Greek Alphabet: Unlock the Secrets
  • Home
  • The Greek Alphabet Song
  • Free Mini-Poster
  • About the Author
  • Hymns of Orpheus Translations
  • Learn about Alpha: A (1)
  • Learn about Beta: B (2)
  • Learn about Gamma: Γ (3)
  • Learn about Delta: Δ (4)
  • Learn about E Psilon: Ε (5)
  • Learn about Wau: Ϝ (6)
  • Learn about Zeta: Ζ (7)
  • Learn about Heta: Η (8)
  • Learn about Theta: Θ (9)
  • Learn about Iota: Ι (10)
  • Learn about Kappa: Κ (20)
  • Learn about Lambda: Λ (30)
  • Learn about Mu: Μ (40)
  • Learn about Nu: Ν (50)
  • Learn about Ksi: Ξ (60)
  • Learn about O Micron: Ο (70)
  • Learn about Pi: Π (80)
  • Learn about Qoppa: Ϙ (90)
  • Learn about Rho: Ρ (100)
  • Learn about Sigma: Σ (200)
  • Learn about Tau: Τ (300)
  • Learn about U Psilon:Υ (400)
  • Learn about Phi: Φ (500)
  • Learn about Chi: Χ (600)
  • Learn about Psi: Ψ (700)
  • Learn about O Mega: Ω (800)
  • Learn about Parakuisma: ϡ (900)
  • Contact

Buy Greek Alphabet: Unlock the Secrets on Amazon

Greek Alphabet: Unlock the Secrets 
by Catherine R. Proppe

Go to Amazon.com

To Eros #HymnsOfOrpheus

8/27/2015

0 Comments

 

Translated by Catherine Proppe August 27, 2015


58. Ἔρωτος, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα.


To Eros[1]
Divine connection: aromatics

 
Κικλήσκω μέγαν, ἁγνόν, ἐράσμιον, ἡδὺν Ἔρωτα,

I call great pure beloved sweet Erota,

 

τοξαλκῆ, πτερόεντα, πυρίδρομον, εὔδρομον ὁρμῆι,

Mighty-archer of flying, flaming, swift-coursed assault,

 

συμπαίζοντα θεοῖς ἠδὲ θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις,

Playing with deities and mortal humans,

 

εὐπάλαμον, διφυῆ, πάντων κληῖδας ἔχοντα,

Handily skillful, bisexual[2], the key to all foundations[3]:

 

αἰθέρος οὐρανίου, πόντου, χθονός, ἠδ' ὅσα θνητοῖς

The etherial sky, the sea, the earth, and so many mortals.

 

πνεύματα παντογένεθλα θεὰ βόσκει χλοόκαρπος,

Aerial breath[4], all-generative Goddess[5], nourishing tender green fruits, 

 

ἠδ' ὅσα Τάρταρος εὐρὺς ἔχει πόντος θ' ἁλίδουπος·

Dear one of Tartaros’[6] good river[7], foundation of the sea, the abundantly roaring sea,

 

μοῦνος γὰρ τούτων πάντων οἴηκα κρατύνεις.

Alone bring forth thence, all, then, rudder make firm

 

ἀλλά, μάκαρ, καθαραῖς γνώμαις μύσταισι συνέρχου,

Now, blessed pure knowledge of the mystai join as one

 

φαύλους[8] δ' ἐκτοπίους[9] θὁρμὰς ἀπὸ τῶνδ' ἀπόπεμπε[10].

Receive a paltry drink of semen from thence toward the ground sent forth.

 
[1] Eros is the immortal God/dess of the force that pulls things together, in contrast to Eris/Strife, the immortal force that pulls things apart:

“[Hippolytus] For when the things which come to be by strife’s [Eris] agency die, love [Eros] receives them and draws them towards, puts them with, and assimilates them to the universe, so that the universe might remain one, always being organized by love in one manner and form.”

(Empedocles (circa 450 BCE). The Poem of Empedocles, translated by Brad Inwood (University of Toronto Press, 2001.) 31-32)


[2] Eros is two-natured, androgynous. Ancient love poetry contained both hetero- and homosexual themes. http://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/primeval-gods.html


[3] The foundations of the sky, sea, earth are the immortal deities.


[4] Pneumatic means of the breath, aerial, wind. This hymn may be describing a “blow job.”


[5] May refer to the immortal Goddess Hera (Air) in reference to the wind’s role in fertilizing plants. Empedocles, in Physics(7(6).2-3) and in Poeta Philosophus (6.1), equates Ἢρη, Hera, with air, one of the four roots/elements
(earth, air, fire, water). Note that Eros is a winged (aerial) deity.


[6] Tartaros is the deepest realm beneath the earth.


[7] The river may be a reference to Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in the afterlife. A deceased soul who drinks from Lethe is reincarnated in a new life on earth, a life which is instigated by the activities of love.


[8] The Greek word is “phaulous” a homonym of “phallus.”


[9] Without the apostrophe, this reads, “receive a drink.”


[10] Without the apostrophe, this reads, “toward the floor send forth.”


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This blog is a first-pass attempt to translate the Hymns of Orpheus with the help of the Liddell-Scott Greek-English Lexicon.

    I am a research analyst and a native of Detroit, Michigan.  

    Other Translations of Hymns of Orpheus

    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly