Complete

Gold Leaves

Transcriptions of sixteen

Ancient Greek Gold Lamellae

compiled with English translations by

Edward Jenner

Percutio

publications

Complete Gold Leaves

Edward Jenner © 2015

Editorial: William Direen/Percutio

isbn : 978-0-473-34651-5

Legal Deposit : New Zealand, January, 2016

All rights reserved

Download address mobi and pdf:

http://alpha.books.free.fr/CompleteGoldLeaves

Printed version also available

Citation guideline:

Jenner, E. Complete Gold Leaves, mobi, 2016.

http://alpha.books.online.fr/CompleteGoldLeaves/ (date retrieved)

Also by Edward Jenner

The Gold Leaves (being an account and translation

from the Ancient Greek of the so-called ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets). Atuanui. 2014

The Love Songs of Ibykos: 22 fragments. Holloway Press. Auckland. 1997

A Memorial Brass. Hawk Press. Eastbourne. 1980

Dedications. Omphalos. Auckland. 1991

Writers in Residence and other Captive Fauna. Titus Books. 2009

Contents

Preface

A-texts

Thurii 1

Thurii 2 (a)

Thurii  3

Rome

B-texts

Hipponion

Petelia

Pharsalos

Thessaly

Entella

Eleutherna

Mylopotamos

Rethymnon

Other texts

Pelinna (a)

Pherai 1

Pherai 2

Amphipolis

Bibliography

Preface

This electronic document complements my earlier printed book The Gold Leaves (Being an Account and Translation from the Ancient Greek of the So-called ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets) (Atuanui Press, 2014), which contained only two Greek texts (those of ‘Thurii 1’ and ‘Hipponion’). Three of the Greek texts differ from those cited as texts ‘of choice’ in that edition. Here, I have preferred the more reader-friendly presentations of the Greek for ‘Thurii 2a’, ‘Mylopotamos’ and ‘Rethymnon’, as found in R.G. Edmonds, The ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets and Greek Religion (2011).

In the Greek texts, square brackets indicate scribal dittography (‘Thurii 1’), scribal omissions, or text missing on a fragmentary lamella (e.g. ‘Entella’); chevrons indicate scholarly restorations; braces, scribal errors. In my English translations, paired brackets indicate dittography (‘Thurii 1’), lacunae caused by unintelligible Greek, conjectural supplements (e.g. the third last and last lines of ‘Petelia’), and the ‘boundaries’ of a fragmentary line (e.g. the penultimate line of ‘Petelia’). A single bracket on a line indicates the left- or right-hand edge of a fragmentary lamella or the margin at the beginning of an otherwise unintelligible line (e.g. ‘Entella’ in both cases).

Acknowledgements are due to William Direen for his care in assisting me with assembling and compiling the Greek texts to bring these messages engraved on diminutive shreds of gold leaf to ‘cyberspace’, after having lain buried for well over two millennia with the ashes or the skeletons of their owners.

E.J. December 2015

A-texts

Thurii 1

Ἔρχομαι ἐκ κοθαρῶν κοθαρά, χθονίων βασίλεια,

Εὐκλῆς Εὐβουλεύς τε καὶ ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι·

καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὑμῶν γένος ὄλβιον εὔχομαι εἶμεν.

ἀλλά με μοῖρ’ ἐδάμασσε {καὶ ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι}

καὶ ἀστεροβλῆτα κεραυνῶι.

κύκλου δ’ ἐξέπταν βαρυπενθέος ἀργαλέοιο,

ἱμερτοῦ δ’ ἐπέβαν στεφάνου ποσὶ καρπαλίμοισι,

δεσποίνας δ’ ὑπὸ κόλπον ἔδυν χθονίας βασιλείας.

{ἱμερτοῦ δ’ ἀπέβαν στεμάνου ποσὶ καρπασίμοισι}

“ὄλβιε καὶ μακαριστέ, θεὸς δ’ ἔσηι ἀντὶ βροτοῖο.”

ἔριφος ἐς γάλ’ ἔπετον.

Text: Zuntz (1971), p. 301

Thurii 1

Pure, I come from the pure, Queen of the Dead,

Eukles, Eubouleus, and other immortal gods:

for I too claim to be of your blessed race.

But I was vanquished by Fate [and other immortal gods]

and Lightning-striker’s bolt.

I flew out of the wheel of grief and suffering,

I raced to win the crown I so desired,

I sank beneath the breast of our mistress, the Queen of the Dead.

[I raced to win the crown I so desired]

‘Blessed and fortunate man, god will you be, no longer

mortal.’

