The Eudemian Theogony and Early Orphic Poetry

The third chapter is about a theogony that had been known to the philosopher Eudemus (fourth century BC), and all of the other fragments that modern scholars have associated with this theogony. The Neoplatonist Damascius (fifth century AD) says that the theogony started with Night, but modern scholars have tried to link this to other early fragments of Orphic poetry. This chapter discusses Aristophanes in the first section, and Plato and Aristotle in the second section, arguing that their scattered references to Orphic poems might not have been from the same theogony. The third section introduces the Orphic Hymn(s) to Zeus that appear in different variations, the earliest of which are from around the same time as these other fragments. The fourth section suggests that early Orphic fragments about Demeter and Dionysus are not from the Eudemian theogony.

Introducing Orphic Theogonies

The first chapter begins with a general introduction to the topic of Orphic legend, ritual, and literature, along with the history of scholarship on Orphism, and the methods to be employed in this book for the study of four Orphic theogonies: Derveni, Eudemian, Hieronyman, and Rhapsodic. In the second section, the Orphic theogonies are placed in the wider context of ancient Near Eastern and Greek theogonic narratives. The third section analyzes the generic distinctions between theogonies and hymns and argues that Orphic theogonies have features of both, suggesting that the term “theogonic hymn” is the best way of describing their generic function. The fourth section argues that Orphic theogonies were a meeting point between the discourses of myth and philosophy. Some fragments of Orphic poetry appear to contain philosophical ideas, while prose philosophers, from the Presocratics to the Neoplatonists, regularly referred to Orphic poems.

Conclusion

The conclusion suggests that there are three types of Orphic activities: telestic Orphism, associated with early Orphic literature and its use in ritual; literary Orphism, associated with the proliferation of Orphic literature in the Hellenistic Period and beyond; and interpretive Orphism, associated especially with the apologists and Neoplatonists who viewed Orphic poetry as central to an understanding of Greek myth. The main four points of the book are reiterated: that Orphic poetry was influenced by Near Eastern myth, was a fluid and diverse tradition, was engaged in the discourse between myth and philosophy, and was concerned with Phanes and Zeus no less than Dionysus.

The Hieronyman Theogony

This chapter is focused on the only two substantial sources for the Hieronyman theogony, the Christian apologist Athenagoras and the Neoplatonist philosopher Damascius. As shown in the first section, studying their approaches to the Hieronyman theogony is useful for introducing the problems that are encountered in chapters 5 and 6: namely, how apologists and Neoplatonists used Orphic theogonies, and how this affects one’s own interpretations. The second section reconstructs the Hieronyman theogony based on these two sources and questions their presentation in Alberto Bernabé’s collection of the Orphic Fragments. The third section looks at the narrative itself, questioning the influence of philosophy and eastern parallels for the time-god Chronos and the cosmic egg from which Phanes is born. The fourth section focuses on the birth of Dionysus, which appears in Athenagoras but not Damascius, and leads to the suggestion that this episode could have come from a separate poem.

Dionysus in the Rhapsodies

Because the narrative of Dionysus being killed by the Titans has been considered by many to be the central myth of Orphism, the sixth chapter focuses entirely on the presentation of Dionysus in the Rhapsodies, and places this narrative in its literary context as an episode in the theogonic narrative. The first section discusses the modern debate on the importance of Dionysus to Orphic myth, and the second section discusses ancient interpretations, including a lengthy explanation of how Dionysus fit into Neoplatonic allegory. The third section offers an interpretation of the narrative that removes it from considerations on its importance to Orphism as a whole to see how it fits in the Rhapsodic theogony, and concludes that the story of Dionysus and the Titans is as much about the theogonic role of Zeus in the Rhapsodies as it is about Dionysus.

The Rhapsodies

After introducing general matters concerning the Rhapsodies in the first section, this chapter questions in the second section Radcliffe Edmonds’ argument that the Rhapsodies were not a continuous Rhapsodic theogony but a Rhapsodic collection of separate poems, and finds evidence for both points of view, but concludes that the collection must have contained a Rhapsodic narrative. Thus, the following sections discuss this theogonic narrative episode by episode, attempting to disentangle a reconstruction of the narrative from the allegories applied to the text by the Neoplatonists who preserved these fragments. This includes a discussion of the presentation of Chronos and Phanes as preserved by the Neoplatonists, the question of whether there was one Night or three in the Rhapsodies, the Rhapsodic version of the core succession myth, and the episode of Zeus swallowing Phanes, which includes the Rhapsodic version of the Orphic Hymn to Zeus.

The Derveni Papyrus

After briefly describing the nature and provenance of the Derveni Papyrus (fourth century BC), this chapter introduces in the first section the Derveni author himself and his discussion of a ritual in the first seven columns of the papyrus. The second section presents the Orphic poem that is the subject of the Derveni author’s commentary, through a detailed analysis of the poem and the attempts of modern scholars to reconstruct it. The third section argues that the central event of this poem’s narrative is Zeus and the act of swallowing, which has significant parallels in other Greek and Near Eastern myths. Whether Zeus swallows the phallus of Ouranos or the entire body of Phanes, this act of swallowing is the means by which he secures his position as king of the gods.