Skip to hymn content
Sculptural group at Versailles showing Aristaeus binding Proteus beside sea creatures.
Aristaeus and Proteus at Versailles, composition by Sébastien Slodtz, 1688–1723.Photograph: Coyau / Wikimedia Commons (2011); CC BY-SA 3.0. · Source · CC BY-SA 3.0. Full image shown.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 25

Proteus

Πρωτέως

Orphic tradition · 11 lines · Proteus

WisdomCosmic orderProsperity

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

Prayer to Proteus as knower of past, present, and future and revealer of the beginnings of Nature. It seeks holy providence and the good fulfilment of life in works.

Use independently in prayer for insight amid change. It may supplement an established rite concerning wisdom, discernment, or the successful completion of an undertaking, keeping the final petition joined to the hymn's reverence for divine transformation.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 25 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. I invoke Proteus, who holds the keys of the Sea,
  2. firstborn, who revealed the beginnings of all Nature,
  3. transforming holy matter into manifold forms,
  4. honoured by all, rich in counsel, knowing what exists,
  5. all that existed before, and all that shall again exist hereafter;
  6. for he himself, holding all things, changes, and no other
  7. among the Immortals who hold the seat of snowy Olympos,
  8. and the Sea and Earth, and fly aloft through the air.
  9. For primal Nature placed all things within Proteus.
  10. But, Father, come to the servants of the mysteries with holy providence,
  11. sending a good fulfilment of blessed life in their works.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

11 Greek lines
  1. Πρωτέα κικλήσκω, πόντου κληῖδας ἔχοντα,proh-TEH-ah kee-KLEE-skoh, POHN-doo klee-EE-dhahs EH-khohn-dah,
  2. πρωτογενῆ, πάσης φύσεως ἀρχὰς ὃς ἔφηνενproh-toh-yeh-NEE, PAH-sees FEE-seh-ohs ahr-KHAHS OHS EH-fee-nehn
  3. ὕλην ἀλλάσσων ἱερὴν ἰδέαις πολυμόρφοις,EE-leen ah-LAH-sohn ee-eh-REEN ee-DHEH-ehs poh-lee-MOHR-fees,
  4. πάντιμος, πολύβουλος, ἐπιστάμενος τά τ’ ἐόνταPAHN-dee-mohs, poh-LEE-voo-lohs, eh-pee-STAH-meh-nohs TAH t’ eh-OHN-dah
  5. ὅσσα τε πρόσθεν ἔην ὅσα τ’ ἔσσεται ὕστερον αὖτις·OH-sah teh PROHS-thehn EH-een OH-sah t’ EH-seh-teh EE-steh-rohn AHF-tees·
  6. πάντα γὰρ αὐτὸς ἔχων μεταβάλλεται, οὐδέ τις ἄλλοςPAHN-dah GHAHR ahf-TOHS EH-khohn meh-tah-VAH-leh-teh, oo-DHEH tees AH-lohs
  7. ἀθανάτων, οἳ ἔχουσιν ἕδος νιφόεντος Ὀλύμπουah-thah-NAH-tohn, EE EH-khoo-seen EH-dhohs nee-FOH-ehn-dohs oh-LEEM-boo
  8. καὶ πόντον καὶ γαῖαν ἐνηέριοί τε ποτώνται·KEH POHN-dohn KEH YEH-ahn eh-nee-EH-ree-EE teh poh-TOHN-deh·
  9. πάντα γὰρ ἐν Πρωτεῖ πρώτη φύσις ἐγκατέθηκε.PAHN-dah GHAHR ehn proh-TEE PROH-tee FEE-sees ehn-gah-TEH-thee-keh.
  10. ἀλλά, πάτερ, μόλε μυστιπόλοις ὁσίῃσι προνοίαιςah-LAH, PAH-tehr, MOH-leh mee-stee-POH-lees oh-SEE-ee-see proh-NEE-ehs
  11. πέμπων εὐόλβου βιότου τέλος ἐσθλὸν ἐπ’ ἔργοις.PEHM-bohn eh-VOHL-voo vee-OH-too TEH-lohs ehsth-LOHN ehp’ EHR-yees.
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.

SpellingSound to make
ah · eh · ee · oh · oofather · met · see · go without its final glide · moon. Keep these vowels clear in unstressed syllables too.
th · dhThe unvoiced th in thin · the voiced th in this. Thus DHEE begins with the sound in “thee.”
khThe ch in Scottish loch or German Bach: let air pass at the back of the mouth, without closing it into a k.
hyThe 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.”
ghMake the kh sound above, then add voice. Keep the passage open; this is a flowing sound, not a hard g.
y · gy as in yes, with gentle friction · always a hard g as in get.
rTap the tongue lightly behind the upper teeth, or use a light roll.
ks · psSound both consonants, even at the beginning of a word: ks as in backs, ps as in lips.
n-g · m-b · n-dSound 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

Proteus changes sacred matter through many forms while holding all things within himself. The hymn grounds his knowledge of time in primal Nature's placing of all things within him, giving transformation a divine centre.

Ancient offering rubric: Storax.

Textual note

The obvious digital corruption ωιφόεντος in line 7 is corrected to the scan's νιφόεντος, snowy. The assertion that Proteus changes while holding all things is preserved without turning it into an added metaphysical system.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 72. 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 124273; 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.