Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets

257 Pages·2007·1.81 MB·English

by  Fritz Graf

RITUAL TEXTS FOR
THE AFTERLIFE
Fascinating texts written on small gold tablets that were deposited in
graves provide a unique source of information about what some Greeks
and Romans believed regarding the fate that awaited them after death,
and how they could influence it. These texts, dating from the late fifth
century BCE to the second century CE, have been part of the scholarly
debate on ancient afterlife beliefs since the end of the nineteenth century.
Recent finds and analysis of the texts have reshaped our understanding of
their purpose and of the perceived afterlife.
The tablets belonged to those who had been initiated into the mysteries
of Dionysus Bacchius and relied heavily upon myths narrated in poems
ascribed to the mythical singer Orpheus. After providing the Greek text
and a translation of all the available tablets, the authors analyze their role
in the mysteries of Dionysus, and present an outline of the myths con-
cerning the origins of humanity and of the sacred texts that the Greeks
ascribed to Orpheus. Related ancient texts are also appended in English
translations. Providing the first book-l ength edition and discussion of
these enigmatic texts in English, and their first English translation, Ritual
Texts for the Afterlife is essential to the study of ancient Greek religion.
Fritz Graf is Professor of Greek and Latin at The Ohio State University,
where he directs the Epigraphy Section of the Center for Epigraphical and
Palaeographical Studies. His main research interests are the religions and
myths of Greece and Rome.
Sarah Iles Johnston is Professor of Greek and Latin and Director of the
Program in the Study of Religions at The Ohio State University. Her main
research interests are the religions and myths of Greece and Rome.

RITUAL TEXTS FOR
THE AFTERLIFE
Orpheus and the Bacchic
Gold Tablets
Fritz Graf and
Sarah Iles Johnston
Walter Burkert, Fritz Graf, and Sarah Iles Johnston (courtesy Martin L. West).
For Walter Burkert,
teacher and friend
First published 2007
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2007 Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnston
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage
or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ritual texts for the afterlife : Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold
Tablets / Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnston.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Greece – Religion. 2. Future life. 3 Orpheus (Greek mythology)
4. Dionysus (Greek deity)
I. Graf, Fritz. II. Johnston, Sarah Iles, 1957–
BL790.R58 2007
292.8'5 – dc22 2006033828
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0–203–96134–X Mastere-bookISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–31272–8 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–31273–6 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–96134–X (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–41550–7 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–41551–4 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–96134–6 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of illustrations viii
Preface ix
1 The tablets: An edition and translation 1
2 A history of scholarship on the tablets 50
3 The myth of Dionysus 66
4 The eschatology behind the tablets 94
5 Dionysiac mystery cults and the Gold Tablets 137
6 Orpheus, his poetry, and sacred texts 165
Appendix: Additional Bacchic texts
1 The Olbia bone tablets 185
2 Bacchic inscriptions from Olbia 187
3 The Gurôb Papyrus 188
4 The Edict of Ptolemy IV Philopator 189
Notes 191
Bibliography 220
Concordance 234
Subject index 236
Index of ancient texts 240
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
Frontispiece Walter Burkert, Fritz Graf, and Sarah Iles Johnston iv
1 Gold Tablet from Thessaly.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California 51
2 Cavallari’s drawings of the Timpone Grande 53
3 Apulian amphora by the Ganymede Painter.
Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig 63
4 Apulian volute crater by the Darius Painter.
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH 64
5 Ivory pyxis with Dionysiac scenes.
Museo Archeologico Civico di Bologna 153
6 Drawings of the Olbia tablets.
Museum of the Hermitage, St Petersburg 186
Map
Map of find-s pots 2
viii
PREFACE
In the past, scholarship on the so-c alled Orphic Gold Tablets has had a
checkered career. For a short while, at the beginning of the last century,
the tablets were at the center of attention, to the extent that one scholar,
Alexander Olivieri, even produced an edition for academic seminars.
They soon relinquished that position, however, and for many years since
have barely been visible to most scholars of ancient religion: they were
epigraphical curiosities, read only by a few specialists. Günther Zuntz’s
1971 edition of these texts, in the context of his research into the reli-
gion and philosophy of Southern Italy, did not help much. Neither Martin
Nilsson nor Walter Burkert devoted much space to them in their authori-
tative accounts of Greek religion, and only Margherita Guarducci valued
them highly enough to include them in her manual of Greek epigraphy.
A steadily growing number of additions to Zuntz’s small corpus, from
excavations all over the Greek world, has considerably enhanced our
understanding of these texts, however, even if their religious affiliation
has become hazy again in recent years. This body of texts calls for a new,
collective publication and interpretation that make them accessible both
to students of ancient religions and to others who are interested in Greek
beliefs in the afterlife. (Although Pugliese Carratelli has recently produced
several editions and translations into Italian and French, and Bernabé and
Jiménez San Cristóbal have presented the tablets in Spanish, nothing has
been recently produced for the English- language reader.) The present
book attempts to fill this gap. The edition we offer aims to present the texts
in a form that is not too far from their actual appearance; the translation
and the five interpretative chapters will introduce the reader to the beliefs
and rituals that we can see, or more often guess, lay behind these fragile
texts.
This book is a joint undertaking, and it has kept its two authors busy
for several years. We thank each other for elucidation and patience, and
we thank many friends – more than can be mentioned here – for their
ix