#Orphisme

[bal-bullier]

Sonia Delaunay

Solar Prism (1914)

[the-cricket-chirps]

Sonia Delaunay

Compositions, Couleurs, Idées, 36 plates

1930

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Petelia Tablet, Greek, c.300-200 BCE: this totenpass (a "passport for the dead") was meant to be buried in a human grave; it bears an inscription that tells the dead person exactly where to go and what to say after crossing into the Greek Underworld

Made from a sheet of gold foil, this tablet measures just 4.5cm (a little over 1.5 inches) in length, and although it was found inside a pendant case in Petelia, Italy, it's believed to have originated in ancient Greece. It was meant to aid the dead in their journey through the Underworld -- providing them with specific instructions, conferring special privileges, and granting them access to the most coveted realms within the afterlife.

The Petelia tablet, displayed with the pendant case in which it was discovered

The tablet itself dates back to about 300-200 BCE, while the pendant case/chain that accompanies it was likely made about 400 years later, during the Roman era. It's believed that the tablet was originally buried with the dead, and that an unknown individual later removed it from the burial site and stuffed it into the pendant case. Unfortunately, in order to make it fit, they simply rolled it up and then snipped off the tip of the tablet. The final lines of the inscription were destroyed in the process.

The inverse side of the Petelia tablet

These textual amulets/lamellae are often referred to as totenpässe ("passports for the dead"). They were used as roadmaps to help guide the dead through the Underworld, but they also served as indicators of the elite/divine status of certain individuals, ultimately providing them with the means to obtain an elevated position in the afterlife.

The Petelia tablet is incised with an inscription in ancient Greek, and the translated inscription reads:

You will find a spring on your left in Hades’ halls, and by it the cypress with its luminous sheen.

Do not go near this spring or drink its water. You will find another, cold water flowing from Memory’s lake; its guardians stand before it.

Say: "I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but descended from Heaven; you yourselves know this. I am parched with thirst and dying: quickly, give me the cool water flowing from Memory’s lake."

And they will give you water from the sacred spring, and then you will join the heroes at their rites.

This is [the ... of memory]: [on the point of death] ... write this ... the darkness folding [you] within it.

The final section was damaged when the tablet was shoved into the pendant case; sadly, that part of the inscription does not appear on any of the other totenpässe that are known to exist, so the meaning of those lines remains a mystery (no pun intended).

Lamellae that are inscribed with this motif are very rare. They're known as "Orphic lamellae" or simply "Orphic tablets." As the name suggests, these inscriptions are traditionally attributed to an Orphic-Bacchic mystery cult.

The inscriptions vary, but they generally contain similar references to a cypress tree, one spring that must be avoided, another spring known as the "Lake of Memory," the sensation of thirst, and a conversation with a guardian (or another entity within the Underworld, such as the goddess Persephone) in which the dead must present themselves as initiates or divine individuals in order to be granted permission to drink from the Lake of Memory. They are thereby able to obtain privileges that are reserved only for the elite.

Though the specifics of this reward are often vague, it may have been viewed as a way to gain access to the Elysian Fields (the ancient Greek version of paradise) or as a way to participate in sacred rites; some totenpässe suggest that it may have allowed the soul to break free from the eternal cycle of reincarnation. Regardless, the overall objective was likely the same: to obtain a special status and acquire privileges that were inaccessible to most of the souls in the Underworld.

Sources & More Info:

Altlas Obscura: The Ancient Greeks Created Golden Passports to Paradise

The Museum of Cycladic Art: The Bacchic-Orphic Underworld

Bryn Mawr College: Festivals in the Afterlife: a new reading of the Petelia tablet

The Getty Museum: Underworld (imagining the afterlife)

The British Museum: Petelia tablet (with pendant case; chain)

[lionofchaeronea]

Polychrome terracotta sculpture of the god Dionysos, holding an egg and a rooster. The unusual attributes may hint at a connection to Orphism, which held that the first deity, Phanes or Protogonos ("First-Born"), was hatched from a cosmic egg. Adherents of Orphism saw humankind as the descendants of Dionysos (under the name "Zagreus"), created when the Titans devoured the young Zagreus and were then struck by Zeus' thunderbolt. Artist unknown; created in Tanagra, Boeotia (an important center of terracotta production) ca. 350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.

