This is a first-pass attempt to translate the Orphic Hymn to Herakles with the aid of the Liddell-Scott Greek-English Lexicon.
Herakles is reported to be the son of Zeus and Alkmene. Alkmene means stout, brave, might, strength, prowess, courage (άλκ-) + moon (mene) = courageous moon/mene.
According to several sources, Hera (the Goddess of Air) sent two snakes to kill the infant Herakles because she was angry that Zeus fathered him. Herakles strangled the snakes with his bare hands, and so was named for Hera. (This may be a metaphor for a child overcoming croup/asthma.)
It is important to note, however, that in the Orphica, Herakles is equated with Chronos/Time as cited in Damascius' Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles by Sara Ahbel-Rappe p, 416 (Oxford University Press, The American Academy of Religion, 2010):
(Citing Damascius and Orphica): "But as for the third principle after the two (water and matter), it arose from these, I mean from water and earth, and it is a serpent with the heads of a lion and a bull grown upon it, and in the middle the countenance of a [G]od, and it has wings on its shoulders, and the same [G]od is called Ageless Time (Chronos), and Heracles."
http://www.amazon.com/Damascius-Solutions-Concerning-Principles-Translation/dp/0195150295
This hymn seems to be more consistent with the notion of Herakles as Time, rather than with the hero Herakles.
Herakles (Time) is called strong, great, mighty, powerful, eternally changing form, everlasting, kind, wise, wild, all-ruling.
Herakles (Time) is compared to an archer and a prophet.
Herakles (Time) is said to devour all and to create all, to be all helping.
Herakles (Time) is said to without fail bring an end to human life.
The Hymn requests unending Peace on Earth, bringing forth from Dawn to Night, to preserve lives, and drive out/dispatch evil/painful death.
12. Ἡρακλέος, - Herakles = Hera/Air (Ἡρα) + good report, fame, celebrate, call (κλέος)
θυμίαμα - incense
λίβανον. - of Lebanon, frankincense
Ἥρακλες - Herakles
ὀμβριμόθυμε, - rainy spirit/passion or strong spirit/passion = (ὀμβριμό) + (θυμε)
μεγασθενές, - mega, great (μεγα) + strong, strength (σθενές)
ἄλκιμε - courageous, brave, mighty
Τιτάν, - Titan (Titaino (τῑταίνω) means stretch, stretch out. According to Hesiod, the immortal Titans (Τῑτᾶνες) reside in Tartaros, the cosmic inverse of heaven, where the Olympic deities reside, perfectly counterbalancing one another. Tetanos (τετᾰνός) means stretched.)
καρτερόχειρ, - strong, powerful, staunch, mighty (καρτε) + flowing (ρό) + hand (χειρ) = "strong-handed"
ἀδάμαστε, - arising above (ἀ) + dominance, taming (δάμαστε) = "unsubdued"
βρύων - full to bursting, teem with, full of
ἄθλοισι - athleticism, competition, contest for a prize
κραταιοῖς, - strong, mighty, powerful
αἰολόμορφε, - "of changeful form" = eternally (αἰο) + loosening (λό) + shape, form, morph (μορφε) (quick-moving, nimble = αἰολό)
χρόνου - time, Chronos
πάτερ, - father
ἀίδιέ - everlasting, eternal
τε - too then
ἐύφρων, - cheerful, merry, kindly, gracious = essence pure/good (ἐύ) + mind/spirit/heart/understanding, wisdom, prudence (φρων)
ἄρρητ', - arising flow-of (ἄρ) + rhetoric, speech (ρητ')
ἀγριόθυμε, - wild/savage/organic/agricultural/living in the fields (ἀγριό) + spirit, passion (θυμε)
πολύλλιτε, - poli, many, multi (πολύ) + simple, poor, plain; suppliant, supplicatory (λιτε)
παντοδυνάστα, - all (παντο) + dynastic, powerful; lord/master/ruler (δυνάστα)
παγκρατὲς - all (παγ) + strong/mighty/powerful (κρατὲς)
ἦτορ - heart
ἔχων, - have, hold, possess; bear, carry, bring
κάρτος - strong, powerful, staunch, mighty
μέγα, - mega, great
τοξότα, - archer, armed with the bow
μάντι, - diviner, seer, prophet, medium, often translated as "oracle"
παμφάγε, - all (παμ) + devourer, glutton (φάγε) = devouring all
παγγενέτωρ, - all (παγ) + genitor, creator, parent (γενέτωρ)
πανυπέρτατε, - all (παν) + uppermost, highest (υπέρτατε) = "highest of all, supreme"
πᾶσιν - all, all things
ἀρωγέ, - aiding, succouring, helping
ὃς - entity
θνητοῖς - mortal
κατέπαυσας - "put an end to, stop" = cause, catalyst, begin (κατέ) + pause, stop (παυσας)
ἀνήμερα - "wild, savage" = arising (ἀ) + true, infallible, truth, without fail (νήμερα) = arising (ἀ) + prevailing central (νή) + destiny, lot (μερα) (the mortality of humans is their central destiny)
φῦλα - race, tribe, a body of united people, an organized community
διώξας, - two (διώ) + detached from, separated (ξας) (perhaps saying that endless time and humans part way because of mortality)
εἰρήνην - Peace, Eirene, Goddess of Peace
ποθέων - long for, yearn after, desire
κουροτρόφον, -"rearer, nurse of children" = child (κουρο) + that which nourishes, sustains, extends the life of, feeder, rearer (τρόφον)
ἀγλαότιμον, - gloriously, splendidly (ἀγλαό) + honored, revered (τιμον)
αὐτοφυής, - alone, independent, self (αὐτο) + growth, stature, nature, genus (φυής) = "natural, self-grown, spontaneous; bearing, producing of itself"
ἀκάμας, - untiring, unresting, Akamas is a hero of the Acamantid tribe in Attica, - arising above (ἀ) + bending (κάμας), unbending
γαίης - earth's, Gaia's
βλάστημα - offspring, shoot, blossom, growth
φέριστον, - bearing, carrying (φέρ) + anything upright, straight (ιστον)
πρωτογόνοις - Protogonos, epithet of Phanes, = before (πρωτο) + child, offspring, that which is begotten (γόνοις) = first-born, brought forth first
στράψας - turn, twist, rotate
βολίσιν, - missile, javelin; anything cast or thrown
μεγαλώνυμε - mega, megalo- (μεγαλώ) + named (νυμε) = with a great name
Παιών, - Savior, Healer, honored with songs of victory; Paieon, the Physician of the Olympic Gods and Goddesses
ὃς - entity
περὶ - all around, peri-
κρατὶ - strong, mighty
φορεῖς - hold, bear, be pregnant with
ἠῶ - center brings-forth; dawn, morning, Eos, the Goddess of Dawn
καὶ - and
νύκτα - Night, the Goddess of Night
μέλαιναν, - black, dark
δώδεκ' - 12 = two (δώ) + ten (δεκ)
ἀπ' - inspire
ἀντολιῶν - eastern, arising, Anatolia (Modern Turkey)
ἄχρι - to the uttermost, until, as far as, so long as
δυσμῶν - west, setting, sunset
ἆθλα - conflict, struggle, competition
διέρπων, - spread
ἀθάνατοις, - immortal
πολύπειρος, - many, multi, poli (πολύ) + pierced (πειρος) = "much-experienced"
ἀπείριτος, -arising above (ἀ) + piercing (πείριτος) = "boundless, immense, infinite"
ἀστυφέλικτος· - town, city, Athens (ἀστυ) + cork, float like a cork (φέλικτος) = "unshaken, undisturbed" - or- arising above (ἀ) + harshness, severity, cruelty (στυφέλικτος)
ἐλθέ, - come, go
μάκαρ, - happy, blessed
νούσων - tend toward, mind, thought, purpose, design, intelligence, incline toward
θελκτήρια - charm, spell, enchant, soothe, charming
πάντα - all
κομίζων, - take care of, provide for, preserve, bring, tend (κομί) + life (ζων)
ἐξέλασον - drive out, expel
δὲ - of, from
κακὰς - evil, wicked, bad, ill, "core arising to core=stunted growth"
ἄτας - bewilderment, blindness, disillusion, mischief, bane, ruin, doom, Ate, Goddess of Mischief, author of rash actions
κλάδον - branch/shoot of a tree, young branch
ἐν - in
χερὶ - hand, by hand, at the hand of
πάλλων, - sway, swing, shake, brandish
πτηνοῖς - flying, winged
τ' - stretch/extend
ἰοβόλοις - shooting arrows = arrow; poison; violet/purple (ἰο) + hurling, shooting (βόλοις)
κῆρας - heart; death, doom, Kar, Goddess of Death
χαλεπὰς - hard to bear, painful, grievous, dangerous, difficult
ἀπόπεμπε. - banish, exorcise, avert by sacrifice, get rid of, send off, dispatch, dismiss, send away
RSS Feed