Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources: Difference between revisions
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== The Antiquity of Orpheus == | == The Antiquity of Orpheus == | ||
Our earliest evidence for the ‘kitharode’ (lyre-singer) is a fragmentary relief from Delphi, dated to ca. 575 BCE, on which he appears beside the Argo. A scholion to {{#lemma: Apollonius | [[Scholion to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23 | Schol. Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23]]}} says that it was a matter of scholarly dispute why Orpheus, being effeminate, had sailed with the heroes. {{#lemma: Apollonius | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]]}} gives him first position in the catalogue of Argonauts, accepting the tradition, probably recounted in early epic (West 2005), that Orpheus accompanied the Argonauts to ensure them safe passage past the Sirens. Orpheus’ Argonautic status gives him indisputable priority over Homer, since the Argonauts belonged to the generation before the Trojan War. {{#lemma: An apparently canonical sequence | [[Proclus, Chrestomathy 1 | Procl. ''Chrest.'' 1]]<br />[[Hippias of Elis, 86 B6 Diels-Kranz | Hippias of Elis 86 B6 D-K]]<br />[[Plato, Apology 41a | Pl. ''Ap.'' 41a]]<br />[[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies) 1.21.131 | Clem. Al. ''Strom.'' 1.21.131]]}} Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, Homer is attested in several authors from the classical period onwards, but already in the classical period doubts were expressed about authorship of Orphic poems, {{#lemma: some of which were thought to have been written by Pythagoreans | [[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies) 1.21.131 | Clem. Al. ''Strom.'' 1.21.131]]<br />[[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}}. | Our earliest evidence for the ‘kitharode’ (lyre-singer) is a fragmentary relief from Delphi, dated to ca. 575 BCE, on which he appears beside the Argo. A scholion to {{#lemma: Apollonius | [[Scholion to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23 | Schol. Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23]]}} says that it was a matter of scholarly dispute why Orpheus, being effeminate, had sailed with the heroes. {{#lemma: Apollonius | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]]}} gives him first position in the catalogue of Argonauts, accepting the tradition, probably recounted in early epic (West 2005), that Orpheus accompanied the Argonauts to ensure them safe passage past the Sirens. Orpheus’ Argonautic status gives him indisputable priority over Homer, since the Argonauts belonged to the generation before the Trojan War. {{#lemma: An apparently canonical sequence | [[Proclus, Chrestomathy 1 | Procl. ''Chrest.'' 1]]<br />[[Hippias of Elis, 86 B6 Diels-Kranz | Hippias of Elis 86 B6 D-K]]<br />[[Plato, Apology 41a | Pl. ''Ap.'' 41a]]<br />[[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies) 1.21.131 | Clem. Al. ''Strom.'' 1.21.131]]}} Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, Homer is attested in several authors from the classical period onwards, but already in the classical period doubts were expressed about authorship of Orphic poems, {{#lemma: some of which were thought to have been written by Pythagoreans | [[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies) 1.21.131 | Clem. Al. ''Strom.'' 1.21.131]]<br />[[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}}. {{#lemma: Aristotle | [[Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals 2.1, 734a 16 | Arist. ''Gen. an.'' 2.1, 734a16]]<br />[[Aristotle, On the Soul 1.5, 410b27 | Arist. ''De an.'' 1.5, 410b27]]<br />[[Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on De Anima 1.5, 410b27 | Phlp. ''in De an.'' 1.5, 410b27]]}}, who speaks of the ‘so-called’ Orphic poems, probably believed (as {{#lemma: Cicero | [[Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 1. 107 | Cic. ''Nat. D.'' 1.107]]}} states) that Orpheus had never existed. {{#lemma: Sextus Empiricus | [[Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors of Liberal Arts 1.203 | Sext. Emp. ''Math.'' 1.203]]}} and {{#lemma: Josephus | [[Josephus, Αgainst Apion 1.12 | Joseph. ''Ap.'' 1.12]]}} asserted that there were no written works before Homer. {{#lemma: Some | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]]}} thought that there were two or more Orpheuses. The {{#lemma: ''Suda'' | [[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}} lists seven. {{#lemma: Popular opinion | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]]}}, fortified and/or created by the political clout of Eleusis, apparently judged him a historical figure. | ||
== Orpheus and the Underworld == | == Orpheus and the Underworld == | ||
Revision as of 13:50, 30 April 2013
Sarah Burges Watson {{#howtoquoteguide:}}
Orpheus is the archetypal musician of Greek myth, whose singing enchants all of nature and even the realm of the dead. His mother is Calliope, Muse of epic. His father is sometimes Apollo, but usually the Thracian Oeagrus—a river god, according to Servius Pind. fr. 128c 11-12
Pind. Pyth. 4.176-7
Schol. Pind. Pyth. 4, 313a
[Apollod.] Bibl. 1.3.2
Serv. in Aen. 6.645. By the Classical period, Orpheus is known as the author of mystical hexameter poetry and founder of mysteries [Apollod.] Bibl. 1.3.2
Damag. Anth.Pal. 7.9
Diod. Sic. 5.64.4
Ar. Ran. 1030-6
[Eur.] Rhes. 941-7
[Dem.] 25.11
Diod. Sic. 4.25.1, most importantly at Eleusis (Graf 1974). Accounting for the relationship between his mythical, mystical and authorial identities proves a challenge for the many interested parties.
