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Bearded bronze bust of Sabazios with serpents and other small symbolic figures on the chest.
Bronze bust of Sabazios, 2nd century CE, Vatican Museums.Photograph by Jebulon, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. · Source · CC0 1.0. Full image shown.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 48

Sabazios

Σαβαζίου

Orphic tradition · 6 lines · Sabazios

InitiationProtectionFertility

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 the kindly aid of Sabazios, sovereign father who brings Dionysus to the fullness of his divine birth.

Offer this hymn alone as a prayer for Sabazios’s gracious help. It may also accompany a rite of initiation or Dionysian renewal, retaining the petition that he come to the celebrants as a favorable helper.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 48 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. Hear, O father, son of Kronos, Sabazios, glorious divine power,
  2. you who took Bacchus Dionysus, loud-roaring, sewn within,
  3. and stitched him into your thigh, so that he might come perfected
  4. to most sacred Tmolos and to fair-cheeked Hippa.
  5. But, blessed ruler of Phrygia, most kingly of all,
  6. come graciously as a helper to those who celebrate the mysteries.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

6 Greek lines
  1. Κλῦθι, πάτερ, Κρόνου υἱέ, Σαβάζιε, κύδιμε δαῖμον,KLEE-thee, PAH-tehr, KROH-noo ee-EH, sah-VAH-zee-eh, KEE-dhee-meh DHEH-mohn,
  2. ὃς Βάκχον Διόνυσον, ἐρίβρομον, εἰραφιώτην,OHS VAHK-khohn dhee-OH-nee-sohn, eh-REE-vroh-mohn, ee-rah-fee-OH-teen,
  3. μηρῷ ἐγκατέραψας, ὅπως τετελεσμένος ἔλθοιmee-ROH ehn-gah-TEH-rahp-sahs, OH-pohs teh-teh-leh-ZMEH-nohs EHL-thee
  4. Τμῶλον ἐς ἠγάθεον παρὰ θ’ Ἵππαν καλλιπάρῃον.TMOH-lohn ehs ee-GHAH-theh-ohn pah-RAH th’ EE-pahn kah-lee-PAH-ree-ohn.
  5. ἀλλά, μάκαρ, Φρυγίης μεδέων, βασιλεύτατε πάντων,ah-LAH, MAH-kahr, free-YEE-ees meh-DHEH-ohn, vah-see-LEHF-tah-teh PAHN-dohn,
  6. εὐμενέων ἐπαρωγὸς ἐπέλθοις μυστιπόλοισιν.ehv-meh-NEH-ohn eh-pah-roh-GHOHS eh-PEHL-thees mee-stee-POH-lee-seen.
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

Sabazios is invoked as the son of Kronos who carries Dionysus within his thigh. Sacred birth reaches fulfillment on Tmolos beside Hippa. The hymn asks that the same sovereign power assist those celebrating the mysteries.

Ancient offering rubric: Aromatic substances.

Σαβαζίου, θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

Textual note

The printed heading prescribes ἀρώματα, aromatic substances; the digital heading omits it. Eiraphiotes is rendered in its thigh-sewing context.

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 144444; 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.