Table Of ContentOrpheus in Macedonia
i
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ii
Orpheus in Macedonia
Myth, Cult and Ideology
Tomasz Mojsik
translated by Grzegorz Kulesza
iii
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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First published in Great Britain 2023
Copyright © Tomasz Mojsik, 2023
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1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
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iv
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgement viii
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Orpheus and the Mythical Tradition 11
Orpheus as a mythical hero 13
Orpheus and mythical tradition: Sources 14
Stories, variants, local contexts 21
2 Orpheus, Oeagrus and Th racians in Early Testimonies 29
Early iconography 29
Orpheus on stage 33
Fourth century and beyond 34
Oeagrus 35
Why Th race? Contexts and explanations 37
3 Leibethra, Pimpleia and Mythical Geography 43
Leibethra and Pimpleia: What do we know? 47
Leibethra and Pimpleia: Changes in mythical geography 49
Contexts and explanations 56
Leibethra, Pimpleia and Th racia 61
Orpheus and Th racian tribes 63
Summary, Nysa and scholiasts 67
4 Th racians, Pieria and Music 69
Strabo I: Leibethra and Boeotia 70
Strabo II: Ephorus, Leibethra and Th racians 73
Th ucydides 2,99: Pieres are not Pierians 77
Th racians and mousik ē 85
Conclusions 88
v
vi Contents
5 Orpheus in Pieria 89
Birth, life and music in Pieria 90
Orpheus’ death in Pieria 94
Th e proverb about Leibethrians 98
Genealogies of Orpheus: Pierus and Methone 100
Pierian toponyms and the Muses 104
Conclusions 107
6 Orpheus’ Tomb in Pieria 109
Lesbos and Kitharodia 110
Pieria: Tomb, statues and cult 114
Contexts 123
Summary 132
Coda: Th e two graves of Saint Adalbert 134
7 Mousik ē , Identity and Ideology 135
Orpheus and the Pierian tradition: A recapitulation 136
Macedon: M ousik ē and Orphics 138
Macedon in context: Identity and ideology 146
Epilogue: Orpheuses, not Orpheus 151
Notes 155
Bibliography 179
Index 199
Illustrations
Figures
1 Orpheus playing lyra and singing, between two standing Th racians xiv
2 Orpheus’ death xiv
3 Orpheus amongst the Th racians xv
4 Orpheus’ head xv
Maps
1 Map of the Greek world and Th racian tribes xiii
2 Map of the Macedonian Kingdom xiii
vii
Preface and Acknowledgement
Th is book was originally published in Polish in 2019 under the title O rfeusz
mi ę dzy Tracj ą a Pieri ą. Mit, kult i toż s amo ś ć macedo ń ska (‘Orpheus between
Pieria and Th race: Myth, Cult, and Macedonian Identity’). In 2021, having read
Polish reviews and remarks from the reviewers at Bloomsbury, I took the
diffi cult decision of rearranging the contents and sequence of chapters,
resulting in a major overhaul. For this reason, about 85 per cent of the book
has been rewritten on its way to the fi nal version. Th is took twice as long as
creating the original text, but I am hoping it was worth it. Certainly, if the
option existed, I would still be looking for the optimal arrangement of the
material and writing the book for another ten years, or perhaps more.
I was aided in formulating some of the conclusions by my parallel work on
translating Apollodorus’ L ibrary . In preparing that text, the commentary, and
especially the introduction about Ancient mythography, I could rethink
Ancient mythical tradition and examine it as part of a bigger picture. Naturally,
the choice of Orpheus as the main subject of the work was related to his
musical skill and his being the son of a Muse. Moreover, in recent years, I have
been intensively researching the literary careers of places connected to the
divine keepers of poetic inspiration. What we might call the ‘landscape of the
Muses’ deserves a book of its own, which I am hoping to see soon. Th e sources
of fascination with Pierian toponyms must, however, be seen elsewhere. Its
origins should be linked to the diffi cult passage in the longest surviving
poem of Poseidippus (118 A–B) and the interpretation of the enigmatic phrase
‘Pi(m)pleian Th ebes’. It is the reading of that phrase that directed me to
Macedon, its mythical tradition, and to its royal propaganda, as well as the role
of toponyms in historical and literary analyses.
Some of the conclusions featured in the book were also presented at various
gatherings over the past few years, especially at a conference in Montpellier
(‘Devenir un dieu, devenir un h é ros en Gr èc e ancienne’) and during scholarly
meetings in Warsaw, Cracow and Pozna ń . Th e early proposed interpretations
were presented in 2020 in an article in M ythos. Rivista di Storia delle Religioni ,
viii
Preface and Acknowledgement ix
in the aft ermath of the Montpellier conference. One of the important
interpretative concepts appeared to me during a train ride to Pozna ń , where I
was supposed to speak about Poseidippus and ‘Pimpleian Th ebes’. Instead, I
spent the entire journey thinking about Lycophron and his riddle about the
nymphs of Bephyros (A lex . 274–6). It appears the Muses have adjusted to the
rapid world we live in and provide inspiration even in the trains of the Polish
State Railways. As for the geographical aspects of the myth of Orpheus, I
presented them at a geography and cartography conference in Supra ś l, which
resulted in the inclusion of prototype theory in the new version of the book.
Th is book would not have been written without the support of many people
and help in accessing latest publications. I owe much to discussions at
conferences, seminars and over e-mail, which allowed me to rethink and better
describe the interpretations of numerous testimonies cited in the book. Special
thanks go to Bart ł omiej Bednarek, Robert Cowan, Barbara Graziosi, Mathias
Haake, Alex Hardie, Greta Hawes, Flore Kimmel-Clauzet, Jan Kwapisz, Pauline
LeVen, Karol Ł opatecki, Federicomaria Muccioli, Francis Pownall, Sławomir
Sprawski, Susan A. Stephens, Miko ł aj Szyma ń ski and El ż bieta Weso ł owska. I
would like to thank the Polish reviewers of the book, Marek W ę cowski,
S ł awomir Sprawski and Krzysztof Nawotka, and the anonymous review staff of
Bloomsbury, for their remarks upon the text. However, the key role in the
critical assessment of the entire text and its numerous revisions belongs to
Bogdan Burliga, whom I would hereby like to off er heartfelt thanks for his
time, patience and friendship. Any mistakes that remain are, of course, solely
my own.
Th is book would also never have happened without the support from the
University of Bia ł ystok, especially its kind Rector Robert Ciborowski, and Dean
Joanna Sadowska. Separate thanks go to my friends and colleagues from the
Chair of History of Demographic, Economic, and Religious Structures: Cezary
Kuklo, Marzena Liedke, Radek Poniat, and especially Piotr Guzowski, who
knows how to motivate me not just on the football pitch, but also in writing.
Finally, some technical remarks. It was impossible to maintain complete
consistency in proper names, and so I am following the established custom:
place names are given in commonly accepted English transcription, if one
exists, and in a Hellenised form if one does not. In both situations, this serves to
prioritise the comfort of the reader. Ancient sources (names of authors and
