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Two winged allegorical figures pursue a fleeing man above a fallen victim.
Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime. Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, c. 1805–1808.Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, J. Paul Getty Museum. Photograph by Wmpearl, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Source · CC0. Detail shown.The personification of Justice provides related imagery for Dike.

Orphic Hymns · Hymn 62

Dike, Divine Justice

Δίκης

Orphic tradition · 11 lines · Dike

JusticeCosmic order

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 restoration of fairness and the divine correction of injustice.

Pray this hymn on its own for a just mind and conduct throughout life. It may be joined to a ritual petition for justice, especially where unequal treatment or schemes of unjust gain require correction.

English hieratic rendering

Hymn 62 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.

  1. I sing the eye of all-seeing Dike, radiant in form,
  2. who sits upon the sacred throne of Zeus the Lord,
  3. looking down from heaven upon the life of mortals in their many peoples,
  4. a just avenger, bearing down upon the unjust,
  5. through equality bringing unlike things together in truth.
  6. For all those tangled matters borne among mortals by evil purposes,
  7. by those who seek the greater share through unjust schemes,
  8. you alone confront, awakening judgment against the unjust.
  9. An enemy to the unjust, you dwell kindly beside the righteous.
  10. But come, O Goddess, just in your presence with our good intentions,
  11. that thus we may continue until life's appointed day draws near.

Ancient Greek & pronunciation

Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.

11 Greek lines
  1. Ὄμμα Δίκης μέλπω πανδερκέος, ἀγλαομόρφου,OH-mah DHEE-kees MEHL-poh pahn-dhehr-KEH-ohs, ah-ghlah-oh-MOHR-foo,
  2. ἣ καὶ Ζηνὸς ἄνακτος ἐπὶ θρόνον ἱερὸν ἵζειEE KEH zee-NOHS AH-nahk-tohs eh-PEE THROH-nohn ee-eh-ROHN EE-zee
  3. οὐρανόθεν καθορῶσα βίον θνητῶν πολυφύλων,oo-rah-NOH-thehn kah-thoh-ROH-sah VEE-ohn thnee-TOHN poh-lee-FEE-lohn,
  4. τοῖς ἀδίκοις τιμωρὸς ἐπιβρίθουσα δικαίη,TEES ah-DHEE-kees tee-moh-ROHS eh-pee-VREE-thoo-sah dhee-KEH-ee,
  5. ἐξ ἰσότητος ἀληθείῃ συνάγουσ’ ἀνόμοια·ehks ee-SOH-tee-tohs ah-lee-THEE-ee see-NAH-ghoos’ ah-NOH-mee-ah·
  6. πάντα γάρ, ὅσσα κακαῖς γνώμαις θνητοῖσιν ὀχεῖταιPAHN-dah GHAHR, OH-sah kah-KEHS GHNOH-mehs thnee-TEE-seen oh-HYEE-teh
  7. δύσκριτα, βουλομένοις τὸ πλέον βουλαῖς ἀδίκοισι,DHEE-skree-tah, voo-loh-MEH-nees TOH PLEH-ohn voo-LEHS ah-DHEE-kee-see,
  8. μούνη ἐπεμβαίνουσα δίκην ἀδίκοις ἐπεγείρεις·MOO-nee eh-pehm-VEH-noo-sah DHEE-keen ah-DHEE-kees eh-peh-YEE-rees·
  9. ἐχθρὴ τῶν ἀδίκων, εὔφρων δὲ σύνεσσι δικαίοις.ehkh-THREE TOHN ah-DHEE-kohn, EH-frohn DHEH SEE-neh-see dhee-KEH-ees.
  10. ἀλλά, θεά, μόλ’ ἔπι γνώμαις ἐσθλῇσι δικαίη,ah-LAH, theh-AH, MOHL’ EH-pee GHNOH-mehs ehsth-LEE-see dhee-KEH-ee,
  11. ὡς ἂν ἀεὶ βιοτῆς τὸ πεπρωμένον ἦμαρ ἐπέλθῃ.ohs AHN ah-EE vee-oh-TEES TOH peh-proh-MEH-nohn EE-mahr eh-PEHL-thee.
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

Dike is enthroned with Zeus and beholds human life from above. Her work brings unequal things into relation through equality and truth, and confronts the desire to seize more than is right. The prayer seeks her presence in good intentions until the appointed day of life is fulfilled.

Ancient offering rubric: Frankincense.

Text and attribution

Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 91. 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 124440; 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.