The Orphic Hymns

Poetry and Genre, with a Critical Text and Translation

Series: 

Author:
Daniel Malamis
The Orphic Hymns, a collection of invocations to the complete Greek pantheon, have reached us without explicit information about the contexts of their composition and performance. Combining a new critical edition and translation of the hymns with an in-depth study of the poetic strategies they employ and the forms of Greek poetry they draw upon, this book explores what the hymns can tell us about themselves. Through the use of allusion and figures that look to the earliest Greek poetry, the hymns present themselves as a text to be heard and meditated upon in performance, and as Orpheus’ summative revelation on the nature and unity of the divine realm.
Copyright Year:
2025
E-Book (PDF)
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-71408-3
Publication:
02 Dec 2024
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-71407-6
Publication:
05 Dec 2024
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Daniel Malamis is a lecturer of Classics at Rhodes University, South Africa.
“Malamis argues meticulously and supports his claims with a wide range of evidence (...) [His] publication stands as a noteworthy exemplar of a philological study and edition, distinguished by its meticulous and analytical rigor. (...) Last but not least, the presentation and content meet the customary high standards set by Brill’s Mnemosyne series, thus ensuring a reading experience as pleasant as fruitful.”
Oscar Prieto Dominguez, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2025.11.21
Introduction

Text and Translation



Introduction to the Text

Sigla

The Orphic Hymns

Notes on the text

Synopsis of Variant Readings



1 Scholarship and reception
 1.1 The occult tradition
 1.2 The question of authorship from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries
 1.3 Criticism of the eighteenth century, the Göttingen School
 1.4 The question of function
 1.5 Nineteenth-century criticism: Scepticism and reaction
 1.6 Inscriptional evidence and the ritual function of the hymns
 1.7 Otto Kern and the location of the OH community
 1.8 Theories of authorship
 1.9 Recent scholarship

2 The structure of the collection and the hymns
 2.1 The collection
 2.2 Formal features of the hymns: epiclesis, eulogia and euche
 2.3 Conclusion: The structure of the collection and the hymns

3 Sound and patterning
 3.1 Phonic repetition
 3.2 Antithetical predication
 3.3 Formal antithesis, structural symmetry
 3.4 Conclusion: Sound and patterning

4 Formulae
 4.1 Formulae within the collection
 4.2 Formulae as intertexts
 4.3 Conclusion: Formulae

5 The generic and poetic contexts of the Orphic Hymns
 5.1 Greek hymns and catalogues of predications
 5.2 Sound, patterning, harmony
 5.3 Orphic hymns
 5.4 Generic contexts
 5.5 Function
 5.6 Composition

Conclusion

Appendix1: Manuscripts and works cited in the critical apparatus
Appendix2.1: Prayer structures
Appendix2.2: Invocations
Appendix2.3: Eulogia: Verse types and longer predications
Appendix3.1: Phonic repetition
Appendix3.2: Antithetical predication
Appendix3.3: Formal antithesis, structural symmetry
Appendix4.1: Formulae and phrasal parallels
Appendix4.2: Formulae: Index of Authors
Appendix4.3: Formulae: Quantitative analysis
Bibliography
Index
This book is relevant to academic institutes and libraries, and to both students and specialists in the fields of Orphic poetry, ancient Greek hymnody, and Greco-Roman mystery cults.
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