ORSABARIS
ancient mystical poet Orpheus, dedicated them- says, were only inferior in beauty to the poerna of
selves to the worship of Bacchus, in which they Homer, and held even in higher honour, on account
hoped to find satisfaction for an ardent longing of their divine subjects.
ancient mystical poet Orpheus, dedicated them- says, were only inferior in beauty to the poerna of
selves to the worship of Bacchus, in which they Homer, and held even in higher honour, on account
hoped to find satisfaction for an ardent longing of their divine subjects.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
1032), who enumerates, as the oldest poets,
Eumolpus, Pamphus, Thamyris, and Philammon. Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, and Homer, and makes
Of these names that of Orpheus is the most im- Orpheus the teacher of religious initiations and of
portant, and at the same time the one involving abstinence from murder :
the greatest difficulties. These difficulties arise
'Ορφεύς μεν γαρ τελετάς 9' ημίν
from the scantiness of the early traditions re-
κατέδειξε φόνου τ' απέχεσθαι.
specting him, in tracing which we are rather im-
peded than aided by the many marvels which later Passages exactly parallel to this are found in Plato
writers connected with his story ; and also from (Apol. p. 41, a. , Protug. p. 316, d. ), who frequently
the very different religious positions which are refers to Orpheus, his followers, and his worke.
assigned to him. On this last point it may be He calls him the son of Oeagrus (Sympos. p. 179,
remarked in general that the earliest opinions d. ), mentions him as a musician and inventor
respecting him seem to have invariably connected (Ion, p. 533, C. , Leg. iii. p. 677, d. ), refers to the
him with A pollo ; while his name was afterwards miraculous power of his lyre (Protag. p. 315, a. ),
adopted as the central point of one system of Dio and gives a singular version of the story of his
nysiac worship.
descent into Hades: the gods, he says imposed
One of the most essential points in such an in- upon the poet, by showing him only a phan-
quiry as the present is, to observe the history of tasm of his lost wife, because he had not the
the traditions themselves. The name of Orpheus courage to die, like Alcestis, but contrived to
does not occur in the Homeric or Hesiodic poems ; enter Hades alive, and, as a further punishment
but, during the lyric period, it had attained to great for his cowardice, he met his death at the hands
celebrity. I bycus, who flourished about the middle of women (Sympos. p. 179, d. ; comp. Polit. I.
of the sixth century B. C. , mentions him as “ the p. 620, a. ). This account is quite discordant with
renowned Orpheus" (ovouaka utÒN 'Opony, Ibyc. the notions of the early Greeks respecting the
Fr. No. 22, Schneidewin, No. 9, Bergk, ap. Pris | value of life, and even with the example quoted
cian. vol. i. p. 283, Krehl). Pindar enumerates by Plato bimself, as far as Admetus is concerned.
him among the Argonauts as the celebrated harp Plato seems to have misunderstood the reason
player, father of songs, and as sent forth by Apollo why Orpheus's “contriving to enter Hades alive,"
(Pyth. iv. 315. s. 176): elsewhere he mentioned called down the anger of the gods, namely, as a
him as the son of Oeagrus (Schol. ad loc. ). The presumptuous transgression of the limits assigned
historians Hellanicus and Pherecydes record his to the condition of mortal men : this point will
name, the former making him the ancestor both of have to be considered again. As the followers of
Homer and of Hesiod (Fr. Nos, 5, 6, Müller, ap. Orpheus, Plato mentions both poets and religionists
Procl. Vit
. Hes. p. 141, b. , Vit
. Hom. Ined. ); the (Prot. p. 316, d. , lon, p. 536, b. , Cratyl
. p. 400,
latter stating that it was not Orpheus, but Philani-c. ), and in the passage last quoted, he tells us that
mon, who was the bard of the Argonauts (Fr. 63, the followers of Orpheus held the doctrine, that
Müller, ap. Schol. ad Apollon. i. 23), and this is the soul is imprisoned in the body as a punishment
also the account which Apollonius Rhodius followed for some previous sins. He makes several quo-
In the dramatic poets there are several references tations from the writings ascribed to Orpheus, of
to Orpheus. Aeschylus alludes to the fable of his which one, if not more, is from the Theogony
leading after him trees charmed by the sound of his (Cratyl. p. 402, ba, Phileb. p. 66, c. , Leg. ii.
lyre ( Ăg. 1612, 1613,Wellauer, 16:29, 1630, Dind. ); p. 669, d. ), and in one passage he speaks of col.
and there is an important statement preserved by lections of books, which went under the names of
Eratosthenes (c. 24), who quotes the Bassarides of Orpheus and Musaeus, and contained rules for
the same poet, that “ Orpheus did not honour religious ceremonies. (Polit. ii. p. 364, e. )
Dionysus, but believed the sun to be the greatest The writings mentioned in the last passage
of the gods, whom also he called Apollo ; and rising were evidently regarded by Pato as spurious,
up in the night, he ascended before dawn to the but, from the other passages quoted, he seems to
mountain called Pangaeum, that he might see the have believed at least in the existence of Orpheus
sun first, at which Dionysus being enraged sent and in the genuineness of his Theogony. Not so,
upon him the Bassaridae, as the poet Aeschylus however, Aristotle, who held that no such person
says, who tore him in pieces, and scattered his as Orpheus ever existed, and that the works
limbs abroad ; but the Muses collected them, and ascribed to him were forged by Cercops and
buried them at the place called Leibethra :" but Onomacritus. [ONOMACRITUS. )
the quotation itself shows the impossibility of de- Proceeding to the mythographers, and the later
termining how much of this account is to be con- poets, from Apollodorus downwards, we find the
sidered as given by Aeschylus. Sophocles does not legends of Orpheus amplified by details, the whole
mention Orpheus, but he is repeatedly referred to of which it is impossible here to enumerate ; we
by Euripides, in whom we find the first allusion to give an outline of the most important of them.
the connection of Orpheus with Dionysus and the Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus and Calliope, lived
infernal regions : he speaks of him as related to the in Thrace at the period of the Argonauts, whom
Muses (Rhes. 944, 946); mentions the power of he accompanied in their expedition. Presented
his song over rocks, trees, and wild beasts (Med. with the lyre by A pollo, and instructed by the
543, Iph. in Aul. 1211, Bacch. 561, and a jocular Muses in its use, he enchanted with its music not
allusion in Cyc. 646); refers to his charming the only the wild beasts, but the trees and rocks upon
infernal powers (Alc. 357); connects him with Olympus, so that they moved from their places to
Bacchanalian orgies (Hippol. 953); ascribes to him follow the sound of his golden harp. The power
the origin of sacred mysteries (Rhes. 943), and of his music caused the Argonauts to seek his aid,
places the scene of his activity among the forests of which contributed materially to the success of
Olympus. (Bacch. 561. ) He is mentioned once their expedition : at the sound of his lyre the
only, but in an important passage, by Aristophanes | Argo glided down into the sea ; the Argonauts
:
## p. 61 (#77) ##############################################
ORPHEUS.
61
ORPHEUS
-
.
;
tore themselves away from the pleasures of His lyre was also said to have been carried to
Lennos ; the Symplegadae, or moving rocks, Lesbos ; and both traditions are simply poetical
which threatened to crush the ship between them, expressions of the historical fact that Lesbos was
were fixed in their places ; and the Colchian the first great seat of the music of the lyre: indeed
dragon, which guarded the golden fleece, was Antissa itself was the birth-place of 'Terpander,
Julled to sleep: other legends of the same kind the earliest historical musician. (Phanocles, ap.
may be read in the Argonautica, which bears the Stob. Tit. Ixii. p. 399). The astronomers taught
name of Orpheus. After his return from the that the lyre of Orpheus was placed by Zeus
Argonautic expedition he took up his abode in a among the stars, at the intercession of Apollo and
cave in Thrace, and employed himself in the the Muses (Eratosth. 24 ; Hygin. Astr. ii. 7; Ma-
civilisation of its wild inhabitants. There is also nil. Astron. i. 324).
a legend of his having visited Egypt. The legends In these legends there are some points which
respecting the loss and recovery of his wife, and require but little explanation. The invention of
his own death, are very various. His wife was a music, in connection with the services of Apollo
nymph named Agriope or Eurydice. In the older and the Muses, its first great application to the
accounts the cause of her death is not referred worship of the gods, which Orpheus is therefore
to, but the legend followed in the well-known sid to have introduced, its power over the pas
passages of Virgil and Ovid, which ascribes the sions, and the importance which the Greeks at-
death of Eurydice to the bite of a serpent, is no tached to the knowledge of it, as intimately allied
doubt of high antiquity, but the introduction of with the very existence of all social order, - are pro-
Aristaeus into the legend cannot be traced to any bably the chief elementary ideas of the whole
writer older than Virgil himself. (Diod. iv. 25 ; legend. But then comes in one of the dark fea-
Conon, 45; Paus. ix. 30. $ 4 ; Hygin. Fab. 164. ) tures of the Greek religion, in which the gods
He followed his lost wife into the abodes of Hades, envy the advancement of man in knowledge and
where the charms of his lyre suspended the civilisation, and severely punish any one who
torments of the damned, and won back his wife transgresses the bounds assigned to humanity, as
from the most inexorable of all deities ; but his may be seen in the legend of Prometheus, and in
prayer was only granted upon this condition, that the sudden death, or blindness, or other calamities
he should not look back upon his restored wife, of the early poets and musicians. In a later age,
till they had arrived in the upper world : at the the conflict was no longer viewed as between the
very moment when they were about to pass the gods and man, but between the worshippers of dif-
fatal bounds, the anxiety of love overcame the ferent divinities ; and especially between A pollo,
poet ; he looked round to see that Eurydice was the symbol of pure intellect, and Dionysus, the
following him ; and he beheld her caught back deity of the senses: hence Orpheus, the servant of
into the infernal regions. The form of the myth, Apollo, falls a victim to the jealousy of Dionysus,
as told by Plato, has been given above. The and the fury of his worshippers. There are, how-
later poets, forgetting the religious meaning of ever, other points in the legend which are of the
the legend, connected his death with the second utmost difficulty, and which would require far
loss of Eurydice, his grief for whom led him to more discussion than can be entered upon here. For
treat with contempt the Thracian women, who in these matters the reader is referred to Lobeck's
revenge tore him to pieces under the excitement Aglaophamus, Müller's Prolegomena zu einer wise
of their Bacchanalian orgies. Other causes are senschaftlichen Mythologie, and Klausen's article in
assigned for the fury of the Thracian Maenads ; | Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopädie. Concerning the
but the most ancient form of the legend seems to localities of the legend, see Müller's Literature of
be that already mentioned as quoted by Era- Ancient Greece, p. 26, and Klausen. The works
tosthenes from Aeschylus. The variation, by of art representing Orpheus are enumerated by
which Aphrodite is made the instigator of his Klausen.
death, from motives of jealousy, is of course merely Orphic Societies and Mysteries. — All that part
a fancy of some late poet (Conon, 45). Another of the mythology of Orpheus which connects him
form of the legend, which deserves much more with Dionysus must be considered as a later in-
attention, is that which was embodied in an vention, quite irreconcilable with the original le-
inscription upon what was said to be the tomb, in gends, in which he is the servant of Apollo and
which the bones of Orpheus were buried, at Dium the Muses: the discrepancy extends even to the
near Pydna, in Macedonia, which ascribed his instrument of his music, which was always the
deatb to the thunderbolis of Zeus : -
lyre, and never the flute. It is almost hopeless to
Θρήϊκα χρυσολύρην τηδ' 'Ορφέα Μούσαι έθαψαν, here
that, about the time of the first development
explain the transition. It is enough to remark
“Ον κτάνες ύψιμέδων Ζεύς ψολόεντι βέλει.
of Greek philosophy, societies were formed, which
(Diog. Laërt. Prooem. 5; Paus. ix. 30. § 5; assumed the name of Orpheus, and which cele
Anth. Graec. Epig. Inc. No. 483 ; Brunck, Anal. brated peculiar mysteries, quite different from
vol. iii. p. 253. )
those of Eleusis. They are thus described by
After his death, according to the more common Müller (Hist. Lit. Anc. Gr. p. 231. ):-
form of the legend, the Muses collected the frag- “ On the other hand there was a society of
ments of his body, and buried them at Leibethra persons, who performed the rites of a mystical
at the foot of Olympus, where the nightingale worship, but were not exclusively attached to a
sang sweetly over his grave. The subsequent particular temple and festival, and who did not
transference of his bones to Dium is evidently a confine their notions to the initiated, but published
local legend. (Paus. l. c. ) His head was thrown them to others, and committed them to literary
apon the Hebrus, down which it rolled to the sea, works. These were the fullowers of Orpheus
and was borne across to Lesbos, where the grave (oi Oppikol); that is to say, associations of per-
in which it was interred was shown at Antissa. Sole, who, under the (pretended) guidance of the
## p. 62 (#78) ##############################################
62
ORPHEUS.
ORSABARIS
ancient mystical poet Orpheus, dedicated them- says, were only inferior in beauty to the poerna of
selves to the worship of Bacchus, in which they Homer, and held even in higher honour, on account
hoped to find satisfaction for an ardent longing of their divine subjects. He also speaks of them
after the soothing and elevating influences of re. as very few in number, and as distinguished by
ligion. The Dionysus, to whose worship the Or great brevity of style (ix. 30. && 5, 6. & 12).
phic and Βacchic rites were annexed (τα Ορφικά Considering the slight acquaintance which the
kaleóueva kad Bakxiká, Herod. ii. 81), was the ancients evidently possessed with these works, it is
Chthonian deity, Dionysus Zagreus, closely con- somewhat surprising that certain extant poems,
nected with Demeter and Cora, who was the per which bear the name of Orpheus, should have been
sonified expression, not only of the most rapturous generally regarded by scholars, until a very recent
pleasure, but also of a deep sorrow for the miseries period, as genuine, that is, as works more ancient
of human life. The Orphic legends and poems than the Ilomeric poems, if not the productions of
related in great part to this Dionysus, who was Orpheus himself. It is not worth while to repeat
combined, as an infernal deity, with Hades (a here the history of the controversy, which will be
doctrine given by the philosopher Heracleitus as found in Bernhardy and the other historians of Greek
the opinion of a particular sect, ap. Clem. Alex. literature. The result is that it is now fully esta-
Protrep. p. 30, Potter); and upon whom the blished that the bulk of these poems are the forgeries
Orphic theologers founded their hopes of the puri- of Christian grammarians and philosophers of the
fication and ultimate immortality of the soul. "But Alexandrian school; but that among the fragments,
their mode of celebrating this worship was very which form a part of the collection, are some genuine
different from the popular rites of Bacchus. The remains of that Orphic poetry which was known to
Orphic worshippers of Bacchus did not indulge in Plato, and which must be assigned to the period of
unrestrained pleasure and . frantic enthusias but Onomacritus, or perhaps a little earlier. The Orphic
rather aimed at an ascetic purity of life and man- literature which, in this sense, we may call genuine,
Ders. (See Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 244. ) The fol- seems to have included Hymns, a Theogony, an
lowers of Orpheus, when they had tasted the mystic | ancient poem called Minyas or the Desceni into
sacrificial feast of raw flesh torn from the ox of Hades, Oracles and Songs for Initiations (Teneral),
Dionysus (Wuopayla), partook of no other animal a collection of Sacred Legends ('lepol Adyou),
food. They wore white linen garments, like ascribed to Cercops, and perhaps some other works.
Oriental and Egyptian priests, from whom, as The apocryphal productions which have come down
Herodotus remarks (L. c. ), much may have been to us under the name of Orphica, are the following:
borrowed in the ritual of the Orphic worship. " 1. 'Apyovautiná, an epic poem in 1384 her-
Herodotus not only speaks of these rites as being ameters, giving an account of the expedition of the
Egyptian, but also Pythagorean in their character. Argonauts, which is full of indications of its late
The explanation of this is that the Pythagorean date.
societies, after their expulsion from Magna Graecia, 2. Tuvoi, eighty-seven or eighty-eight hymns in
united themselves with the Orphic societies of the hexameters, evidently the productions of the Neo-
mother country, and of course greatly influenced Platonic school.
their character. But before this time the Orphic 3. Λιθικά, the best of the three apocryphal
system had been reduced to a definite form by Orphic poems, which treats of properties of stones,
PHERECIDES and ONOMACRITUS, who stand at both precious and common, and their uses in
the head of a series of writers, in whose works divination.
the Orphic theology was embodied ; such as 4. Fragments, chiefly of the Theogony. It is in
Cercops, Brontinus, Orpheus of Camarina, Or- this class that we find the genuine remains, above
pheus of Croton, Arignote, Persinus of Miletus, referred to, of the literature of the early Orphic
Timocles of Syracuse, and Zopyrus of Heracleia or theology, but intermingled with others of a much
Tarentum (Müller, p. 235). Besides these asso- later date. (Eschenbach, Epigenes, de Poesi Orphica
ciations there were also an obscure set of mysta- Commentarius, Norimb. 1702-1704 ; Tiedemann,
gogues derived from them, called Orpheotelests Griechenlands erste Philosophen, Leipz. 1780 ; G.
