Orphics

The aim of this paper is to analyze both sections of Clement of Alexan‐ dria’s Protrepticus (1, 2‐5) and Eusebius of Caesarea’s Laus Constantini (14, 5) in which the Christian authors allude to the figure of Orpheus in light of the so‐called orphic traditions attested in Greco‐Roman culture (including Jew‐ ish and Proto‐Christian groups). The methodological background from which the analysis starts is the concept of «indigenization», a well‐known category debated in contemporary anthropological research. In this article, the author compares the Christian texts under analysis with other Greco‐Roman treat‐ ments of the figure of Orpheus, as well as with archaeological remains rep‐ resenting a male figure (identified with Orpheus by scholars) in the mean‐ while he is tranquilizing beasts with his music. The comparison with such elements appears as really central in this essay: the musical imagery em‐ ployed by Clement and Eusebius emerges as a specific discursive practice in order to carry out a program of indigenization as regards the Christian ideo‐ logical proprium.

About forty years ago Walter Burkert, the great classical scholar, offered new definitions
of Orphism as a craft and of Pythagoreanism as a sect. Soon these two models pushed the traditional concepts applied to Orphics and Pythagoreans, such as ‘religious movement’ and ‘philosophical school’, into the background. This paper considers the origin of these models in the historiography of Greek religion and sociology of religion and explores further how valid they are today, after the unprecedented growth of new evidence on Orphism and a slow shift in views on Pythagoreanism. A theoretical and historical analysis of the two models shows that they are no longer suitable for describing the realia of the two movements, one of which was religious and the other socio-political and intellectual.

PhD Dissertation, defended in August 2015 / This is a study of Orphic literature that does two things: (1) reconstructs the tradition of Orphic theogonies (four poems about the births of the gods: Derveni, Eudemian, Hieronyman, Rhapsodies); and (2) attempts to explain how the Neoplatonists of later antiquity applied allegorical interpretation to Orphic theogonies, specifically the Rhapsodies.

The objective of this research is the study of text excerpts making a reference to the philosophical views on the human body and soul of Homer, the Orphics, Heraclitus, Pythagoras and Socrates as well as a comparison of the differences between them. The results of the study indicate that the Homeric philosophy is not preoccupied by the soul but by the body. The soul is not attributed immortality and divine origin. The physical hypostasis is the most important thing in earthly life. On the contrary, the Orphics and the Pythagoreans despise the human personality, and human care as a total revolves and is concentrated around the human soul – which includes whatever divine there is in man – is immortal, survives after the death of the body and comes back to life by entering other bodies. The human body in Heraclitus represents the outside, the tangible pole of men’s unity. It is the source of relationships and senses, such as hearing, sight, smell, speech and learning. The body guides c...

The aim of this article is to investigate the attitude of Orphics to wine in the times of Early Roman Empire (1st century BC–3rd century AD). The problem is considered from three perspectives: wine and vines as a motif in Orphic mythology, in particular in connection with the story of Dionysus (i.e., his birth and death), whom the Orphics worshipped; wine as a drink (i.e., obligation or prohibition regarding its consumption); and wine in the context of faith Orpheus’ disciples shared in life after death.

In my article I examined rare mentions about Orphics in texts of Christian (i.e. Athenagoras, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Ceasarea, Theophilus of Antioch, Pseudo-Justin) and non-Christian authors (i.e. Diodorus of Sicily, Strabo, Plutarchus). I established that Christian au-thors as well as non-Christian authors in I BC – III AD had the worst possible opinion about Orphics and their practices.

Within the complex dialectic between mother countries and apoikiai, the idea of a precise reproduction in the Greek colonial world of the original cultural patterns has recently been abandoned in favour of a focus on the contributions of the different geopolitical contexts of the Greek Mediterranean world. In line with this position, this paper concentrates on the testimonies of Orphic-Bacchic mystery rituals, which were widespread in the West, in Magna Graecia, and Sicily, as well as in north- ern Greece and the Black Sea, using them as an instrument of research, comparison and in-depth study of the development of the polis and of the relations between the poleis. This perspective lends itself particularly well, if seen in diachrony and in context, to consider the sociality of the polis in its various and multifaceted components: of status (elites, kings, tyrants) and of gender (male/female). The issue of ‘mystery’ religions normally evokes an experience of the periphery of the Greek world, but as discoveries progress, this ‘periphery’ extends more and more: even in this case, the research carried out shows that it is a concept from which it is good to distance yourself.

The aim of the article was to study the lifestyle of Orphics in the Roman period from I BC to III AD. This question was examined in four aspects, i.e. eating habits, dress code, sexual relations and attitude to law. The ancient authors pointed out that eating meat was forbidden to Orphics. The prohibition of anthropophagy was connected with Orpheus at the time. These prohibitions were explained not only by religious but also by health reasons. Orphics were obliged to wear linen clothes (also in a ritual situation). It is impossible to determine exactly how Orphics perceived women, sexual relations and marriage. Orpheus himself presented two different attitudes in this respect. Some sources also indicate that the Orphics respected peace, justice and human and