Translated by Catherine Proppe December 14, 2016
29. Ὕμνος Περσεφόνης.
Hymn to Persephone
Περσεφόνη, θύγατερ μεγάλου Διός, ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα,
Persephone, daughter of mighty Dios, come, blessed Lady,
μουνογένεια θεά, κεχαρισμένα δ' ἱερὰ δέξαι,
Sole offspring of the Goddess, gracious power who receives the sanctified,
Πλούτωνος πολύτιμε δάμαρ, κεδνή, βιοδῶτι,
Plouton’s greatly-honored wife, trusted giver of life,
ἣ κατέχεις Ἀίδαο πύλας ὑπὸ κεύθεα γαίης,
Held fast by Aidao’s gates below, in the depths of Earth,
Πραξιδίκη, ἐρατοπλόκαμε, Δηοῦς θάλος ἁγνόν,
Lady Justice, lovely-tressed pure daughter of Demeter,
Εὐμενίδων γενέτειρα, ὑποχθονίων βασίλεια,
Mother of the Eumenides, netherworld Queen,
ἣν Ζεὺς ἀρρήτοισι γοναῖς τεκνώσατο κούρην,
Who, as his daughter, gave birth to famed Zeus’ unnamed offspring.
μῆτερ ἐριβρεμέτου πολυμόρφου Εὐβουλῆος,
Mother of the loud-thundering, many-shaped Euboulos.
Ὡρῶν συμπαίκτειρα, φαεσφόρε, ἀγλαόμορφε,
The Horai’s playmate, light-bearing, gloriously formed,
σεμνή, παντοκράτειρα, κόρη καρποῖσι βρύουσα,
Solemn, all-ruling daughter of fruit full to bursting,
εὐφεγγής, κερόεσσα, μόνη θνητοῖσι ποθεινή,
Bright-shining, horned essence, singularly longed for by mortals.
ἐαρινή, λειμωνιάσιν χαίρουσα πνοῆισιν,
In springtime, meadow-dwelling, rejoicing in the breeze,
ἱερὸν ἐκφαίνουσα δέμας βλαστοῖς χλοοκάρποις,
Holy emerging light’s essence embodied in budding green fruit,
ἁρπαγιμαῖα λέχη μετοπωρινὰ νυμφευθεῖσα,
Then, snatched away from the midwife’s bed,
ζωὴ καὶ θάνατος μούνη θνητοῖς πολυμόχθοις,
Eternal life and death became one with mortals’ many hardships.
Φερσεφόνεια· φέρβεις γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ πάντα φονεύεις.
Phersephone, who feeds all eternally and destroys all,
κλῦθι, μάκαιρα θεά, καρποὺς δ' ἀνάπεμπ' ἀπὸ γαίης
Come, blessed Goddeess, send up fruit upon Gaia’s earth,
εἰρήνηι θάλλουσα καὶ ἠπιοχείρωι ὑγείαι
Let Eirene’s peace thrive and the soothing hand of Hygeia,
καὶ βίωι εὐόλβωι λιπαρὸν γῆρας κατάγοντι
And life, good whole life, to a rich old age, bring forth,
πρὸς σὸν χῶρον, ἄνασσα, καὶ εὐδύνατον Πλούτωνα.
Bring forth upon your land, Anassa, with benevolent Plouton.
NOTES
Persephone, also called Phersephone, is the immortal Goddess of the afterlife and new life in Spring.
Dios refers to Zeus, the immortal God of lightning storms and the spark of fire/spark of life.
“The Goddess” is Demeter, the Goddess who directs the growth of plants, the “Directing (Δη) + Mother (μήτερος).” Deeous (Δηοῦς) is also Demeter, “directing (Δ) + central (η) + entity (ο) + pure (ῦ).”
Plouton is the immortal God of wealth and the afterlife.
Aidao is the realm of the afterlife.
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.
Praxidike is the immortal Goddess who exacts justice, the practictioner (Πραξι) of Justice/Dike (δίκη).
The Eumenides, “Good Powers,” are the Goddesses who avenge crimes and persecute wrongdoers.
Basileia means Queen, ruler, basis of rule.
“Zeus’ unnamed offspring” is Zagreus (Ζαγρευς), "the first-born Dionysos," was born after Zeus seduced Persephone in the form of a serpent. “Zeus placed Zagreus upon the throne of heaven and armed him with his lightning bolts. The Titanes sneaked into Olympos and offered the boy a collection of toys, tricking him into setting aside the lightning. They then seized and dismembered him with their knives. Zeus recovered Zagreus' heart and made it into a potion for Semele to imbibe who then conceived and gave birth to the second Dionysos as a reincarnation of the first.
“The genitals of Zagreus were later recovered by the Kabeiroi, two demigods of the island of Samothrace. They deposited these in a sacred cave on the isle and instituted the Samothracian Mysteries in honour of the dead [G]od.” http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Zagreus.html
Euboulos means “Good Counselor,” and is another name for Dionysos, the immortal God of wine and its effects, and other deities including Plouton, God of the afterlife.
The Horai are the immortal Goddesses of the seasons, of the natural time for things to occur.
Interestingly, arpagimaios (ἁρπαγιμαῖος), “snatched away,” also describes Selene, Goddess of the moon, at the close of the month and is translated as “scarcely visible.” The word is more often translated as “seized, stolen, forcible abduction.” Another time this word is used in reference to Selene is “en arpagee Selene (ἐν ἁρπαγῇ σελήνης),” that is, “when the moon is invisible.”
Ares (Ἄρης) is the immortal God of war, destruction, plague, and ruin. Ara (Ἀρά) is personified as the Goddess of destruction and revenge. The word ἁρπαγιμαῖα could be broken down as follows:
- ἁρ (destroy)
- παγι (all)
- μαῖα (mothers).
Eirene is the immortal Goddess of peace.
Hygeia is the immortal Goddess of health.
Anassa means Queen, Lady.
As the Goddess of the afterlife, mystae are encouraged to drink from the spring of memory and continue on to the sacred groves of Persephone, as described in these tablets from ancient tombs[1]:
“But as soon as the soul has left the light of the sun,
. . . Journey on the right-hand road
to holy meadows and groves of Persephone.”
-circa 400 BCE, from a grave mound in Thurii, now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
“Now I come as a suppliant to holy Persephone,
so that she may kindly send me to the seats of the pure.”
-circa 400 BCE, from a grave mound in Thurii, now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
“When you are about to die
down to the well-built house of Hades,
There is a spring at the right side,
And standing by it a white cypress.
Descending to it, the souls of the dead refresh themselves.
Do not even go near this spring!
Ahead you will find from the Lake of Memory,
Cold water pouring forth; there are guards before it.
They will ask you, with astute wisdom,
What you are seeking in the darkness of murky Hades.
Say, “I am a child of Earth and starry Sky,
I am parched with thirst and am dying;
But quickly grant me
Cold water from the Lake of Memory to drink.”
And they will announce you to the Chthonian King,
And they will grant you to drink from the Lake of Memory.
And you, too, having drunk, will go along the sacred road on which other
Glorious initiates and bacchoi travel.
From the cist-grave of a woman, around 400 BCE, grave tablet, Museo Archeologico di Vibo. The rectangular gold tablet, folded several times, was found lying on the upper chest of the skeleton and was perhaps attached to the neck by a tiny string.
For the Orphics, the soul exists before birth and continues to exist after death. “What [is] called life is really death, and the body is the tomb of the soul (σῶμα σῆμα), which is imprisoned successively in animal, and even in vegetable bodies, until its final purification liberates it from the ‘wheel of birth.’”[2]
The followers of Orpheus look upon what we call death as the door by which one may escape from prison and ultimately rejoin the society of Goddesses and Gods.
Aristotle says that the Orphic verses proclaim that the soul enters the body when we draw our first breath: “the soul was said to be carried to and fro by the winds, and drawn into the body by respiration.”
In an early poem, “Descent into Aidou (κατάβασιςϵἰςΑιδου),” Orpheus relates that in the afterlife the soul, characterized as female, escapes from mortality and is reunited with the divine:
“I have escaped from the lamentable and cruel circle: I have set my eager feet within the longed-for ring. I have passed to the bosom of the Mistress and Queen of the underworld.”
Such is the language in which the triumphant soul announces her redemption.
In reply, she is thus addressed:
“O happy and blessed one, thou shalt be [an Immortal) instead of a mortal.
“Hail, for thy sufferings are past…thou art become [an Immortal] from having been a [hu]man…hail, hail, thou that farest to the right, through the sacred meadows and groves of Persephone.”
“I have paid the penalty for deeds unjust,”—so speaks the soul, when she has finished her pilgrimage,—“and now I am come as a suppliant unto noble Persephone, beseeching her to be gracious, and to send me into the abodes of the pious.”74
“Already thou art [Immortal],” is the Orphic precept; “seek to be reunited with the [Goddesses and G]ods.”[3]
[1] Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets, by Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnson, Routledge, New York, 2007.
[2] Greek Philosophy. Part I, Thales to Plato by John Burnet, London, Macmillan anc Co., 1914 p. 31 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000925979;view=1up;seq=47
[3] The Religious Teachers of Greece, “Lecture 5: Orphic Religious Ideas,” by James Adam, Reference Book Publishers: Clifton, New Jersey, 1965, T & T Clark, 1908.
http://www.giffordlectures.org/books/religious-teachers-greece/lecture-5-orphic-religious-ideas
29. Ὕμνος Περσεφόνης.