('OppeoteRectal), " who used to come before the H. Bode, de Orpheo Poetarum Graecorum antiquis-
doors of the rich, and promise to release them from simo, Gott. 1824 ; Lobeck, Aglaophamus ; Bode,
their own sing and those of their forefathers, by Gesch. d. Hell. Dichtkunst, vols. i. ii. ; Ulrici, Gesch.
sacrifices and expiatory songs ; and they produced d. Hollen. Dichtkunst, vols. i. ii. ; Bernhardy, Grun
at this ceremony a heap of books of Orpheus and driss d. Griech. Litt. vol. ii. pp. 266, &c. ; Fabric.
Musaeus, upon which they founded their promises" Bill. Graec. vol. i pp. 110, &c. ; for a further
(Plat. Ion, p. 536, b. ; Müller, p. 235). The list of writers on Orpheus, see Hoffmann, Lexicon
nature of the Orphic theology, and the points of Bibliographicum Scriptorum Gruecorum. )
difference between it and that of Homer and Hesiod, The chief editions of Orpheus, after the early
are fully discussed by Müller (Hist. Lit. Anc. Gr. ones of 1517, 1519, 1540, 1543, 1566, and 1606,
pp. 235—238) and Mr. Grote (vol
. i. pp. 22, &c. ); are those of Eschenbach, Traj. ad Rhen. 1689,
but most fully by Lobeck, in his Aglaophamus. 12mo. ; Gesner and Hamberger, Lips. 1764, 8vo.
Orphic Literature. —We have seen that many and Hermann, Lips. 1805, 8vo. , by far the best.
poems ascribed to Orpheus were current as early There are also small editions, chiefly for the use
as the time of the Peisistratids (ONOMACRITUS), of schools, by Schaefer, Lips. 1818, 12mo. , and in
and that they are often quoted by Plato. The the Tauchnitz Classics, 1824, 16mo. (P. S. )
allusions to them in later writers are very frequent ; ORPHI'DIUS BENIGNUS, a legate of the
for example, Pausanias speaks of hymns of his, emperor Otho, fell in the battle of Bedriacum
which he believed to be still preserved by the against the troops of Vitešlius, A. D. 69. (Tac.
Lycomidae (an Athenian family who seem to bave Hist. ii. 43, 45. )
been the chief priests of the Orphic worship, as the ORPHITUS. (ORFITU'S. )
Eumolpidae were of the Eleusinian), and which, he ORSA'BARIS ('Oposlapus), a daughter of
## p. 63 (#79) ##############################################
ORUS.
63
OTACILIA.
Mithridates the Great, who was taken prisoner by | senting a head of Silenus, in the Museum Worsely-
Pompey, and served to adorn bis triumph, B. c. 61 anum, p. 144.
(P. S. )
(Appian, Mithr. 117). The name Oreobaris occurs ORXINES ('Oplums), a noble and wealthy
Aiso on a coin of the city of Prusias, in Bithynia Persian, who traced his descent from Cyrus. He
which bears the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΜΟΥΣΗΣ was present at the battle of Gaugamela, when,
OPSOBAPIOE ; and this is conjectured by Vis together with Orontobates, he commanded the
conti (Iconogr. Grecque, tom. ii. p. 195) to refer to troops which came from the shores of the Persian
the same person as the one mentioned in Appian, Gulf. Subsequently, during the absence of Aler-
whom he supposes to have been married to Socrates, ander (B. C. 325), on the death of Phrasaortes, the
the usurper set up by Mithridates as king of satrap of Persis, Orxines assumed the government,
Bithynia.
(E. H. B. ] and on the return of Alexander came to meet him
ORSI'LOCHUS ('Opoldoxos). 1. A son of the with costly presents. Alexander does not appear
river god Alpheius and Telegone, and the father to have been incensed at this usurpation, in wbich
of Diocles, at Pherae, in Messenia. (Hom. I. v. indeed Orxines seems to have been actuated by
545, Od. iii. 489, xv. 187, xxi. 15; Paus. iv. 30. loyal intentions towards Alexander. But the
§ 2. )
sepulchre of Cyrus at Pasargndae had been violated
2. A grandson of No. 1, and brother of Crethon, and pillaged, and the enemies of Orxines seem to
together with whom he was slain by Aeneias, at have laid hold of this for the purpose of securing
Troy. (Hom. II. v. 542, &c. ; Paus. iv. i. $ 3. ) his ruin. He was charged with that and other
3. A son of Idomeneus. (Hom. Od. xiii. 259– acts of sacrilege, as well as with having abused his
271. )
(L. S. ) power. Arrian says nothing of the charge being
O'RTALUS, or more properly HOʻRTALÚS, unfounded, but Curtius represents Orxines (or
& cognomen of the Hortensii. . [HORTENSIUS. ] Orsines, as he calls him) as the victim of calumny
ORTHAGORAS ('Opdayópas). 1. Of Thebes, and intrigue. However that may have been, he
mentioned by Socrates in the Protagoras of Plato was crucified by order of Alexander. (Arrian, iji.
