Metamorphoses of Myth

The elusive nature of Orphism has been the subject of numerous studies the last two hundred years or so. Recent publications of several important sources; some newly published gold tablets, a series of small texts engraved on thin gold leaves and put in the graves of their deceased owners, and the Derveni Papyrus, has made it possible to take a new look at some of the controversies within this field. Through analyses of ritual and mythical references in the so-called Orphic texts I argue they should not be seen as evidence for one single cult (the Orphic) but rather that they draw upon a wide array of eschatological ideas. Analyses of the imagery found on some of the Apulian vases of south Italy also emphasize the heterogeneous nature of the eschatological ideas that normally have been simply labelled Orphic. This becomes especially clear in the analysis of the Derveni papyrus, an Orphic text by almost any definition, which draws upon a quite different eschatology than what is found in other "Orphic" texts. This book argues that the so-called Orphic texts should be approached as heterogeneous, eclectic texts rather than products of a single uniform Orphic cult.