alkman PMGF 1). Many of her cults, such as the famous one in the Attic deme of Brauron, are centered on the feminine spheres under her control, which include childbirth and protection of the young. Her most important cult site was in Asia Minor at Ephesos, where her sanctuary numbered among the ancient wonders of the world. According to Kallimakhos, it was the Amazons who instituted sacrifice for Artemis, by setting up a statue and dancing a war dance around it (Hymn to Artemis 237–258). For more on her worship, see Burkert 1985, pp. 149–152, and Larson 2007, pp. 101–113.
Artemis became assimilated with many divinities over time (cf. “of many names” in line 1). Her worship at Ephesos was a result of being identified with Kybele (see OH 27i), a connection perhaps facilitated through their shared association with mountains and lions (see OH 27.2+n; lions often appear in the “Mistress of the Animals”-iconography). The Thracian goddess Bendis, who is at times identified with Kybele, is also matched with Artemis (Orphic fragment 257). Very common is Artemis’ merging with Moon, and thence with Hekate, as at Orphic fragment 356, where Tyche is also added (see further OH 1i, OH 9i, and OH 72.2n). Artemis’ concern with childbirth and association with Moon also naturally link her with Eileithyia; see OH 2i. Thus the hymns to Hekate (OH 1) and Moon (OH 9) should also be read closely with this one. Compare further the two Homeric hymns to Artemis (nos. 9 and 27) and Kallimakhos’ Hymn to Artemis. She plays very little role in Orphism, and consequently our hymn focuses on her traditional attributes.
2 Titanic: Apollon is also called a Titan; see OH 34.3+n.
2 Bacchic: Compare also “frenzy-loving” in line 5. Artemis and Dionysos share many traits: mountain haunts, blood-thirsty savagery, Eastern associations, and groups of female followers. Artemis joins a divine Dionysian thiasos in Pindar fragment 70b.19–21, and Timotheus (PMG 778(b)) might be describing her as a maenad. As “Bacchic” and “torch-bearing” (line 3), she might be so imagined here as well; see OH 1.3+n and OH 52i. For a possible identification of Apollon and Bacchos, see OH 34.7n.
3 torch-bearing goddess bringing light to all: This imagery evokes Artemis’ identification with Moon and Hekate; see OH 9.3n. In Orphic fragment 400, Artemis appears in a list of alternate names for Persephone, which also include Torch-Bearer and Light-Bringer (see also OH 40.11+n). She is also called a bringer of light at Kallimakhos Hymn to Artemis 204.
3 Diktynna: This is a Kretan goddess, who is sometimes identified with Artemis (Euripides Hippolytos 145–147) or made into one of her companions (Pausanias 2.30.3). The maiden fled the amorous attentions of Minos by leaping into the sea (cf. the story of Ino; see OH 74i), where she was rescued in the nets of a fisherman (see Kallimakhos Hymn to Artemis 189–203). Hence she was called Diktynna, Lady of Nets (Greek “diktuon” means “net”). The name, however, in reality is probably to be connected with Mount Dikte, as in Kallimakhos’ telling of the myth. The epithet “lady of Kydonia” in line 12 below refers to the Kretan town, where there was a temple to Diktynna (Herodotos 3.59.2; Strabo 10.4.13). For more on this goddess, see Larson 2007, pp. 177–178.
6 roam in the night: For Moon’s movement at night, see OH 9.2. Hekate is also closely associated with night; see OH 1.5.
7 masculine: There are a number of goddesses who are called masculine in the collection; see OH 9.4n.
8 Orthia: This might refer to a temple of Artemis on Mount Lykone in Argos, which also contained cult statues of Apollon and Leto (Pausanias 2.24.5). However, it is more likely an alternate spelling of Ortheia, a Spartan goddess who comes to be identified with Artemis. Part of her worship included boys enduring lashes from their fellows at her altar in a test of endurance; see Pausanias 3.16.7–11, who also gives an account of the origin of the wooden cult statue of the goddess. It is perhaps of note that he says a sanctuary to Eileithyia is not far from the one to Ortheia (3.17.1).
