Les deux mères de Dionysos, Perséphone et Sémélé, dans les Hymnes orphiques

Abstract

The two mothers of Dionysos, Persephone and Semele, in the "Orphic Hymns" The "Orphic Hymns" are not narrative, but through a skillful interplay of adjectives, participles and relative clauses they refer to numerous myths. The present study aims to isolate and understand these fleeting allusions, one example of which can illustrate quite how rich they prove to be. The prevailing, Hellenic tradition sees Dionysos as the son of Zeus and Semele, whereas the myths evoked in the Orphic fragments published by Otto Kern show him as the son of Zeus and Persephone. It will be seen that in the "Orphic Hymns" the two traditions are conjoined in strange and subtle ways.