The Antiquity of Orpheus
Our earliest evidence for the ‘kitharode’ (lyre-singer) is a fragmentary relief from Delphi, dated to ca. 575 BCE, on which he appears beside the Argo. A scholion to Apollonius Schol. Ap. Rhod. Arg. 1.23 says that it was a matter of scholarly dispute why Orpheus, being effeminate, had sailed with the heroes. Apollonius Ap. Rhod. Arg. 1.23-34 gives him first position in the catalogue of Argonauts, accepting the tradition, probably recounted in early epic (West 2005), that Orpheus accompanied the Argonauts to ensure them safe passage past the Sirens. Orpheus’ Argonautic status gives him indisputable priority over Homer, since the Argonauts belonged to the generation before the Trojan War. An apparently canonical sequence Procl. Chrest. 1
Hippias of Elis 86 B6 D-K
Pl. Ap. 41a
Clem. Al. Strom. 1.21.131 Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, Homer is attested in several authors from the classical period onwards, but already in the classical period doubts were expressed about authorship of Orphic poems, some of which were thought to have been written by Pythagoreans Clem. Al. Strom. 1.21.131
Suda s.v. Orpheus. Aristotle Arist. Gen. an. 2.1, 734a16
Arist. De an. 1.5, 410b27
Phlp. in De an. 1.5, 410b27, who speaks of the ‘so-called’ Orphic poems, probably believed (as Cicero Cic. Nat. D. 1.107 states) that Orpheus had never existed. Sextus Empiricus Sext. Emp. Math. 1.203 and Josephus Joseph. Ap. 1.12 asserted that there were no written works before Homer. Some Ap. Rhod. Arg. 1.23-34 thought that there were two or more Orpheuses. The Suda Suda s.v. Orpheus lists seven. Popular opinion Paus. 9.30.4-12, fortified and/or created by the political clout of Eleusis, apparently judged him a historical figure.
Orpheus and the Underworld
By the early classical period, Orpheus’ power to lead rocks, trees and animals with his music is a well-established tradition Ap. Rhod. Arg. 1.23-34
Simon. fr. 62
Aesch. Ag. 1629-32
Eur. IA 1211-15
Eur. Bacch. 560-4
Eur. Alc. 357-62. This is no ordinary music-making, but psychagogia, which extends to the souls of the dead. A remarkable papyrus found in the 1960s at Derveni in Thessaloniki offers an allegorical interpretation of an Orphic poem in conjunction with a ritual to appease the dead (see Most and Obbink 1999, Betegh 2004, Kouremenos, Parássoglou, and Tsantsanoglou 2006). Orpheus’ conquest of the Sirens already points in this direction; katabasis poetry in his name was probably circulating by the early classical period (see West 1983: 12-13, Herrero 2011). Virgil (G. 453-558) and Ovid (Met. 10.1-85) immortalized the story, first attested in Euripides, that Orpheus descended to Hades to fetch his wife [Apollod.] Bibl. 1.3.2
Damag. Anth.Pal. 7.9
Diod. Sic. 4.25.1
Paus. 9.30.4-12
Eur. Alc. 357-62
Isoc. Bus. 10.8
Pl. Symp. 179d
FGrHist 26 F1, 45. But no extant version is unequivocal about the success of Orpheus’ mission (see Heath 1994, Sansone 1985). On Polygnotus’ painting Paus. 10.30.5 of the underworld (ca. 460 BCE), Orpheus was shown without his wife; his earliest associations are with male groups (Graf 1987, Bremmer 1991). A fragment of the Hellenistic poet Phanocles Phanocl. fr. 1 describes how Orpheus was decapitated by Thracian women because he introduced homosexuality to Thrace. Orpheus’ death at their hands is the most popular story about him in fifth-century iconography (see Lissarrague 1994); of the available explanations, sexual jealousy fits best with the images.
