The Orphic Hymns

The Orphic Hymns
Author :
Publisher : JHU Press
Total Pages : 279
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781421408866
ISBN-13 : 1421408864
Rating : 4/5 (864 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Orphic Hymns by :

Download or read book The Orphic Hymns written by and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2013-07-31 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best-selling English translation of the mysterious and cosmic Greek poetry known as the Orphic Hymns. At the very beginnings of the Archaic Age, the great singer Orpheus taught a new religion that centered 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. Practitioners of this new religion composed a great body of poetry, much of which is translated in The Orphic Hymns. The hymns presented in this book were anonymously composed 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 Orphic Hymns 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. Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow have produced an accurate and elegant translation accompanied by rich commentary.


The Orphic Hymns Related Books

The Orphic Hymns
Language: en
Pages: 279
Authors:
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-07-31 - Publisher: JHU Press

GET EBOOK

The best-selling English translation of the mysterious and cosmic Greek poetry known as the Orphic Hymns. At the very beginnings of the Archaic Age, the great s
The Orphic Hymns
Language: en
Pages: 307
Authors: Patrick Dunn
Categories: Body, Mind & Spirit
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-10-08 - Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide

GET EBOOK

Discover the Powerful Poems & Incantations of Ancient Greece Use the hymns of the great mystery religions in your practice today The Orphic hymns are fascinatin
Orphic Hymns Grimoire
Language: en
Pages: 231
Authors: Sara Mastros
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019 - Publisher: Lulu.com

GET EBOOK

Orpheus, the famed oracle orator hero of Greece, began to teach a new religion at the dawn of the Archaic Age. Deeply rooted in ancient paganism, Orphism taught
The Orphic Hymns
Language: en
Pages: 279
Authors:
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-07-31 - Publisher: JHU Press

GET EBOOK

The best-selling English translation of the mysterious and cosmic Greek poetry known as the Orphic Hymns. At the very beginnings of the Archaic Age, the great s
The Homeric hymns
Language: id
Pages: 420
Authors: Thomas William Allen
Categories: Gods, Greek
Type: BOOK - Published: 1904 - Publisher:

GET EBOOK