Orphic Gold Leaf
A beautifully-preserved example of an “Orphic gold leaf”. Such leaves were usually engraved with a text that helped the soul of a deceased individual find its way in the Underworld. They formed roadmaps of Hades, telling their owners which junctions to avoid in the realm of the dead (“Don’t go anywhere near that fountain!”), and which ones to take (“To the right, where a white cypress stands tall”); and also which magic spells to utter when approached by divine entities. These spells helped the deceased to convincingly identify themselves as divine—of the same immortal ilk as the gods receiving them in the world below.
The text of the gold leaf here posted represents a dialogue between a deceased human and a divine spring. It reads as follows (ancient Greek script was continuous and used only uppercase letters):
ΔΙΨΑΙΑΥΟΣΕΓΟΚΑΠΟΛΛΜΑΙ
ΑΛΛΑΠΙΕΜΟΥΚΡΑΝΑΣΑΙΕΙΡΟΩ
ΕΜΙΔΕΞΙΑΛΕΥΚΗΚΥΠΑΡΙΣΣΟΣ
ΤΙΣΔΕΣΙΠΩΔΕΣΙΓΑΣΥΙΟΣΕΙΜΙ
ΚΑΙΟΥΡΑΝΟΥΑΣΤΕΡΟΕΝΤΟΣ
ΑΥΤΑΡΕΜΟΙΓΕΝΟΣΟΥΡΑΝΙΟΝ
Written with spaces, and with upper- and lowercase letters:
Δίψαι αὖοϛ ἐγὼ κ⟨αὶ⟩ ἀπόλλυμαι·
ἀλλὰ πίε μου
κράναϛ αἰειρόω.
ἐπὶ δεξιὰ λευκὴ κυπάρισσοϛ.
τίϛ δ’ ἐσί; πῶ δ’ ἐσί;
Γᾶϛ υἱόϛ εἰμι καὶ Οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντοϛ· αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ γένοϛ οὐράνιον
My translation:
“So thirsty I am and being torn asunder!
—But drink of me, the Spring That Ever Flows.
(To the right, a bright cypress.)
—Who are you? From where are you?
I am a son of Earth and Starry Heaven. However, my kin is heavenly.”
Technically a lamella, the gold leaf depicted here hails from Thessaly, and is datable to the 4th century BC. It was found inside a bronze cinerary urn. Many similar lamellae, some dating back to the 5th century BC, have been found on gravesites across the entire ancient Greek world, including Southern Italy and Sicily. They represent a religious practice that Parmenides and Empedocles were familiar with. In their poems, we also find topographies of the Underworld, and formulaic expressions (in hexameter) that have a strong, incantatory character: magic spells that were considered to be so powerful they could coax gods into receiving the dead as divine beings and, hence, as equals, or at least as kin.
Plato was also familiar with such gold leaves, as can be witnessed in his dialogue Charmides. The relevant passage will be the subject of an upcoming post.
Notes:
The lamella is preserved at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Villa, Malibu (22 x 37 mm, inv. no. 75.AM.19).