Orphic Tablets and Hymns

Audience

In the most literal sense, the audience for the Orphic gold tablets comprised the souls of the dead in whose graves the tablets were buried, since these are the only entities ever meant to see them. They were to be read as a reminder that certain things had to be done in the underworld, and these things could be accomplished only with knowledge learned during a ceremony of initiation. Therefore, the tablets contained information that was kept secret within the community of Orphic priests and initiates, and indeed they seem to contain teachings that are unknown in detail to any surviving ancient writers from outside the circle of Orphic cultists.

It is impossible to determine whether the Orphic hymns were also intended for use in private religious ceremonies, or if they were merely literary exercises. Consequently, it is not known if the audience included Orphic worshippers of Dionysus and the other gods addressed in the hymns or the class of educated Greek aristocrats at large. One thing that can be said is that no ancient author mentions the hymns, so the many late antique authors who write about Orpheus and quote Orphic literature likely did not know of them or did not think them important. The Orphic hymns were very popular among Byzantine scholars, however, who had a lively interest in everything related to Orpheus. No fewer than forty copies of the hymns (of which thirty-six still survive) were transported to Italy in the early fifteenth century by Byzantine monks who were fleeing the impending Turkish destruction of Constantinople. In Italy, they found a receptive audience of humanists eager to read any Greek text, especially those related to the famous Orpheus. The hymns are of interest to modern scholars mainly as conveyers of Orphic traditions, offering access to earlier branches of Orphic thought consulted by the author or authors but now no longer in existence.