Orphic Hymns · Hymn 20
Zeus of the Lightning
Διὸς Ἀστραπίου
Prayer and ritual
These hymns may be spoken as complete prayers to the Gods. Within the Temple’s practice, a ritual is a direct theurgical act; hymnody gathers the mind and turns it toward the Divine, helping the initiate enter reverent communion with the Gods.
Use a hymn on its own in place of another prayer, or add it to the prayer portion of a suitable ritual. Choose according to the deity addressed and the petition expressed in the hymn. When combining them, preserve the ritual’s prescribed sequence and let the hymn give voice to its purpose.
The petition of this hymn
A brief prayer to the manifest power of Zeus in lightning. It asks the greatest King to grant a sweet fulfilment of life in kindness.
Recite alone as a concise act of reverence and petition to Zeus. It may supplement an established rite to Zeus where a short invocation of his celestial sovereignty accords with the rite's purpose.
English hieratic rendering
Hymn 20 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.
- I invoke the great, the holy, the loudly resounding, the manifest,
- of the air, flaming, thundering in fire, illumining the air,
- flashing radiance with the crashing voice of the clouds,
- dread, mighty in wrath, unconquerable, holy God,
- Zeus of the Lightning, begetter of all, greatest King,
- to bring in kindness a sweet fulfilment of life.
Ancient Greek & pronunciation
Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.
- Κικλήσκω μέγαν, ἁγνόν, ἐρισμάραγον, περίφαντον,kee-KLEE-skoh MEH-ghahn, ahgh-NOHN, eh-ree-ZMAH-rah-ghohn, peh-REE-fahn-dohn,
- ἠέριον, φλογόεντα, πυρίβρομον, ἠεροφεγγῆ,ee-EH-ree-ohn, floh-GHOH-ehn-dah, pee-REE-vroh-mohn, ee-eh-roh-fehn-GEE,
- ἀστράπτοντα σέλας νεφέων παταγοδρόμῳ αὐδῇ,ah-STRAHP-tohn-dah SEH-lahs neh-FEH-ohn pah-tah-ghoh-DHROH-moh ahv-DHEE,
- φρικώδη, βαρύμηνιν, ἀνίκητον θεὸν ἁγνόν,free-KOH-dhee, vah-REE-mee-neen, ah-NEE-kee-tohn theh-OHN ahgh-NOHN,
- ἀστράπιον Δία, παγγενέτην, βασιλῆα μέγιστον,ah-STRAH-pee-ohn DHEE-ah, pahn-geh-NEH-teen, vah-see-LEE-ah MEH-yee-stohn,
- εὐμενέοντα φέρειν γλυκερὴν βιότοιο τελευτήν.ehv-meh-NEH-ohn-dah FEH-reen ghlee-keh-REEN vee-OH-tee-oh teh-lehf-TEEN.
Short sound guide for English speakers
Every line beneath the Greek uses English pronunciation spellings. Say each hyphenated syllable in sequence and emphasize the syllable in CAPITALS. For example, οὐρανόθεν is oo-rah-NOH-thehn. Read adjacent vowels separately: theh-AH has two syllables; oo-rah-NEE-een has four. Hyphens guide the voice; they do not mark pauses.
| Spelling | Sound to make |
|---|---|
| ah · eh · ee · oh · oo | father · met · see · go without its final glide · moon. Keep these vowels clear in unstressed syllables too. |
| th · dh | The unvoiced th in thin · the voiced th in this. Thus DHEE begins with the sound in “thee.” |
| kh | The ch in Scottish loch or German Bach: let air pass at the back of the mouth, without closing it into a k. |
| hy | The breathy beginning of a carefully spoken Hugh. Raise the middle of the tongue toward the roof of the mouth and let air pass without voice. In shy, sound s followed by hy; do not use the English sh sound or the English word “shy.” |
| gh | Make the kh sound above, then add voice. Keep the passage open; this is a flowing sound, not a hard g. |
| y · g | y as in yes, with gentle friction · always a hard g as in get. |
| r | Tap the tongue lightly behind the upper teeth, or use a light roll. |
| ks · ps | Sound both consonants, even at the beginning of a word: ks as in backs, ps as in lips. |
| n-g · m-b · n-d | Sound the nasal and the following consonant. In AHN-geh-leh, the n-g group is like finger, with the g audible. |
Always sound s as in hiss, even at the end of DHEE-kees; z is voiced, as in zero. All other consonants have their usual English sounds. Initial consonant groups may be unfamiliar: sound every written consonant, without inserting an extra vowel. A word without capitals carries no written stress in the Greek. Where two syllables have capitals, both written accents are retained. An apostrophe marks a vowel already elided in the Greek; do not add it back. A hyphen at the end of a Greek verse joins the unfinished word to the next verse.
These spellings follow the Modern Greek liturgical reading used throughout this library. Breathings and iota subscripts are silent; separately pronounced vowels remain separate. The few Greek consonants without an exact English equivalent use the sound cues above. Ancient vowel length, pitch accent and metre are not reconstructed.
Hymn notes
Sacred meaning
Radiance, thunder, dread, and unconquerable holiness gather into the name of Zeus the universal begetter. The final request seeks benevolence from the very power whose overwhelming manifestation the hymn has praised.
Ancient offering rubric: Frankincense manna or granules.
Textual note
Line 2 follows Abel's πυρίβρομον, thundering in fire, rather than πυρίδρομον, running in fire. The compact final petition is not expanded into additional promises or instructions.
Text and attribution
Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 70. The text follows the printed main reading of this edition; source-specific variants are recorded where relevant. Read the digitised edition. Greek source. Wikisource transcription, revision 124166; checked and corrected against Abel’s print. The English hieratic rendering and suggested devotional use are new editorial work. The applications are guidance for this library, not additional lines of the ancient poem.