(p. 318, c. ), as one of the most celebrated flute 8. $ 8, vi. 29. 83; Curt. iv. 12. & 8, x. 1. SS 22,
players of his day, and by Athenaeus as one of the 29, 37. )
(C. P. M. ]
instructors of Epaminondas in iute-playing. (Ath. OSACES. [ARSACES XIV. , p.
Eumolpus, Pamphus, Thamyris, and Philammon. Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, and Homer, and makes
Of these names that of Orpheus is the most im- Orpheus the teacher of religious initiations and of
portant, and at the same time the one involving abstinence from murder :
the greatest difficulties. These difficulties arise
'Ορφεύς μεν γαρ τελετάς 9' ημίν
from the scantiness of the early traditions re-
κατέδειξε φόνου τ' απέχεσθαι.
specting him, in tracing which we are rather im-
peded than aided by the many marvels which later Passages exactly parallel to this are found in Plato
writers connected with his story ; and also from (Apol. p. 41, a. , Protug. p. 316, d. ), who frequently
the very different religious positions which are refers to Orpheus, his followers, and his worke.
assigned to him. On this last point it may be He calls him the son of Oeagrus (Sympos. p. 179,
remarked in general that the earliest opinions d. ), mentions him as a musician and inventor
respecting him seem to have invariably connected (Ion, p. 533, C. , Leg. iii. p. 677, d. ), refers to the
him with A pollo ; while his name was afterwards miraculous power of his lyre (Protag. p. 315, a. ),
adopted as the central point of one system of Dio and gives a singular version of the story of his
nysiac worship.
descent into Hades: the gods, he says imposed
One of the most essential points in such an in- upon the poet, by showing him only a phan-
quiry as the present is, to observe the history of tasm of his lost wife, because he had not the
the traditions themselves. The name of Orpheus courage to die, like Alcestis, but contrived to
does not occur in the Homeric or Hesiodic poems ; enter Hades alive, and, as a further punishment
but, during the lyric period, it had attained to great for his cowardice, he met his death at the hands
celebrity. I bycus, who flourished about the middle of women (Sympos. p. 179, d. ; comp. Polit. I.
of the sixth century B. C. , mentions him as “ the p. 620, a. ). This account is quite discordant with
renowned Orpheus" (ovouaka utÒN 'Opony, Ibyc. the notions of the early Greeks respecting the
Fr. No. 22, Schneidewin, No. 9, Bergk, ap. Pris | value of life, and even with the example quoted
cian. vol. i. p. 283, Krehl). Pindar enumerates by Plato bimself, as far as Admetus is concerned.
him among the Argonauts as the celebrated harp Plato seems to have misunderstood the reason
player, father of songs, and as sent forth by Apollo why Orpheus's “contriving to enter Hades alive,"
(Pyth. iv. 315. s. 176): elsewhere he mentioned called down the anger of the gods, namely, as a
him as the son of Oeagrus (Schol. ad loc. ). The presumptuous transgression of the limits assigned
historians Hellanicus and Pherecydes record his to the condition of mortal men : this point will
name, the former making him the ancestor both of have to be considered again. As the followers of
Homer and of Hesiod (Fr. Nos, 5, 6, Müller, ap. Orpheus, Plato mentions both poets and religionists
Procl. Vit
. Hes. p. 141, b. , Vit
. Hom. Ined. ); the (Prot. p. 316, d. , lon, p. 536, b. , Cratyl
. p. 400,
latter stating that it was not Orpheus, but Philani-c. ), and in the passage last quoted, he tells us that
mon, who was the bard of the Argonauts (Fr. 63, the followers of Orpheus held the doctrine, that
Müller, ap. Schol. ad Apollon. i. 23), and this is the soul is imprisoned in the body as a punishment
also the account which Apollonius Rhodius followed for some previous sins. He makes several quo-
In the dramatic poets there are several references tations from the writings ascribed to Orpheus, of
to Orpheus. Aeschylus alludes to the fable of his which one, if not more, is from the Theogony
leading after him trees charmed by the sound of his (Cratyl. p. 402, ba, Phileb. p. 66, c. , Leg. ii.
lyre ( Ăg. 1612, 1613,Wellauer, 16:29, 1630, Dind. ); p. 669, d. ), and in one passage he speaks of col.
and there is an important statement preserved by lections of books, which went under the names of
Eratosthenes (c. 24), who quotes the Bassarides of Orpheus and Musaeus, and contained rules for
the same poet, that “ Orpheus did not honour religious ceremonies. (Polit. ii. p. 364, e. )
Dionysus, but believed the sun to be the greatest The writings mentioned in the last passage
of the gods, whom also he called Apollo ; and rising were evidently regarded by Pato as spurious,
up in the night, he ascended before dawn to the but, from the other passages quoted, he seems to
mountain called Pangaeum, that he might see the have believed at least in the existence of Orpheus
sun first, at which Dionysus being enraged sent and in the genuineness of his Theogony. Not so,
upon him the Bassaridae, as the poet Aeschylus however, Aristotle, who held that no such person
says, who tore him in pieces, and scattered his as Orpheus ever existed, and that the works
limbs abroad ; but the Muses collected them, and ascribed to him were forged by Cercops and
buried them at the place called Leibethra :" but Onomacritus. [ONOMACRITUS. )
the quotation itself shows the impossibility of de- Proceeding to the mythographers, and the later
termining how much of this account is to be con- poets, from Apollodorus downwards, we find the
sidered as given by Aeschylus. Sophocles does not legends of Orpheus amplified by details, the whole
mention Orpheus, but he is repeatedly referred to of which it is impossible here to enumerate ; we
by Euripides, in whom we find the first allusion to give an outline of the most important of them.
