Orphic Hymns · 25 of 138 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Front Matter, p. 5 (part 1)

SECT.

III.

BUT it is now time to speak of the following Hymns, of which, as we have before observed, Onomacritus is the reputed author.

And first, with regard to the dialect of these Hymns, Gesner well observes it ought to be no objection to their antiquity.

For though, according to x Iamblichus, the Thracian Orpheus, who is more ancient than those noble poets Homer and Hesiod, used the Doric dialect; yet the Athenian Onomacritus, who, agreeable to the general opinion of antiquity, is the author of all the works now extant, ascribed to Orpheus y , might p.

86 either, preserving the sentences and a great part of the words, only change the dialect, and teach the ancient Orpheus to speak Homerically, or as I may say Solonically: or might arbitrarily add or take away what he thought proper, which Herodotus relates was his practice, with respect to the oracles.

Gesner adds, that it does not appear probable to him that Onomacritus would dare to invent all he writ, since Orpheus must necessarily, at that time, have been in great repute, and a variety of his verses in circulation: and he concludes with observing that the objection p.

87 of the Doric dialect ought to be of no more weight against the antiquity of the present works, than the Pelasgic letters, which Orpheus used according to Diodorus Siculus.

The hymns of Orpheus are not only mentioned by Plato in his Eighth Book of Laws, but also by Pausanias a , whose words are translated as follows by the author of the Letters on Mythology b .

"The Thracian Orpheus (says Pausanias) was represented on mount Helicon, with ΤΕΛΕΤΗ (initiation or religion) by his side, and the wild beasts of the woods, some in marble, some in bronze, standing round him.

His hymns are known by those who have studied the poets to be both short and few in number.

The Lycomedes, an Athenian p.

88 family dedicated to sacred music, have them all by heart, and sing them at their solemn mysteries.

They are but of the second class for elegance., being far excelled by Homer's in that respect.

But our religion has adopted the hymns of Orpheus, and has not done the same honour to the hymns of Homer." To the testimony of Pausanias may be added that of Suidas, who, among the writings of the Libethrian Orpheus mentions τελεται, or initiations, which he says are by some ascribed to Onomacritus c .

And Scaliger well observes, in his notes co these hymns, that they ought rather to be called initiations, because they contain only invocations of the Gods, p.

89 such as the initiated in mysteries are accustomed to use; but they do not celebrate the nativities, actions, &c.

of the divinities, as it is usual in hymns.

It is on this account we have entitled them mystical initiations, which is doubtless their proper appellations.

The author too of the Allegories in the Theogony of Hesiod d , relating the powers of the planets on things inferior, expressly mentions these hymns, or rather initiations, and many of the compound epithets with which they abound e .

From all which it is evident that the following Hymns were written by the Athenian Onomacritus, and are the same with those so much celebrated by antiquity.

Indeed it is not probable they Should be the invention of any writer more p.

Themes

◆Theurgypraxis

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

The passage explicitly defines the hymns as 'mystical initiations' containing 'invocations of the Gods' used by the initiated in mysteries, aligning with theurgical practice.