37. To the Titans
The Titans in myth are a group of twelve beings born of Earth and Sky, along with the three Kyklopes and three Hundred-Handers. For the story of their birth and their problems with Sky, and later Zeus, see OH 4i and OH 13i. In Orphic mythology, the Titans, sometimes spurred by Hera, become jealous when Zeus places the infant Dionysos on his throne. They paint their faces and, with the help of toys and a mirror, lure the child away from the throne despite his being guarded by the Kouretes. They then kill him and eat his corpse. Zeus eventually finds out about this horrid crime and incinerates the Titans with his lightning bolts. The heart of Dionysos is saved by Athene, and this heart serves as the basis for the god’s reconstitution. Out of the smoldering ashes of the Titans, charged with Zeus’ lightning bolts, is born the human race. Our knowledge of this story comes from later sources, and it is not clear how far back it goes: see Orphic fragment 57–59 and 301–331, West 1983, pp. 74–75, Burkert 1985, pp. 297–298, and Graf/Johnston 2007, pp. 66–93. For the significance of this myth for Orphism, see the introduction to the translation. Our hymn obliquely refers to this origin of the human race in lines 2 and 4, and it is expanded to include all living things in line 5; see also OH 78.11–12+n, and cf. OH 10.14–16+n. The murder of Dionysos is tactfully left out.
3 Tartarean homes: After their defeat by Zeus, the Titans are cast down into Tartaros, a primeval being who had become a particularly gloomy part of the underworld; see OH 18.2n. There they are imprisoned, guarded by the monstrous Hundred-Handers (Hesiod Theogony 717–735). Despite being locked up in mythology’s version of Alcatraz, they can still wreak harm on the upper world. They are among the gods Hera invokes when she strikes the earth with the palm of her hand in a request to give birth apart from Zeus to a powerful child; this results in Typhon, a great monster that threatens the gods and is eventually defeated by Zeus (Hesiod Theogony 820–880). She makes a similar, if less sinister, appeal at Iliad 14.271–279.
38. To the Kouretes
This is the second hymn in the collection addressed to the Kouretes; for more information on these figures, see OH 31i. That hymn concentrates on their more traditional associations with Krete and the Phrygian Kybele. This hymn integrates the Kouretes into a more wide-ranging grouping popular in late antiquity that brought together a number of originally independent bands of male divinities involved with soteriological mystery cults. Explicitly mentioned are the gods of the island Samothrace (lines 4 and 21) and the Dioskouroi (line 21). The cult on Samothrace seems to have h
ad pre-Greek origins but later developed into a Greek mystery cult. It became very popular after the Classical period; one of the most famous statues from antiquity, the Nike of Samothrace, now in the Louvre, was dedicated to the gods of this cult for a naval victory (second century BC). They were in particular supposed to protect sailors from drowning at sea. After a friend had pointed out the dedications from rescued sailors at Samothrace as proof that the gods must exist, the notorious atheist Diagoras of Melos (late fifth century BC) is reputed to have quipped that dead men do not make dedications (Cicero De natura deorum 3.89). For more on this mystery cult, see Burkert 1985, pp. 281–285, and Larson 2007, p. 174. The brothers of Helen, Kastor and Polydeukes, were also called on to aid sailors in distress. The phenomenon now known as St. Elmo’s fire was in antiquity considered to be their epiphany (see Alkaios fragment 34 and the Homeric Hymn to the Dioskouroi no. 33). In myth, they are the sons of Tyndareus, a king of Sparta. Homer in the Iliad considers them to be mortal (3.236–244), but later tradition holds Polydeukes, along with Helen, to be descended from Zeus, who surreptitiously mated with Tyndareus’ wife Leda in the form of a swan. She gave birth to two pairs of twins, the male Kastor and Polydeukes and the female Klytemnestra and Helen, the first child in each pair descended from Tyndareus and the second from Zeus. Kastor was granted immortality at the request of his brother, but they alternate their time in the land of the living with their time in the kingdom of the dead (see Odyssey 11.298–304 and Pindar Nemean Odes 10.80–82). They thus can be construed, like Dionysos, as gods who die and are reborn, which may help explain their merging with the gods of Samothrace and the Kouretes here. In fact, the name Dioskouroi is a composite meaning “Zeus’ [dios] young men [kouroi],” “kouroi” being linguistically related to the “kour-” in Kouretes (a word meaning “youths”; see OH 31i). Like the Kouretes, they also dance a pyrrhikhē (see Plato Laws 796d and OH 31.1–4n).