the connection of Orpheus with Dionysus and the Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus and Calliope, lived
infernal regions : he speaks of him as related to the in Thrace at the period of the Argonauts, whom
Muses (Rhes. 944, 946); mentions the power of he accompanied in their expedition. Presented
his song over rocks, trees, and wild beasts (Med. with the lyre by A pollo, and instructed by the
543, Iph. in Aul. 1211, Bacch. 561, and a jocular Muses in its use, he enchanted with its music not
allusion in Cyc. 646); refers to his charming the only the wild beasts, but the trees and rocks upon
infernal powers (Alc. 357); connects him with Olympus, so that they moved from their places to
Bacchanalian orgies (Hippol. 953); ascribes to him follow the sound of his golden harp. The power
the origin of sacred mysteries (Rhes. 943), and of his music caused the Argonauts to seek his aid,
places the scene of his activity among the forests of which contributed materially to the success of
Olympus. (Bacch. 561. ) He is mentioned once their expedition : at the sound of his lyre the
only, but in an important passage, by Aristophanes | Argo glided down into the sea ; the Argonauts
:
## p. 61 (#77) ##############################################
ORPHEUS.
61
ORPHEUS
-
.
;
tore themselves away from the pleasures of His lyre was also said to have been carried to
Lennos ; the Symplegadae, or moving rocks, Lesbos ; and both traditions are simply poetical
which threatened to crush the ship between them, expressions of the historical fact that Lesbos was
were fixed in their places ; and the Colchian the first great seat of the music of the lyre: indeed
dragon, which guarded the golden fleece, was Antissa itself was the birth-place of 'Terpander,
Julled to sleep: other legends of the same kind the earliest historical musician. (Phanocles, ap.
may be read in the Argonautica, which bears the Stob. Tit. Ixii. p. 399). The astronomers taught
name of Orpheus. After his return from the that the lyre of Orpheus was placed by Zeus
Argonautic expedition he took up his abode in a among the stars, at the intercession of Apollo and
cave in Thrace, and employed himself in the the Muses (Eratosth. 24 ; Hygin. Astr. ii. 7; Ma-
civilisation of its wild inhabitants. There is also nil. Astron. i. 324).
a legend of his having visited Egypt. The legends In these legends there are some points which
respecting the loss and recovery of his wife, and require but little explanation. The invention of
his own death, are very various. His wife was a music, in connection with the services of Apollo
nymph named Agriope or Eurydice. In the older and the Muses, its first great application to the
accounts the cause of her death is not referred worship of the gods, which Orpheus is therefore
to, but the legend followed in the well-known sid to have introduced, its power over the pas
passages of Virgil and Ovid, which ascribes the sions, and the importance which the Greeks at-
death of Eurydice to the bite of a serpent, is no tached to the knowledge of it, as intimately allied
doubt of high antiquity, but the introduction of with the very existence of all social order, - are pro-
Aristaeus into the legend cannot be traced to any bably the chief elementary ideas of the whole
writer older than Virgil himself. (Diod. iv. 25 ; legend. But then comes in one of the dark fea-
Conon, 45; Paus. ix. 30. $ 4 ; Hygin. Fab. 164. ) tures of the Greek religion, in which the gods
He followed his lost wife into the abodes of Hades, envy the advancement of man in knowledge and
where the charms of his lyre suspended the civilisation, and severely punish any one who
torments of the damned, and won back his wife transgresses the bounds assigned to humanity, as
from the most inexorable of all deities ; but his may be seen in the legend of Prometheus, and in
prayer was only granted upon this condition, that the sudden death, or blindness, or other calamities
he should not look back upon his restored wife, of the early poets and musicians. In a later age,
till they had arrived in the upper world : at the the conflict was no longer viewed as between the
very moment when they were about to pass the gods and man, but between the worshippers of dif-
fatal bounds, the anxiety of love overcame the ferent divinities ; and especially between A pollo,
poet ; he looked round to see that Eurydice was the symbol of pure intellect, and Dionysus, the
following him ; and he beheld her caught back deity of the senses: hence Orpheus, the servant of
into the infernal regions. The form of the myth, Apollo, falls a victim to the jealousy of Dionysus,
as told by Plato, has been given above. The and the fury of his worshippers. There are, how-
later poets, forgetting the religious meaning of ever, other points in the legend which are of the
the legend, connected his death with the second utmost difficulty, and which would require far
loss of Eurydice, his grief for whom led him to more discussion than can be entered upon here. For
treat with contempt the Thracian women, who in these matters the reader is referred to Lobeck's
revenge tore him to pieces under the excitement Aglaophamus, Müller's Prolegomena zu einer wise
of their Bacchanalian orgies. Other causes are senschaftlichen Mythologie, and Klausen's article in
assigned for the fury of the Thracian Maenads ; | Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopädie. Concerning the
but the most ancient form of the legend seems to localities of the legend, see Müller's Literature of
be that already mentioned as quoted by Era- Ancient Greece, p. 26, and Klausen. The works
tosthenes from Aeschylus. The variation, by of art representing Orpheus are enumerated by
which Aphrodite is made the instigator of his Klausen.
death, from motives of jealousy, is of course merely Orphic Societies and Mysteries. — All that part
a fancy of some late poet (Conon, 45). Another of the mythology of Orpheus which connects him
form of the legend, which deserves much more with Dionysus must be considered as a later in-
attention, is that which was embodied in an vention, quite irreconcilable with the original le-
inscription upon what was said to be the tomb, in gends, in which he is the servant of Apollo and
which the bones of Orpheus were buried, at Dium the Muses: the discrepancy extends even to the
near Pydna, in Macedonia, which ascribed his instrument of his music, which was always the
deatb to the thunderbolis of Zeus : -
lyre, and never the flute. It is almost hopeless to
Θρήϊκα χρυσολύρην τηδ' 'Ορφέα Μούσαι έθαψαν, here
that, about the time of the first development
explain the transition. It is enough to remark
“Ον κτάνες ύψιμέδων Ζεύς ψολόεντι βέλει.