Hymn to Persephone
Περσεφόνη, θύγατερ μεγάλου Διός, ἐλθέ, μάκαιρα,
Persephone, daughter of mighty Dios, come, blessed Lady,
μουνογένεια θεά, κεχαρισμένα δ' ἱερὰ δέξαι,
Sole offspring of the Goddess, gracious power who receives the sanctified,
Πλούτωνος πολύτιμε δάμαρ, κεδνή, βιοδῶτι,
Plouton’s greatly-honored wife, trusted giver of life,
ἣ κατέχεις Ἀίδαο πύλας ὑπὸ κεύθεα γαίης,
Held fast by Aidao’s gates below, in the depths of Earth,
Πραξιδίκη, ἐρατοπλόκαμε, Δηοῦς θάλος ἁγνόν,
Lady Justice, lovely-tressed pure daughter of Demeter,
Εὐμενίδων γενέτειρα, ὑποχθονίων βασίλεια,
Mother of the Eumenides, netherworld Queen,
ἣν Ζεὺς ἀρρήτοισι γοναῖς τεκνώσατο κούρην,
Who, as his daughter, gave birth to famed Zeus’ unnamed offspring.
μῆτερ ἐριβρεμέτου πολυμόρφου Εὐβουλῆος,
Mother of the loud-thundering, many-shaped Euboulos.
Ὡρῶν συμπαίκτειρα, φαεσφόρε, ἀγλαόμορφε,
The Horai’s playmate, light-bearing, gloriously formed,
σεμνή, παντοκράτειρα, κόρη καρποῖσι βρύουσα,
Solemn, all-ruling daughter of fruit full to bursting,
εὐφεγγής, κερόεσσα, μόνη θνητοῖσι ποθεινή,
Bright-shining, horned essence, singularly longed for by mortals.
ἐαρινή, λειμωνιάσιν χαίρουσα πνοῆισιν,
In springtime, meadow-dwelling, rejoicing in the breeze,
ἱερὸν ἐκφαίνουσα δέμας βλαστοῖς χλοοκάρποις,
Holy emerging light’s essence embodied in budding green fruit,
ἁρπαγιμαῖα λέχη μετοπωρινὰ νυμφευθεῖσα,
Then, snatched away from the midwife’s bed,
ζωὴ καὶ θάνατος μούνη θνητοῖς πολυμόχθοις,
Eternal life and death became one with mortals’ many hardships.
Φερσεφόνεια· φέρβεις γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ πάντα φονεύεις.
Phersephone, who feeds all eternally and destroys all,
κλῦθι, μάκαιρα θεά, καρποὺς δ' ἀνάπεμπ' ἀπὸ γαίης
Come, blessed Goddeess, send up fruit upon Gaia’s earth,
εἰρήνηι θάλλουσα καὶ ἠπιοχείρωι ὑγείαι
Let Eirene’s peace thrive and the soothing hand of Hygeia,
καὶ βίωι εὐόλβωι λιπαρὸν γῆρας κατάγοντι
And life, good whole life, to a rich old age, bring forth,
πρὸς σὸν χῶρον, ἄνασσα, καὶ εὐδύνατον Πλούτωνα.
Bring forth upon your land, Anassa, with benevolent Plouton.
NOTES
Persephone, also called Phersephone, is the immortal Goddess of the afterlife and new life in Spring.
Dios refers to Zeus, the immortal God of lightning storms and the spark of fire/spark of life.
“The Goddess” is Demeter, the Goddess who directs the growth of plants, the “Directing (Δη) + Mother (μήτερος).” Deeous (Δηοῦς) is also Demeter, “directing (Δ) + central (η) + entity (ο) + pure (ῦ).”
Plouton is the immortal God of wealth and the afterlife.
Aidao is the realm of the afterlife.
Gaia is the immortal Goddess of generative earth.
Praxidike is the immortal Goddess who exacts justice, the practictioner (Πραξι) of Justice/Dike (δίκη).
The Eumenides, “Good Powers,” are the Goddesses who avenge crimes and persecute wrongdoers.
Basileia means Queen, ruler, basis of rule.
“Zeus’ unnamed offspring” is Zagreus (Ζαγρευς), "the first-born Dionysos," was born after Zeus seduced Persephone in the form of a serpent. “Zeus placed Zagreus upon the throne of heaven and armed him with his lightning bolts. The Titanes sneaked into Olympos and offered the boy a collection of toys, tricking him into setting aside the lightning. They then seized and dismembered him with their knives. Zeus recovered Zagreus' heart and made it into a potion for Semele to imbibe who then conceived and gave birth to the second Dionysos as a reincarnation of the first.
