orphic

Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for orphic.

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Editorial note

Greek Mythology: Orphic tradition describes a universe hatching from an egg.

Examples9

Definitions4

Parts of speech2

Quick take

Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; mystic.

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of orphic gathered in one view.

adjective

Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; mystic.

adjective

Hypnotic; entrancing.

noun

(Greek mythology) A follower of Orphism.

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for orphic.

adjective

Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; mystic.

adjective

Hypnotic; entrancing.

noun

(Greek mythology) A follower of Orphism.

adjective

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to Orphism and its doctrines and rituals.

Example sentences

Greek Mythology: Orphic tradition describes a universe hatching from an egg.

Ion of Chios was contemporary and said that he authored Orphic hymns.

I've heard about the Cosmic Egg in other cultures, particularly in the Greek Orphic tradition.

A lot of the imagery was inspired by the Orphic Phanes, a dual gendered being of creation and light that gestated in the cosmic egg of the universe.

The Orphics had a heliocentric model of the universe before Aristarchus; in fact, the Derveni Papyrus, one of the oldest witnesses to Orphic thought, is actually a commentary on Orphic literature that interprets it all as physical allegory.

Since I’m a stickler for sourcing quotes, I kept looking for something really sweet… I found an Orphic hymn to Apollo from the 500BC or so, that had been translated by the great Renaissance scholar Marsilio Ficino (the guy who the Medicis hired to translate Greek classics into Latin).

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Christianity has never really taken deep root in America or had any success in forming American consciousness; in its place, we have invented a kind of Orphic mystery religion of personal liberation, fecundated and sustained by a cult of Mammon.

Quote examples

The Orphic hymn to Apollo proclaims “your resonance attunes the whole globe”.

One line stood out: “Tu sphaeram totam, cithara resonante, contemperas” or “The resonance of your guitar attunes the whole world” Well, what struck me was that Ion of Chios (b 490 BC) wrote that Pythagoras himself had authored a number of Orphic hymns.