of Greek philosophy, societies were formed, which
(Diog. Laërt. Prooem. 5; Paus. ix. 30. § 5; assumed the name of Orpheus, and which cele
Anth. Graec. Epig. Inc. No. 483 ; Brunck, Anal. brated peculiar mysteries, quite different from
vol. iii. p. 253. )
those of Eleusis. They are thus described by
After his death, according to the more common Müller (Hist. Lit. Anc. Gr. p. 231. ):-
form of the legend, the Muses collected the frag- “ On the other hand there was a society of
ments of his body, and buried them at Leibethra persons, who performed the rites of a mystical
at the foot of Olympus, where the nightingale worship, but were not exclusively attached to a
sang sweetly over his grave. The subsequent particular temple and festival, and who did not
transference of his bones to Dium is evidently a confine their notions to the initiated, but published
local legend. (Paus. l. c. ) His head was thrown them to others, and committed them to literary
apon the Hebrus, down which it rolled to the sea, works. These were the fullowers of Orpheus
and was borne across to Lesbos, where the grave (oi Oppikol); that is to say, associations of per-
in which it was interred was shown at Antissa. Sole, who, under the (pretended) guidance of the
## p. 62 (#78) ##############################################
62
ORPHEUS.
ORSABARIS
ancient mystical poet Orpheus, dedicated them- says, were only inferior in beauty to the poerna of
selves to the worship of Bacchus, in which they Homer, and held even in higher honour, on account
hoped to find satisfaction for an ardent longing of their divine subjects. He also speaks of them
after the soothing and elevating influences of re. as very few in number, and as distinguished by
ligion. The Dionysus, to whose worship the Or great brevity of style (ix. 30. && 5, 6. & 12).
phic and Βacchic rites were annexed (τα Ορφικά Considering the slight acquaintance which the
kaleóueva kad Bakxiká, Herod. ii. 81), was the ancients evidently possessed with these works, it is
Chthonian deity, Dionysus Zagreus, closely con- somewhat surprising that certain extant poems,
nected with Demeter and Cora, who was the per which bear the name of Orpheus, should have been
sonified expression, not only of the most rapturous generally regarded by scholars, until a very recent
pleasure, but also of a deep sorrow for the miseries period, as genuine, that is, as works more ancient
of human life. The Orphic legends and poems than the Ilomeric poems, if not the productions of
related in great part to this Dionysus, who was Orpheus himself. It is not worth while to repeat
combined, as an infernal deity, with Hades (a here the history of the controversy, which will be
doctrine given by the philosopher Heracleitus as found in Bernhardy and the other historians of Greek
the opinion of a particular sect, ap. Clem. Alex. literature. The result is that it is now fully esta-
Protrep. p. 30, Potter); and upon whom the blished that the bulk of these poems are the forgeries
Orphic theologers founded their hopes of the puri- of Christian grammarians and philosophers of the
fication and ultimate immortality of the soul. "But Alexandrian school; but that among the fragments,
their mode of celebrating this worship was very which form a part of the collection, are some genuine
different from the popular rites of Bacchus. The remains of that Orphic poetry which was known to
Orphic worshippers of Bacchus did not indulge in Plato, and which must be assigned to the period of
unrestrained pleasure and . frantic enthusias but Onomacritus, or perhaps a little earlier. The Orphic
rather aimed at an ascetic purity of life and man- literature which, in this sense, we may call genuine,
Ders. (See Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 244. ) The fol- seems to have included Hymns, a Theogony, an
lowers of Orpheus, when they had tasted the mystic | ancient poem called Minyas or the Desceni into
sacrificial feast of raw flesh torn from the ox of Hades, Oracles and Songs for Initiations (Teneral),
Dionysus (Wuopayla), partook of no other animal a collection of Sacred Legends ('lepol Adyou),
food. They wore white linen garments, like ascribed to Cercops, and perhaps some other works.
Oriental and Egyptian priests, from whom, as The apocryphal productions which have come down
Herodotus remarks (L. c. ), much may have been to us under the name of Orphica, are the following:
borrowed in the ritual of the Orphic worship. " 1. 'Apyovautiná, an epic poem in 1384 her-
Herodotus not only speaks of these rites as being ameters, giving an account of the expedition of the
Egyptian, but also Pythagorean in their character. Argonauts, which is full of indications of its late
The explanation of this is that the Pythagorean date.
societies, after their expulsion from Magna Graecia, 2. Tuvoi, eighty-seven or eighty-eight hymns in
united themselves with the Orphic societies of the hexameters, evidently the productions of the Neo-
mother country, and of course greatly influenced Platonic school.
their character. But before this time the Orphic 3. Λιθικά, the best of the three apocryphal
system had been reduced to a definite form by Orphic poems, which treats of properties of stones,
PHERECIDES and ONOMACRITUS, who stand at both precious and common, and their uses in
the head of a series of writers, in whose works divination.
the Orphic theology was embodied ; such as 4. Fragments, chiefly of the Theogony. It is in
Cercops, Brontinus, Orpheus of Camarina, Or- this class that we find the genuine remains, above
pheus of Croton, Arignote, Persinus of Miletus, referred to, of the literature of the early Orphic
Timocles of Syracuse, and Zopyrus of Heracleia or theology, but intermingled with others of a much
Tarentum (Müller, p. 235). Besides these asso- later date. (Eschenbach, Epigenes, de Poesi Orphica
ciations there were also an obscure set of mysta- Commentarius, Norimb. 1702-1704 ; Tiedemann,
gogues derived from them, called Orpheotelests Griechenlands erste Philosophen, Leipz. 1780 ; G.