[a-gnosis]

What is your favorite obscure Greek mythological fact

Hm, probably the Orphic fragment that says that Persephone was born with a monstrous appearance (fragment 87 according to Athanassakis, fragment 58 in the translation of Otto Kern’s compilation of fragments at HellenicGods.org):

…"of the daughter of Zeus, whom he begat of his mother Rhea; or of Demeter, as having two eyes in the natural order, and two in her forehead, and the face of an animal on the back part of her neck, and as having also horns, so that Rhea, frightened at her monster of a child, fled from her, and did not give her the breast (θηλη), whence mystically she is called Athêlâ, but commonly Phersephoné and Koré"…

It's so totally different from all other versions that only describe her as very beautiful (as goddesses tend to be). Sometimes I regret that I didn't give my Persephone horns.

[theoihalioistuff]

Orphic Persephone

"The daughter of Zeus, born of his mother Rhea who is also named Demeter, has two eyes in their natural place and two others in her forehead. In addition, she has the face of an animal on the back part of her neck, and horns as well. Hence Rhea, terrified at such a monster for a child, fled from her and withheld her breast [θηλη]. For this reason she is mystically called Athela [Ἀθηλᾶ] though more usually Persephone and Kore." ~ Athenagoras, Pro Christ. 20.2 (OF 82 II, 88 B = Orphic Fragment 58 Otto Kern)

~ full view for hd

I literally haven't drawn in over a year, but of course exam season is a good time to pick it up again. It's really inspired by @eleeza artwork, and though the veil makes no fucking sense (I didn't like the shape it made when it draped over the horns) I'm ultimately quite happy with it.

[sawbeaver]

From Hermes to Virgin Mary

*Mixed Dionysus myth from the Orphism.

[noctilionoidea]

hey. You ever think about how Dionysos prays to Melqart in the Dionysiaca. You know. The patron god of Tyre. And Dionysos is the grandson of Cadmus. A prince of Tyre. Whose of argive decent but whose family had been ruling Tyre for a while at the time of Europa’s kidnapping.

He’s praying to his ancestors’ god.

I may be overthinking it but whatever

[bal-bullier]

Sonia Delaunay

Discs (1968)

[theantonian]

My humble altar with offerings of fruits, leaves, water, coconut milk, honey, incense and candles to Lord Dionysos, Lord Marcus Antonius the Hero and Lady Cleopatra ♥️ This is from my annual worship and prayers on the occasion of my God's apotheosis, kalends of August.

Hail Lord Dionysos Zagreus!

Hail Lord Marcus Antonius the Hero and the Savior God!

Hail Lady Cleopatra Isis-Aphrodite!

May They give Their divine blessings to everyone!

[prosymnusfaunus]

My Dionysus/Bacchus statuette finally arrived (so pretty!). It's a replica of the 1496 marble sculpture by Michelangelo. Now to set it up on my shrine 🍇

[lostpeace]

My take on the Olympians.

Clockwise from the top center: Zeus, Athena, Mithra (Apollo), Hephaestus, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Ares, Anahita (Artemis), Hermes.

At center: Dionysus and Persephone.

Not pictured: Aphrodite (it's complicated...).

[deathlessathanasia]

"Thus, in Orpheus, Demeter says as she hands over the kingdom to Kore: 'But mounting to the flourishing (θαλερὸν) bed of Apollo, you shall bear glorious children, with faces of blazing fire.'" (Proclus' commentary on Plato’s Cratylus, 404e)

[katesattic]

Me reading about Orphism: OK, so if this cosmic egg is what birthed the first god, where did the serpent wrapped around the orphic egg come from?

*thinking of Roman’s Norse Mythology post*: this is the cow thing all over again!

[jacks0nworld-blog]

Le Gitan (The Gypsy)

Robert Delaunay, 1915

Museo Nacional Reina Sofia

[the-cricket-chirps]

Robert Delaunay, Eiffel Tower, 1911