Orphic Fragments

4. darkness original Greek: ὄρφνη (orphnē), dark original: ὀρφναῖος (orphnaios) as Natalis Comes states in his Mythology (Venice edition, 1568, Explanation of Names 337 b): original Latin: 'quasi ὄρφνεος obscurus, ὄρφνη enim nox est' "as if orphneos [dark], for orphne is night"; see also G. Curtius, Greek Etymology, 5th edition, 480; S. Wide, Laconian Cults, 174, 244; Maaß, Orpheus, 150 note 42 (compare the dark garments original Greek: ὄρφνινα φάρη (orphnina pharē) of Orpheus in the Argonautica 965). To me, the most appealing explanation of the name was first put forward by Klausen (Orpheus, Ersch and Gruber III 6, pages 12, 16), and then defended with very weighty arguments by Fick (Journal for Comparative Language Research XLVI 1914, 97) and Bechtel (in the place cited, 508; see also Kern, Orpheus, 16, where a letter from Bechtel to me is found). These most discerning men, comparing the name Orpheus original Greek: Ὀρφεύς with the word orphan original Greek: ὀρφανός (orphanos); also ὀρφός (orphos), or in Latin orbus, meaning "bereft" or "deprived", contrast the son of Oeagrus with Thamyris Another legendary Thracian singer, citing Hesychius under the entry Thamyris original Greek: θάμυρις: a festal assembly or a gathering. S. Reinach, in Cults, Myths, and Religions II 1909, 122 note 2 (Archaeological Review 1902, II 279), suggests Orpheus = Ophrys original Greek: Ὀφρύς, meaning the one with prominent eyebrows or the haughty one.

5. Scholiast An ancient commentator or annotator of classical texts. on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica I 23: Herodorus (FHG II 38 fragment 39) says there are two Orpheuses, one of whom sailed with the Argonauts The band of heroes who accompanied Jason on the ship Argo to find the Golden Fleece.; Pherecydes in his tenth book (FHG I 87 fragment 63) says that Philammon sailed, and not Orpheus. However, according to Asclepiades (number 22), he is the son of Apollo and Calliope The god of music and the Muse of epic poetry.; some say he is the son of Oeagrus and Polymnia The Muse of sacred poetry.. The question is asked: why did Orpheus, being weak, sail with the heroes? It is because Chiron The wise centaur and tutor of heroes., being a prophet, gave an oracle stating they would be able to pass by the Sirens Dangerous creatures who lured sailors with their music. if Orpheus sailed with them. See also the note on verse 31: Pieria, a mountain of Thrace where Orpheus spent time; Herodorus says (fragment 39) that Chiron advised Jason to take Orpheus along with the Argonauts (see number 79). Eustathius, in his commentary on the Iliad Book B 848 (page 359, 15), writes: "The ancients, who also say there were two Orpheuses from the Cicones A Thracian tribe., one being the son of Oeagrus, ancient and far older than the latter—by eleven generations, as they say." See also Maaß, Selected Questions on Greek Biographies (Philological Studies III) 126 note 137.

6. Hermias, in his commentary on Plato’s Phaedrus 244 A (page 94, line 22, Couvreur edition): "Three Orpheuses are said to have existed among the Thracians."

These are the Libethrian, the Ciconian, and the Odrysian Referring to different Thracian locations or tribes: Libethra, the Cicones, and the Odrysae., whom Hesychius enumerates (see Suidas, number 223), besides the Camarinaean (number 176) and the Crotoniate (number 177) Referring to Camarina in Sicily and Croton in Italy.. See Maaß, On Greek Biographies, 126; Wilamowitz in the same work, 154 note 3. F. G. Schoemann (Academic Works II 10) believes that three Orpheuses were invented according to the three theogonies Stories of the origin of the gods. mentioned by Damascius (On First Principles I 316, Ruelle edition), so that each theogony could be ascribed to its own "Orpheus."