Orphic Tablets and Hymns

Questions for Further Study

1. What impact did urbanization in ancient Greece have on the preservation of the hymns to Orpheus?

2. Ancient Greece was characterized by a split between “official” and “unofficial” sets of religious beliefs. What interest did the state have in sanctioning official religion, and why did some citizens of Greece maintain their more traditional, unofficial religious beliefs?

3. In the modern world, numerous people lay claim to being able to function much like the shamans of ancient Greece; that is, they claim to be able to have contact with the nonmaterial world and to practice various forms of magic. To what extent does the belief system of these modern “shamans” stretch back to ancient Greece? Do you believe, as Plato probably would have, that this type of religion is superstitious and that its practitioners are charlatans?

4. What do the contents of the Orphic tablets have in common with ancient Egyptian burial practices, as reflected in the “Great Hymn to the Aten” and the Egyptian Book of the Dead? What do the similarities and differences tell you about ancient attitudes to death and the afterlife?

5. What connection, if any, exists between the cult of Orpheus and Christianity? Do you think the cult might have influenced the development of early Christianity?