I am the kid that rushed to milk.

—Southern Italy, mid-4th c. B.C.

Thurii 2 (a)

Ἔρχομα<ι> ἐ<κ> κα<θα>ρῶν {σχονων} καθαρά,

χ<θ>ονίων βασίλ{η}ει<α>,

Εὖκλε καὶ Εὐβουλεῦ {ι} καὶ θεοὶ <καὶ> δαίμο<ν>ε<ϛ> ἄλλοι·

καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὑμῶν γένο<ϛ> εὔχομαι ὄλβιον εἶναι

πο<ι>νὰν δ’ ἀνταπέ{ι}τε{σε}ι<σ>’ ἔργων ἕνεκα οὔτι δικα<ί>ων.

εἴτε με Μο<ῖ>ρα ἐδάμασ<σ>’ {ατο} εἴτε ἀστεροπῆτα

κ<ε>ραυνῶν.

νῦν δ’ ἱκέτι<ϛ> ἥκω πα<ρα>ὶ ἁγνὴ<ν> Φε<ρ>σεφόνε<ι>αν,

ὥϛ με{ι} πρόφ<ρ>ω<ν> πέμψη<ι> ἕδραϛ ἐϛ εὐαγέ{ι}ων.

Text: Edmonds (2011), p18.

Thurii 2 (a)

Pure, I come from the pure, Queen of the Dead,

Eukles and Eubouleus and other gods and deities:

for I too claim to be of your blessed race,

having paid the penalty for my unjust deeds

whether Fate vanquished me or Lightning-striker.

Now I come as suppliant before chaste Persephone

that she kindly send me amongst the purified.

—Southern Italy, mid-4th c. B.C.

Thurii 3

Ἀλλ᾿ ὁπόταμ ψυχὴ προλίπηι φάος Ἀελίοιο,

δεξιὸν †ΕΣΟΙΑΣΔΕΕΤ† <ἰέ>ναι πεφυλαγμένον εὖ μάλα πάντα.

χαῖρε παθὼν τὸ πάθημα τὸ δ’ οὔπω πρόσθε ἐπεπόνθεις·

θεὸς ἐγένου ἐξ ἀνθρώπου· ἔριφος ἐς γάλα ἔπετες.

χαῖρ<ε> χαῖρε· δεξιὰν ὁδοιπόρ<ει>

λειμῶνάς τε ἱεροὺς καὶ ἄλσεα Φερσεφονείας

Line 2: upper case letters within obeloi † are illegible

Text: Zuntz (1971), p. 329

Thurii 3

But when the soul forsakes the light of the sun,

take the right [                      ] each step with all due care.

‘Welcome! After an ordeal you have never been through before.

A god you are and mortal no longer. You are the kid that rushed to milk.

Welcome and rejoice! Take the path to the right

for the sacred meadows and groves of Persephone.’

—Southern Italy, mid-4th c. B.C.

Rome

Ἔρχεται ἐκ καθαρῶν καθαρά, χθονίων βασίλεια

Εὔκλεεϛ Εὐβουλεῦ τε, Διὸϛ τέκοϛ, ἀλλὰ δέχε<σ>θε

Μνημοσύνηϛ τόδε δῶρον ἀοίδιμον ἀνθρώποισιν.

Καικιλία Σεκουνδεῖνα, νόμωι ἴθι δῖα γεγῶσα.

Text: Graf & Johnston (2007), p 18.

Rome

Pure, she comes from the pure, Queen of the Dead,

Eukles and Eubouleus, child of Zeus. But accept

this gift of Memory’s, this song forever sung.

‘Come then, Caecilia Secundina, goddess now by law.’

—mid-3rd c. A.D.(?)

B-texts

Hipponion

Μναμοσύναϛ τόδε θρῖον · ἐπεὶ ἂν μέλληισι θανεῖσθαι

εἰς Ἀΐδαο δόμους εὐήρεας · ἔστ᾿ ἐπὶ δεξιὰ κρήνα,

πὰρ δ΄αὐτὰν ἑστακῦα λευκὰ κυπάρισσος·

ἔνθα κατερχόμεναι ψυχαὶ νεκύων ψύχονται.

ταύτας τᾶς κράνας μηδὲ σχεδὸν ἐνγύθεν ἔλθηις.

πρόσθεν δ᾿εὑρήσεις τᾶς Μναμοσύνας ἀπὸ λίμνας

ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ προρέον · φύλακες δ᾿ἐπύπερθεν ἔασι.

οἳ δέ σε εἰρήσονται ἐν<ὶ> φρασὶ πευκαλίμαισι