“The genitals of Zagreus were later recovered by the Kabeiroi, two demigods of the island of Samothrace. They deposited these in a sacred cave on the isle and instituted the Samothracian Mysteries in honour of the dead [G]od.” http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Zagreus.html
Euboulos means “Good Counselor,” and is another name for Dionysos, the immortal God of wine and its effects, and other deities including Plouton, God of the afterlife.
The Horai are the immortal Goddesses of the seasons, of the natural time for things to occur.
Interestingly, arpagimaios (ἁρπαγιμαῖος), “snatched away,” also describes Selene, Goddess of the moon, at the close of the month and is translated as “scarcely visible.” The word is more often translated as “seized, stolen, forcible abduction.” Another time this word is used in reference to Selene is “en arpagee Selene (ἐν ἁρπαγῇ σελήνης),” that is, “when the moon is invisible.”
Ares (Ἄρης) is the immortal God of war, destruction, plague, and ruin. Ara (Ἀρά) is personified as the Goddess of destruction and revenge. The word ἁρπαγιμαῖα could be broken down as follows:
- ἁρ (destroy)
- παγι (all)
- μαῖα (mothers).
Eirene is the immortal Goddess of peace.
Hygeia is the immortal Goddess of health.
Anassa means Queen, Lady.
As the Goddess of the afterlife, mystae are encouraged to drink from the spring of memory and continue on to the sacred groves of Persephone, as described in these tablets from ancient tombs[1]:
“But as soon as the soul has left the light of the sun,
. . . Journey on the right-hand road
to holy meadows and groves of Persephone.”
-circa 400 BCE, from a grave mound in Thurii, now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
“Now I come as a suppliant to holy Persephone,
so that she may kindly send me to the seats of the pure.”
-circa 400 BCE, from a grave mound in Thurii, now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
“When you are about to die
down to the well-built house of Hades,
There is a spring at the right side,
And standing by it a white cypress.
Descending to it, the souls of the dead refresh themselves.
Do not even go near this spring!
Ahead you will find from the Lake of Memory,
Cold water pouring forth; there are guards before it.
They will ask you, with astute wisdom,
What you are seeking in the darkness of murky Hades.
Say, “I am a child of Earth and starry Sky,
I am parched with thirst and am dying;
But quickly grant me
Cold water from the Lake of Memory to drink.”
And they will announce you to the Chthonian King,
And they will grant you to drink from the Lake of Memory.
And you, too, having drunk, will go along the sacred road on which other
Glorious initiates and bacchoi travel.
From the cist-grave of a woman, around 400 BCE, grave tablet, Museo Archeologico di Vibo. The rectangular gold tablet, folded several times, was found lying on the upper chest of the skeleton and was perhaps attached to the neck by a tiny string.
For the Orphics, the soul exists before birth and continues to exist after death. “What [is] called life is really death, and the body is the tomb of the soul (σῶμα σῆμα), which is imprisoned successively in animal, and even in vegetable bodies, until its final purification liberates it from the ‘wheel of birth.’”[2]
The followers of Orpheus look upon what we call death as the door by which one may escape from prison and ultimately rejoin the society of Goddesses and Gods.
Aristotle says that the Orphic verses proclaim that the soul enters the body when we draw our first breath: “the soul was said to be carried to and fro by the winds, and drawn into the body by respiration.”
In an early poem, “Descent into Aidou (κατάβασιςϵἰςΑιδου),” Orpheus relates that in the afterlife the soul, characterized as female, escapes from mortality and is reunited with the divine:
“I have escaped from the lamentable and cruel circle: I have set my eager feet within the longed-for ring. I have passed to the bosom of the Mistress and Queen of the underworld.”
Such is the language in which the triumphant soul announces her redemption.
In reply, she is thus addressed:
“O happy and blessed one, thou shalt be [an Immortal) instead of a mortal.
“Hail, for thy sufferings are past…thou art become [an Immortal] from having been a [hu]man…hail, hail, thou that farest to the right, through the sacred meadows and groves of Persephone.”
“I have paid the penalty for deeds unjust,”—so speaks the soul, when she has finished her pilgrimage,—“and now I am come as a suppliant unto noble Persephone, beseeching her to be gracious, and to send me into the abodes of the pious.”74
“Already thou art [Immortal],” is the Orphic precept; “seek to be reunited with the [Goddesses and G]ods.”[3]
[1] Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets, by Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnson, Routledge, New York, 2007.
[2] Greek Philosophy. Part I, Thales to Plato by John Burnet, London, Macmillan anc Co., 1914 p. 31 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000925979;view=1up;seq=47
[3] The Religious Teachers of Greece, “Lecture 5: Orphic Religious Ideas,” by James Adam, Reference Book Publishers: Clifton, New Jersey, 1965, T & T Clark, 1908.
http://www.giffordlectures.org/books/religious-teachers-greece/lecture-5-orphic-religious-ideas
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