Orphic Hymns · Hymn 47
Dionysus Around the Pillar
Περικιονίου
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
For Dionysus’s stabilizing protection and his joyful presence around the threatened dwelling.
The hymn may stand as a prayer for protection and stability. It may also supplement an existing household or Dionysian rite, recalling the god who upheld the house of Kadmos and asking for his joyous presence.
English hieratic rendering
Hymn 47 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.
- I call upon Bacchus around the pillar, giver of wine,
- who wound himself on every side about the halls of Kadmos
- and held them firmly upright, driving away the tremors of the earth,
- when fire-bearing radiance shook the whole land
- with the rushing of the thunderbolt, and he rose up as the bond of all.
- Come, blessed celebrant of Bacchic rites, with a rejoicing heart.
Ancient Greek & pronunciation
Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.
- Κικλήσκω Βάκχον περικιόνιον, μεθυδώτην,kee-KLEE-skoh VAHK-khohn peh-ree-kee-OH-nee-ohn, meh-thee-DHOH-teen,
- Καδμείοισι δόμοις ὃς ἑλισσόμενος πέρι πάντῃkahdh-MEE-ee-see DHOH-mees OHS eh-lee-SOH-meh-nohs PEH-ree PAHN-dee
- ἔστησε κρατερῶς βρασμοὺς γαίης ἀποπέμψας,EH-stee-seh krah-teh-ROHS vrah-ZMOOS YEH-ees ah-poh-PEHMP-sahs,
- ἡνίκα πυρφόρος αὐγὴ ἐκίνησε χθόνα πᾶσανee-NEE-kah peer-FOH-rohs ahv-YEE eh-KEE-nee-seh KHTHOH-nah PAH-sahn
- πρηστῆρος ῥοίζοις· ὃ δ’ ἀνέδραμε δεσμὸς ἁπάντων.pree-STEE-rohs REE-zees· OH dh’ ah-NEH-dhrah-meh dheh-ZMOHS ah-PAHN-dohn.
- ἐλθέ, μάκαρ, βακχευτά, γεγηθυίαις πραπίδεσσι.ehl-THEH, MAH-kahr, vahk-hyehf-TAH, yeh-yee-THEE-ehs prah-PEE-dheh-see.
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
The god coils around the house as a living bond that withstands the shaking of the earth. The fiery violence of the scene makes his holding power vivid. His gift of wine and his protecting presence meet in the final invitation to come with a joyful heart.
Ancient offering rubric: Aromatic substances.
Text and attribution
Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 83. 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 124353; 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.