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Orpheus (Western Tradition: Classics and Interpretations)

Translation And Annotation By Wu Yaling

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Like Homer and Hesiod, Orpheus was a poet who could compose songs. Because no works have survived, his reputation is not as good as that of Homer and Hesiod. In the fifteenth century, European classical scholars unearthed and compiled 88 Orphic hymns from historical documents that had been lost, becoming the only relatively systematic original document of Orphic poetry, which is extremely precious. These prayer songs appeared around the second to third centuries AD and were dedicated to different ancient Greek gods. From these prayer songs, we can see a large family of gods that the ancient Greeks worshiped together. Most of these gods are also found in the works of Homer and Hesiod. Readers may benefit more from comparing them with Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, and Plato.