('OppeoteRectal), " who used to come before the H. Bode, de Orpheo Poetarum Graecorum antiquis-
doors of the rich, and promise to release them from simo, Gott. 1824 ; Lobeck, Aglaophamus ; Bode,
their own sing and those of their forefathers, by Gesch. d. Hell. Dichtkunst, vols. i. ii. ; Ulrici, Gesch.
sacrifices and expiatory songs ; and they produced d. Hollen. Dichtkunst, vols. i. ii. ; Bernhardy, Grun
at this ceremony a heap of books of Orpheus and driss d. Griech. Litt. vol. ii. pp. 266, &c. ; Fabric.
Musaeus, upon which they founded their promises" Bill. Graec. vol. i pp. 110, &c. ; for a further
(Plat. Ion, p. 536, b. ; Müller, p. 235). The list of writers on Orpheus, see Hoffmann, Lexicon
nature of the Orphic theology, and the points of Bibliographicum Scriptorum Gruecorum. )
difference between it and that of Homer and Hesiod, The chief editions of Orpheus, after the early
are fully discussed by Müller (Hist. Lit. Anc. Gr. ones of 1517, 1519, 1540, 1543, 1566, and 1606,
pp. 235—238) and Mr. Grote (vol
. i. pp. 22, &c. ); are those of Eschenbach, Traj. ad Rhen. 1689,
but most fully by Lobeck, in his Aglaophamus. 12mo. ; Gesner and Hamberger, Lips. 1764, 8vo.
Orphic Literature. —We have seen that many and Hermann, Lips. 1805, 8vo. , by far the best.
poems ascribed to Orpheus were current as early There are also small editions, chiefly for the use
as the time of the Peisistratids (ONOMACRITUS), of schools, by Schaefer, Lips. 1818, 12mo. , and in
and that they are often quoted by Plato. The the Tauchnitz Classics, 1824, 16mo. (P. S. )
allusions to them in later writers are very frequent ; ORPHI'DIUS BENIGNUS, a legate of the
for example, Pausanias speaks of hymns of his, emperor Otho, fell in the battle of Bedriacum
which he believed to be still preserved by the against the troops of Vitešlius, A. D. 69. (Tac.
Lycomidae (an Athenian family who seem to bave Hist. ii. 43, 45. )
been the chief priests of the Orphic worship, as the ORPHITUS. (ORFITU'S. )
Eumolpidae were of the Eleusinian), and which, he ORSA'BARIS ('Oposlapus), a daughter of
## p. 63 (#79) ##############################################
ORUS.
63
OTACILIA.
Mithridates the Great, who was taken prisoner by | senting a head of Silenus, in the Museum Worsely-
Pompey, and served to adorn bis triumph, B. c. 61 anum, p. 144.
(P. S. )
(Appian, Mithr. 117). The name Oreobaris occurs ORXINES ('Oplums), a noble and wealthy
Aiso on a coin of the city of Prusias, in Bithynia Persian, who traced his descent from Cyrus. He
which bears the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΜΟΥΣΗΣ was present at the battle of Gaugamela, when,
OPSOBAPIOE ; and this is conjectured by Vis together with Orontobates, he commanded the
conti (Iconogr. Grecque, tom. ii. p. 195) to refer to troops which came from the shores of the Persian
the same person as the one mentioned in Appian, Gulf. Subsequently, during the absence of Aler-
whom he supposes to have been married to Socrates, ander (B. C. 325), on the death of Phrasaortes, the
the usurper set up by Mithridates as king of satrap of Persis, Orxines assumed the government,
Bithynia.
(E. H. B. ] and on the return of Alexander came to meet him
ORSI'LOCHUS ('Opoldoxos). 1. A son of the with costly presents. Alexander does not appear
river god Alpheius and Telegone, and the father to have been incensed at this usurpation, in wbich
of Diocles, at Pherae, in Messenia. (Hom. I. v. indeed Orxines seems to have been actuated by
545, Od. iii. 489, xv. 187, xxi. 15; Paus. iv. 30. loyal intentions towards Alexander. But the
§ 2. )
sepulchre of Cyrus at Pasargndae had been violated
2. A grandson of No. 1, and brother of Crethon, and pillaged, and the enemies of Orxines seem to
together with whom he was slain by Aeneias, at have laid hold of this for the purpose of securing
Troy. (Hom. II. v. 542, &c. ; Paus. iv. i. $ 3. ) his ruin. He was charged with that and other
3. A son of Idomeneus. (Hom. Od. xiii. 259– acts of sacrilege, as well as with having abused his
271. )
(L. S. ) power. Arrian says nothing of the charge being
O'RTALUS, or more properly HOʻRTALÚS, unfounded, but Curtius represents Orxines (or
& cognomen of the Hortensii. . [HORTENSIUS. ] Orsines, as he calls him) as the victim of calumny
ORTHAGORAS ('Opdayópas). 1. Of Thebes, and intrigue. However that may have been, he
mentioned by Socrates in the Protagoras of Plato was crucified by order of Alexander. (Arrian, iji.
(p. 318, c. ), as one of the most celebrated flute 8. $ 8, vi. 29. 83; Curt. iv. 12. & 8, x. 1. SS 22,
players of his day, and by Athenaeus as one of the 29, 37. )
(C. P. M. ]
instructors of Epaminondas in iute-playing. (Ath. OSACES. [ARSACES XIV. , p.
