Orphikidai
edition published: 2023
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Morphology

Ὀρφικiδαι, noun m. pl (sing., Ὀρφικiδας, genitive, Ὀρφικιδάων > -ᾶν), enigmatic group which dedicated a votive plaque to Poseidon Geraistos. The plaque was found in the ancient city of Kos (once the capital of the homonymus island), inside the temple of the god Asclepius. The inscription is the only evidence of this group and it is dated to the III century BCE, reading as follows: “[Π]οσειδ[ᾶνος] | Γεραστίί̣[ου] | Ὀρφικιδᾶν” [ IG XII 4,2. 1224 (SHERWINWHITE 1978, p. 167, n. 8 and JEREZ SÁNCHEZ 2019, p. 54, p. 166, p. 413.)].

Etymology

From an etymological point of view, the lemma Ὀρφικiδαι is composed by the root ՚ορφικ- and patronymic suffix -iδαι (sing., -iδας/-ιδης) showing descent from a common ancestor: so, the Ἀλκμαιωνίδαi are “the progeny of Alcmaeon”, the Νέστoριδαι are “the progeny of Nestor”, and so on. Given that, the aforementioned root would seems to be connected with the name of the mythical musician Orpheus but, as underlined by Susan Sherwin-White (1978, p. 167, n. 8), this reconstruction is not quite tenable:

“It is difficult to connect the name Orphikidai with the personal name Orpheus in view of its composite nature; the collective name combines both the adjectival termination -ikos and the patronymic ending -idai. If it does denote a group of followers of Orpheus, i.e. initiates, the name is unlikely to be of great antiquity. We can compare the Thasian patra Neophantidai, attested in the fifth centwy and derived by Rolley, BCH 89, 1965, p. 461, from neophantes (the newly initiated) of the Orphic hymns. But the oddity of the combination of an adjectival epithet with a patronymic termination argues against the derivation of Orphikidai from Orphikos. The name may have been based on some unknown word, or compounded from orphos, as for example the name Orphondas was, cf. Bechtel, loc. cit., p. 508.”

the word orphos, quoted by the author, is obviously not the noun ορφος/ὀρφως “redfish”, but the reconstructed original form of ὀρφανος (“orphan”): *ὀρφος, derived from words like ὀρφοβοται and ωρφωσεν· ὠρφανιζεν, and corresponding to the Armenian orb, -oy and the Latin orbus (CHANTRAINE 1999 (1968), pp. 829-830 and BEEKES 2010, pp. 1113-1115).

Testimonies

The group of votive plaques found in the Asclepeion of Kos comprises findings, ranging from the IV century BCE to the late Hellenistic age, that show the city's social subdivisions. Many of these associations, all having the gentilitial suffix -ιδαι, or -αδαι, seem to be of great antiquity, displaying patronymic references to both local and Panhellenic mythology. In fact, although none of the plaques is older than 366 BCE, date of the city's foundation, the groups quoted on the inscriptions may have existed before the synoecism that lead to the capital's creation (SHERWIN-WHITE 1978, pp. 153-169). The same presence of gentilitial suffixes suggests the archaism of these organizations, linking them with that social groups that were based on kinship ties, such as the φυλή (“tribe”), the γένος (“clan”, o “patrilineal family”) or the φρατρία (“brotherhood”). Their origin is quite uncertain but they appear to have had, at least originally, a military function (BRYANT 1996, p. 16 e LACEY 1968, pp. 25-26), as is shown in the Iliad Hom., Il. II, 360-364 :

“ἀλλὰ ἄναξ αὐτός τ᾽ εὖ μήδεο πείθεό τ᾽ ἄλλῳ: οὔ τοι ἀπόβλητον ἔπος ἔσσεται ὅττί κεν εἴπω: κρῖν᾽ ἄνδρας κατὰ φῦλα κατὰ φρήτρας Ἀγάμεμνον, ὡς φρήτρη φρήτρηφιν ἀρήγῃ, φῦλα δὲ φύλοις. εἰ δέ κεν ὣς ἕρξῃς καί τοι πείθωνται Ἀχαιοί”

“But do thou, O king, thyself take good counsel, and hearken to another; the word whatsoever I speak, shalt thou not lightly cast aside. Separate thy men by tribes (κατὰ φυλα), by clans (κατὰ φρητρας), Agamemnon, that clan. may bear aid to clan and tribe to tribe. (MURRAY 1946, p. 77)”

