Concept
Orphism
Overview
Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld (katabasis) and returned. Orphism has been described as a reform of the earlier Dionysian religion, involving a re-interpretation or re-reading of the myth of Dionysus and a re-ordering of Hesiod's Theogony, based in part on pre-Socratic philosophy.
The suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans has been considered the central myth of Orphism. According to this myth, the infant Dionysus is killed, torn apart, and consumed by the Titans. In retribution, Zeus strikes the Titans with a thunderbolt, turning them to ash. From these ashes, humanity is born. According to some conceptions of Orphism, this myth is the basis of the Orphic belief that humanity possesses a dual nature: body (Ancient Greek: σῶμα, romanized: sôma), inherited from the Titans, and a divine spark or soul (Ancient Greek: ψυχή, romanized: psukhḗ), inherited from Dionysus. In order to achieve salvation from the Titanic, material existence, one had to be initiated into the Dionysian mysteries and undergo teletē, a ritual purification and reliving of the suffering and death of the god. The uninitiated (Ancient Greek: ἀμύητος, romanized: amúētos), they believed, would be reincarnated indefinitely.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
The derivation of Aphrodite, born of the foam (aphros), may be fairly accepted on the authority of Hesiod.
Plato, Cratylus
States what Orphism is; the author is tied to Orphism in the knowledge graph.
Ocean and Tethys were the progeny of Heaven and Earth; and from these sprang Phorcys, Kronos, and Rhea, and ever so many more with them;—and from Kronos and Rhea sprang Zeus, Hera (Jupiter, Juno), and all that we know are called their brethren, together with others still who were their progeny.[287] When therefore all such gods as visibly revolve, and show themselves when they please, were generated, the Artificer…
Plato, The works of Plato
States what Orphism is; the author is tied to Orphism in the knowledge graph.
So he passed out of account, but Arsalus and his fellows are called “stern Gods”, and the Lycians publicly [Sidenote: E] and in private make execrations in their names. Many stories like these may be had out of theological collections.’ ‘But if we call certain daemons by the recognized names of Gods,’ the stranger said, ‘it should be no wonder, for to whatever God each has been assigned, to share his power and…
Plutarch, Selected Essays of Plutarch, Vol. II.
States what Orphism is.
Philosophers who discussed Orphism
- Hesiod
- Heraclitus
- Gemistos Plethon
- Anaximenes of Miletus
- Xenophanes
- Pythagoras
- Parmenides
- Thales of Miletus
- Simplicius of Cilicia
- Pherecydes of Syros
- Amos Bronson Alcott
Related ideas
- Afterlife
- Herodotus
- Hesiod
- Ancient Greek
- Damascius
- Soteriology
- Cratylus (dialogue)
- Orpheus
- Plato
- Pythagoras
- Neoplatonism
- Papyrus
- Myth
- Proclus
- Roman Empire
- Pythagoreanism
- Pre-Socratic philosophy
- Theogony
- Aristotle
- Zeus
- Hellenistic period
- Martin Litchfield West
- Philip II of Macedon
- Apollo
Place in the tradition
Part of Anaximenes of Miletus.