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The child Bacchus drinks from a vessel while adults and other children gather around his nurses.
Nicolas Poussin, The Nurture of Bacchus, c. 1626: related imagery for Hippa’s nursing of Dionysus.Nicolas Poussin; Louvre Museum, INV 7295. Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. · Source · Public domain. Full image shown.Hippa is invoked as the nurse of Bacchus; this scene evokes his divine nurture.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 49

Hippa

Ἵππας

Orphic tradition · 7 lines · Hippa

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 joyful presence of Hippa, nurse of Bacchus and Mother of the sacred mysteries.

Recite the hymn alone as a prayer to Hippa for nurturing divine care. It may also supplement a Dionysian initiation or a rite honoring the Mother, following its request that she attend the sacred celebration with joy.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 49 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. I call upon Hippa, nurse of Bacchus, maiden of the sacred cry,
  2. celebrant of mysteries, rejoicing in the rites of pure Sabos
  3. and in the nocturnal dances of loud-thundering Iacchos.
  4. Hear me praying, earthly Mother, queen,
  5. whether in Phrygia you possess the sacred mountain of Ida,
  6. or Tmolos delights you, a fair seat for the Lydians:
  7. come to the rites, rejoicing with your sacred countenance.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

7 Greek lines
  1. Ἵππαν κικλήσκω, Βάκχου τροφόν, εὐάδα κούρην,EE-pahn kee-KLEE-skoh, VAHK-khoo troh-FOHN, eh-VAH-dhah KOO-reen,
  2. μυστιπόλον, τελετῇσιν ἀγαλλομένην Σάβου ἁγνοῦmee-stee-POH-lohn, teh-leh-TEE-seen ah-ghah-loh-MEH-neen SAH-voo ahgh-NOO
  3. νυκτερίοις τε χοροῖσιν ἐριβρεμέταο Ἰάκχου.neek-teh-REE-ees teh khoh-REE-seen eh-ree-vreh-MEH-tah-oh ee-AHK-khoo.
  4. κλῦθί μευ εὐχομένου, χθονίη μήτερ, βασίλεια,KLEE-THEE mehv ehf-khoh-MEH-noo, khthoh-NEE-ee MEE-tehr, vah-SEE-lee-ah,
  5. εἴτε σύ γ’ ἐν Φρυγίῃ κατέχεις Ἴδης ὄρος ἁγνὸνEE-teh SEE gh’ ehn free-YEE-ee kah-TEH-hyees EE-dhees OH-rohs ahgh-NOHN
  6. ἢ Τμῶλος τέρπει σε, καλὸν Λυδοῖσι θόασμα·EE TMOH-lohs TEHR-pee seh, kah-LOHN lee-DHEE-see THOH-ah-zmah·
  7. ἔρχεο πρὸς τελετὰς ἱερῷ γήθουσα προσώπῳ.EHR-hyeh-oh PROHS teh-leh-TAHS ee-eh-ROH YEE-thoo-sah proh-SOH-poh.
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

Hippa’s nursing power is joined to the nocturnal dances and mysteries of Sabos and Iacchos. Her mountain dwellings in Phrygia and Lydia situate the same maternal presence in several sacred places. The prayer invites her sacred countenance to shine upon the rite.

Ancient offering rubric: Storax.

Textual note

Sabos and Iacchos are retained as the divine names in the hymn.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 84. 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 124376; 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.