This passage, combined with the importance held by nobility of blood during the Archaic age, shows the antiquity of these institutions. From this angle, the Ὀρφικiδαι must have been, originally, a γένος or φρατρία, since these were large groups of οἶκοι, “families”, that claimed descent from a common ancestor. What is surprising about these institutions is that, despite the etymology of their name, as well as the name of their own festival, the Apaturia (from Ομοπατόρια, “the festival of the ones with the same father”), their members were not actually blood-related; for example, the members of the Ὁμηρίδαι clan, were not the real progeny of Homer, but the followers of his art (LAMBERT 1993, p. 9). That was known even in ancient times, considering that the Greeks used the term αδελφός to describe a biological brother and not the word φράτηρ, from which φρατρία is derived (LACEY 1968, 26, BRYANT 1996, 16 e LAMBERT 1993, 8). Anyway, whatever position these groups covered in the Archaic age, in later times, they played mostly religious functions, but they also had a key role in the assignment of citizenship (LACEY 1968, 25-26). That is true also in Kos' case, where, following the social and political reorganization caused by the synoecism, the old gentilitial groups became subdivisions of the civic body, organized on a numerical basis, and not following kinship ties (SHERWIN-WHITE 1978, 153-174).

As it can be seen from the inscription, the Ὀρφικiδαι dedicated their plaque to Poseidon Geraistos. This particular epiclesis came from the Euboian city of the same name, located in the vicinity of Carystus, in the southernmost point of the island [Strab. X. 1. 7]

The local sanctuary of the god seems to be linked with two other Poseidon's cult places, as noted by many scholars such as Rob W. M. Schumacher: the one on Cape Tainaron and the one on the island of Kalauria (SCHUMACHER 1993, 52). This hypothesis is strengthened by several evidences: the presence of a month named Geraistos and of Geraistia festivals in all the three cities, and the fact that all were asylum sanctuaries, considered places of refuge (SCHUMACHER 1993, 52 and 63-64). In this regard, it must be noted that the month of Geraistos was also present in Kos. Also, this particular cult of Poseidon was linked, in the Peloponnese, with patrician clans, similar to the Ὀρφικiδαι: the Geraistiastai in Troezen (the city which controlled Kalauria) and the Tainarioi/Tainaristai in Cape Tainaron (SCHUMACHER 1993, 54 and 67, n. 17). Lastly, there is a very interesting passage from the Ethnika of Stephanus of Byzantium, that speaks about these interconnected sanctuaries [St. Byz., s.v. Tainaros e Geraistos (SCHUMACHER 1993, p. 52)]:

“Tainaros: ‘polis, [named] after Tainaros, the brother of Geraistos and child of Zeus; who sailed with his brother Kalauros and, having seized a place on the Peloponnese, set up a sanctuary of Poseidon, which is called Tainaron...’. In the same work is written under Geraistos: Village on Euboea, in which is a sanctuary of Poseidon, [named] after Geraistos, the son of Zeus”

This seems to be a common foundation myth, in which the three brothers appear as the founders of three eponymous sanctuaries of Poseidon: Geraistos for the Euboian town, Tainaros for Cape Tainaron and Kalauros (even though is not explicitly stated) for the Peloponnesian city of Kalauria, seat of an ancient and powerful amphictiony [Strab. VIII. 6. 14]:

“Here there was an asylum sacred to Poseidon... There was also a kind of Amphiktyony at this sanctuary for the seven cities that share in the sacrifices. These were Hermion, Epidauros, Aigina, Athens, the Prasians, the Nauplians, and Minyan Orchomenos.”

