The Hymns of Orpheus
At the very beginnings of the Archaic Age, the great singer Orpheus taught a new religion that centred around the immortality of the human soul and its journey after death. He felt that achieving purity by avoiding meat and refraining from committing harm further promoted the pursuit of a peaceful life. Elements of the worship of Dionysus, such as shape-shifting and ritualistic ecstasy, were fused with Orphic beliefs to produce a powerful and illuminating new religion that found expression in the mystery cults.

"The Hymns of Orpheus" are a set of pre-classical poetic compositions, attributed to the culture hero Orpheus, himself the subject of the renowned myth.
In reality, these poems were probably anonymously composed by several different poets somewhere in Asia Minor, most likely in the middle of the third century AD. At this turbulent time, the Hellenic past was fighting for its survival, while the new Christian faith was spreading everywhere. "The Hymns of Orpheus" thus reflect a pious spirituality in the form of traditional literary conventions. The hymns themselves are devoted to specific divinities as well as to cosmic elements. Prefaced with offerings, strings of epithets invoke the various attributes of the divinity and prayers ask for peace and health to the initiate.
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The Hymns of Orpheus
At the very beginnings of the Archaic Age, the great singer Orpheus taught a new religion that centred around the immortality of the human soul and its journey after death. He felt that achieving purity by avoiding meat and refraining from committing harm further promoted the pursuit of a peaceful life. Elements of the worship of Dionysus, such as shape-shifting and ritualistic ecstasy, were fused with Orphic beliefs to produce a powerful and illuminating new religion that found expression in the mystery cults.

"The Hymns of Orpheus" are a set of pre-classical poetic compositions, attributed to the culture hero Orpheus, himself the subject of the renowned myth.
In reality, these poems were probably anonymously composed by several different poets somewhere in Asia Minor, most likely in the middle of the third century AD. At this turbulent time, the Hellenic past was fighting for its survival, while the new Christian faith was spreading everywhere. "The Hymns of Orpheus" thus reflect a pious spirituality in the form of traditional literary conventions. The hymns themselves are devoted to specific divinities as well as to cosmic elements. Prefaced with offerings, strings of epithets invoke the various attributes of the divinity and prayers ask for peace and health to the initiate.
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The Hymns of Orpheus

The Hymns of Orpheus

by Thomas Taylor
The Hymns of Orpheus

The Hymns of Orpheus

by Thomas Taylor

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Overview

At the very beginnings of the Archaic Age, the great singer Orpheus taught a new religion that centred around the immortality of the human soul and its journey after death. He felt that achieving purity by avoiding meat and refraining from committing harm further promoted the pursuit of a peaceful life. Elements of the worship of Dionysus, such as shape-shifting and ritualistic ecstasy, were fused with Orphic beliefs to produce a powerful and illuminating new religion that found expression in the mystery cults.

"The Hymns of Orpheus" are a set of pre-classical poetic compositions, attributed to the culture hero Orpheus, himself the subject of the renowned myth.
In reality, these poems were probably anonymously composed by several different poets somewhere in Asia Minor, most likely in the middle of the third century AD. At this turbulent time, the Hellenic past was fighting for its survival, while the new Christian faith was spreading everywhere. "The Hymns of Orpheus" thus reflect a pious spirituality in the form of traditional literary conventions. The hymns themselves are devoted to specific divinities as well as to cosmic elements. Prefaced with offerings, strings of epithets invoke the various attributes of the divinity and prayers ask for peace and health to the initiate.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940160708867
Publisher: Interzone Press
Publication date: 12/24/2021
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

The translator of this work, Thomas Taylor, is known for his authoritative translations of the Platonists; he was practically the sole source of Neo-Platonic thought in the transcendentalist movement of New England. Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras was a constant source of inspiration to the transcendentalists and a major influence on their writings throughout the Nineteenth Century. Taylor's work was enthusiastically acclaimed by Emerson, who referred to the translator as "a Greek born out of his time, and dropped on the ridicule of a blind and frivolous age."

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