Early Orphism and Kindred Religious Movements

Abstract

Orphism is more famous and more debated than any other phenomenon of Greek religion. A central place in the stream of religious ideas is assigned to it, and it is regarded as the source of conceptions of the greatest importance in later times. A vast Orphic literature has existed since early times. Orphism was the first Greek religion to have sacred books, and this is perhaps the ultimate, if unconscious, reason why the scientific treatment of Orphism tends to disclose a system of Orphic doctrines. This is true of Lobeck's masterly work and of the impressive chapter on Orphism in Rohde's Psyche which more than anything determined the views of recent scholars. It is also true of the very ingeniously written and admirably constructed parts of Miss Harrison's Prolegomena which are devoted to Orphism; her treatment is much more copious than Rohde's and she covers a much wider field.