Orphic Fragments

...leaving Orpheus on the knees of Calliope, an infant still cared for at the freshly-flowing breast. original: "Ὀρφέα καλλείψας ἐπὶ γούνασι Καλλιοπείης νήπιον ἀρτιχύτωι μεμελημένον εἰσέτι μαζῶι" Sithonius Silius Italicus book 22, line 179; see number 34.

Aelian, in Historical Miscellany XIV 21, considers Oeagrus to be younger than Orpheus, stating: "that a certain Oeagrus became a poet after Orpheus and Musaeus, who is said to have been the first to sing of the Trojan War, having taken up this greatest of subjects and dared it." original: "ὅτι Οἴαγρός τις ἐγένετο ποιητὴς μετ’ Ὀρφέα καὶ Μουσαῖον, ὃς λέγεται τὸν Τρωϊκὸν πόλεμον πρῶτος ἆισαι..." The name "Oeagrus" appears as a human name in Aristophanes' Wasps 579 (referring to a tragic actor who is missing from Kirchner’s list); see also Greek Inscriptions XII 5, 978, 1 (from Tenos).

MOTER.

24. Calliope is mentioned most frequently (see, for example, numbers 22 and 23). Timotheus, The Persians 234: "First Orpheus, with varied music, gave birth to the tortoise-shell lyre original: chelyon, referring to the lyre's body made from a shell, son of Calliope on Pieria." The translator notes the papyrus text was corrupted and restored by scholars like Wilamowitz. Plato, Republic II 364 e; Orphic Hymn XXIV 12: "with mother Calliope and Lord Apollo," and LXXVI 10: "with mother Calliope and the holy goddess of great power" (see Genethliakon for Robert 1910, 97). Argonautica 77: "Orpheus, dear son of Calliope and Oeagrus, ruling over the Bistonian Cicones rich in sheep," and line 682: "our mother, the wise Calliopeia, recounted..." Seneca, Medea 625: "that one born of the vocal Muse original: Camena, the Roman equivalent of a Muse." See also Gruppe, loc. cit. 1073; Wilamowitz, The Iliad and Homer, 474.

25. Polyhymnia according to the Scholia on Apollonius I 23, number 5: "and some say he was from Oeagrus and Polyhymnia."

25 a. Eustathius in his commentary on Iliad K 442: "For Orpheus was the son of Calliope or Clio." Clio is also called the mother of Linus in number 27.

26. Menippe, daughter of Thamyris, according to Tzetzes, Chiliades I 12, 305: "Orpheus was a Thracian, from the Odrysian land of Bisaltia, the son of Menippe, daughter of Thamyris, and of Oeagrus—though they say more allegorically that he was of Calliope." See also VIII 157, 9; Lobeck, Aglaophamus I 328; Robert, Heroic Legends I 410 note 2.

BROTHERS:

27. Hymenaeus and Ialemus, as seen in number 22.

Cymothon? Scholia on Lycophron 831: "...because Venus, having moved many of them to love, persuaded them to mate with men and give birth; thus Calliope bore Orpheus and Cymothon from Oeagrus The text here is debated by scholars; variants include 'Kydrothona' or 'Emathion', Terpsichore bore Rhesus from Strymon, and Clio bore Linus from Magnes."