Since the aforementioned tale speak of a sailing voyage made by Tainaros and Kalauros, would seem that the cult of Poseidon was exported from the Geraistos' sanctuary, in Euboea (SCHUMACHER 1993, 52). In the light of that, many scholars have hypothesized that the diffusion of the cult of Geraistos was linked to a “wondering tribe” of Minyans or Dryopians. In fact, Euphemos, hero and Argonaut of Minyan descent, was said to have been son of Poseidon and to have lived around Tainaron [Pind., Pyth. IV. 43–5] and, interestingly, Herodotus speaks of Minyans on Lemnos, “descendants of Euphemos and the other Argonauts, who were expelled from their island by the Pelasgians, sailed to southern Lakonia, sat down on the Taygetos mountain range and were eventually admitted to Lakonian society” [Hdt., IV. 145]These Minyans of Lemnos could be linked with other groups of Lemnians, Imbrians and Pelasgians that, according to the testimony of Conon and Nicholaus of Damascus, were admitted in Laconia after the Dorian invasion [Conon, Fr. XXXVI/Phot. Bibl. 186 and Nic. Dam. Exc. De Virt. I/ Fr. XXXVI]. The Dryopians were, on the other hand, a tribe native of Thessaly, which was scattered by the Dorians in the southern tip of Euboea, some other Aegean islands, and in the Argolid; the people in the area around Hermione (just to the south-west of Troizen and Kalaureia) were said to be Dryopians from Euboea (SCHUMACHER 1993, p. 53).

Catalogue of occurences

Literary sources

- Hom., Il. II, 360-364
- St. Byz., s.v. Tainaros
- St. Byz., s.v. Geraistos
- Strab. X. 1. 7
- Strab. VIII. 6. 14
- Pind., Pyth. IV. 43–5
- Hdt., IV. 145
- Conon, Fr. XXXVI/Phot. Bibl. 186
- Nic. Dam. Exc. De Virt. I/ Fr. XXXVI

Inscriptions

- IG XII 4,2. 1224

Discussion/interpretation

In summary, the Ὀρφικiδαι were probably a religious association, which spread an ancient cult of Poseidon from the town of Geraistos, in Euboea, to the island of Kos, similarly to what was done by other groups, like the Geraistiastai in the island of Kalauria and the Tainarioi at Cape Tainaron. The alleged antiquity of this group, combined with its apparent Euboian connections, would seems to suggest a very archaic origin, probably during the Iron Age. In fact, during that period the Euboians formed a koine within the Aegean, from the 11th to the middle of the 9th century BCE, which encompassed both Boeotia and Thessaly (LEMOS 1998); that would explained the link between the cult of Poseidon Geraistos and Aeolic (or, at least, not Ionians) populations such as the Minyans and the Dryopians. This hypothesis is strengthened by the particular position of Kos, that was the connection point in the commercial route that, moving from Anatolia, reached Attica, the island of Kalauria, Cape Tainaron and Crete (MELE 1982, p. 21 e p. 29). This connection is also enlightened by some cultural traits shared with the Euboea, like the character of Chalcodon and the common links with Aeolic world (MELE 1982, p. 21 e p. 29).

Bibliography

BEEKES 2010 = R. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Leiden and New York, 2010.

BRYANT 1996 = J. M. Bryant, Moral codes and social structure in Ancient Greece, New York, 1996.

CHANTRAINE 1999 (1968) = P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire Etymologique de la Langue Grecque: Histoire des mots, Paris, 1999.

JACOBY 1986 = F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker. Zweiter Teil, Zeitgeschichte A, Brill, Leide, 1986 (1926).

JACOBY 1995 = F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker. Erster Teil, Genealogie und Mytholographie, Brill, Leide, 1995 (1957).

JEREZ SÁNCHEZ 2019 = G. Jerez Sánchez, Gramática de las inscripciones de Cos: fonética y morfología, Madrid, 2019.

LACEY 1968 = W. K. Lacey, The family in classical Greece, London, 1968.

LEMOS 1998 = I. S. Lemos, Euboea and its Aegean koine, in B. D'Agostino and M. Bats (editors) EUBOICA. L'Eubea e la presenza euboica in Calcidica e in Occidente, Napoi, 1998.

MELE 1982 = A. Mele, I Ciclopi, Calcodonte e la metallurgia caldicese, in Nouvelle contribution à l’étude de la société et de la colonisation eubéennes, Napoli, 1982.

MURRAY 1946 = M. T. Murray (editor), Homer, The Iliad, Harvard, 1946.

ROLLER 2014= D.W. Roller (editors), Strabone, Geografia, Cambridge, 2014.

SCHUMACHER 1993, R. W. M. Schumacher, Three related sanctuaries of Poseidon: Geraistos, Kalaureia and Tainaron, in R. Hagg e N. Marinatos, Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches, New York, 2005 (1993).

SHERWIN-WHITE 1978 = S.M. Sherwin-White, Ancient Cos. An historical study from the Dorian settlement to the Imperial period, Göttingen, 1978.