Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24

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There are two manuscript traditions for the epitome in Ps. Eratosthenes, both ancient. In the fuller version, Orpheus is originally devoted to Dionysus but switches his allegiance to Apollo after his visit to the underworld in quest of his wife. The tradition with greater detail (T and R) was read by the Latin scholiasts who refer to the story. See M. L. West “Tragica VI”, BICS 30 (1983), 63–71, 81–82; “The Lycurgus Trilogy”, in Studies in Aeschylus (Stuttgart, 1990) 26-50. Massimo Di Marco, however, argues plausibly that T and R have been supplemented with material derived from elsewhere in the Orpheus tradition. M. Di Marco, “Dioniso ed Orfeo nelle Bassaridi di Eschilo”, in A. Masaracchia (ed.), Orfeo e l’orfismo. Atti del seminario nazionale (Rome 1993) 101-53. The portions of the text that are only in T and R are bracketed in the text. [διὰ δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα εἰς Ἅιδου καταβὰς καὶ ἰδὼν τὰ ἐκεῖ οἷα ἦν] διὰ—ἦν TR: om. other mss. ὃς ὃς mss: om. TR. τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον οὐκ[έτι] οὐκέτι TR: om. other mss. ἐτίμα, [ὑφ’ οὗ ἦν δεδοξασμένος] ὑφ’— δεδοξασμένος TR: om. other mss., τὸν δὲ Ἥλιον μέγιστον τῶν θεῶν ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι, ὃν καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα προσηγόρευσεν· ἐπεγειρόμενός τε τῆς νυκτὸς κατὰ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἐπὶ τῆς νυκτὸς κατὰ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἐπὶ mss: τὴν νύκτα ἕωθεν κατὰ R: τὴν νύκτα κατὰ ἕωθεν κατὰ T. τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Πάγγαιον <ἀνιὼν> ἀνιὼν suppl. Wilamowitz. προσέμενε τὰς ἀνατολάς, ἵνα ἴδηι τὸν Ἥλιον πρῶτον. ὅθεν ὁ Διόνυσος ὀργισθεὶς αὐτῶι ἔπεμψε τὰς Βασσαρίδας, ὥς φησιν Αἰσχύλος ὁ τραγωιδιῶν ποιητής, αἵτινες αὐτὸν διέσπασαν καὶ τὰ μέλη διέρριψαν χωρὶς ἕκαστον. αἱ δὲ Μοῦσαι συναγαγοῦσαι ἔθαψαν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις Λειβήθροις.

[having descended to Hades and seen what things there were like]...who did not [any longer] worship Dionysus [by whom he had been made famous], but considered Helios the greatest of the gods, whom he also addressed as Apollo. Getting up during the night and ascending the mountain called Pangaion at dawn, he would wait for the sunrise, so as to be first to see the sun. Hence Dionysus, being angry with him, sent the Bassarids, as the tragedian Aeschylus says, who tore him to pieces and threw his limbs in different directions. But the Muses, gathering them together, buried him in the place called Libethra.

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