Orphic Hymns · Hymn 74
Leucothea
Λευκοθέας
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 deliverance at sea and a favourable wind for those who voyage.
Recite the hymn as a prayer for travellers by sea or in thanksgiving after a voyage. It may supplement an existing protective ritual for a ship and its company, with the concluding petition offered for those who sail.
English hieratic rendering
Hymn 74 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.
- I call Leucothea, daughter of Cadmus, revered divine Spirit,
- mighty one, nurse of Dionysus of the beautiful garland.
- Hear, O Goddess, ruling the deep-bosomed sea,
- delighting in its waves, greatest Saviour of mortals.
- For in you lies the unsteady rush of ships that traverse the open sea;
- you alone release mortals from a pitiful fate upon the waters,
- those to whom, bestirring yourself, you come as a loving Saviour.
- But, sovereign Goddess, come as our helper,
- bringing salvation to the well-benched ships with gracious counsel,
- leading for the initiates a ship-bearing wind upon the sea.
Ancient Greek & pronunciation
Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.
- Λευκοθέην καλέω Καδμηίδα, δαίμονα σεμνήν,lehf-koh-THEH-een kah-LEH-oh kahdh-mee-EE-dhah, DHEH-moh-nah sehm-NEEN,
- εὐδύνατον, θρέπτειραν εὐστεφάνου Διονύσου.ehv-DHEE-nah-tohn, THREHP-tee-rahn ehf-steh-FAH-noo dhee-oh-NEE-soo.
- κλῦθι, θεά, πόντοιο βαθυστέρνου μεδέουσα,KLEE-thee, theh-AH, POHN-dee-oh vah-thee-STEHR-noo meh-DHEH-oo-sah,
- κύμασι τερπομένη, θνητῶν σώτειρα μεγίστη·KEE-mah-see tehr-poh-MEH-nee, thnee-TOHN SOH-tee-rah meh-YEE-stee·
- ἐν σοὶ γὰρ νηῶν πελαγοδρόμος ἄστατος ὁρμή,ehn SEE GHAHR nee-OHN peh-lah-ghoh-DHROH-mohs AH-stah-tohs ohr-MEE,
- μούνη δὲ θνητῶν οἰκτρὸν μόρον εἰν ἁλὶ λύεις,MOO-nee DHEH thnee-TOHN eek-TROHN MOH-rohn een ah-LEE LEE-ees,
- οἷς ἂν ἐφορμαίνουσα φίλη σωτήριος ἔλθῃς.EES AHN eh-fohr-MEH-noo-sah FEE-lee soh-TEE-ree-ohs EHL-thees.
- ἀλλά, θεὰ δέσποινα, μόλοις ἐπαρωγὸς ἐοῦσαah-LAH, theh-AH DHEH-spee-nah, MOH-lees eh-pah-roh-GHOHS eh-OO-sah
- νηυσὶν ἐπ’ εὐσέλμοις σωτήριος εὔφρονι βουλῇ,neef-SEEN ehp’ ehf-SEHL-mees soh-TEE-ree-ohs EH-froh-nee voo-LEE,
- μύσταις ἐν πόντῳ ναυσίδρομον οὖρον ἄγουσα.MEE-stehs ehn POHN-doh nahf-SEE-dhroh-mohn OO-rohn AH-ghoo-sah.
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
Leucothea is remembered as the daughter of Cadmus and nurse of Dionysus before she is invoked as sovereign over the deep sea. The instability of a ship upon the waters is placed within her power to save. The prayer moves from the ending of a grievous sea-fate to the positive gift of a wind that carries the voyage onward.
Ancient offering rubric: Aromatic incense.
Textual note
At line 2, εὐστεφάνου follows the breathing placement in Abel’s printed main text.
Text and attribution
Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 96, 97. 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 124482; 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.