Instructions for the Netherworld

Alberto Bernabé, Ph. D. (1973) in Classical Philology, University Complutense, Madrid, is Professor of Ancient Greek at the same University. He has published extensively on Orphic Texts including the edition of the Orphic Testimonies and Fragments in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana (2004-2005).Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal, Ph. D. (2002) in Classical Philology, University Complutense, Madrid, is Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek at the same University. She has published extensively on Orphic Texts including her Ph. D. and published Rituales órficos (Universidad Complutense, 2002).

• INTRODUCTION0.1. The gold tablets0.2. External aspects of the tablets0.3. The texts: a brief approximation of their contents0.4. Sketch of a typology of the tablets. Our grouping0.5. EditionsI. ARRIVAL IN THE SUBTERRANEAN WORLD (The Tablets from Hipponion, Entella, Petelia and Pharsalus and the Reduced Versions, L 1-6)TRANSLATION OF TABLETS L 1-6COMMENTARIES1.1.A textual problem 1.2.Mnemosyne1.3.Crossing over to the other world 1.4.The cypress of the underworld1.5.The thirst of the dead and the two fountains 1.6.The soul faced by the guardians 1.7.Continuing journey1.8.The sacred way1.9.Mystai and bacchoi1.10.The Orphic model and the Platonic model1.11.Instructions for use?1.12.Short versions: the Cretan tablets1.13.The relation between the long and the shorter tablets1.14.Gender hesitations II. A RITUAL FOR THE DEAD: THE TABLETS FROM PELINNA (L 7AB)TRANSLATION OF TABLETS 7AB FROM PELINNACOMMENTARIES2.1. Structure of the text2.2. A death that is life2.3. The soul liberated by Dionysus2.4. The formulas of the animal fallen in the milk2.5. Wine2.6. The rites completed III. BEST WISHES FOR ACCOMPANYING THE SOUL TO THE OTHER WORLD: A TABLET FROM THURII (L. 8)TRANSLATION OF TABLET 8 FROM THURIICOMMENTARIES3.1. The difficult reading of verse 23.2. The formula of salutation3.3. The great experienceIV. BEFORE PERSEPHONE: MORE TABLETS FROM THURII (L 9-10AB)TRANSLATION OF TABLETS 9 AND 10AB FROM THURIICOMMENTARIES4.1. The introductory formula 4.2. The reference to punishment4.3. Fate and the lightning of Zeus4.4. Two variants at the end: a) the supplication to Persephone4.5. b) The second variant: the cycle, the crown, and the lap of the goddessV. A TABLET IN IMPERIAL ROME (L 11)TRANSLATION OF TABLET 11 FROM ROMECOMMENTARIES5.1. Change of person in the sacred formula5.2. The deceased woman called by nameVI. A «WORD SEARCH PUZZLE» FOR DECEIVING NON-INITIATES: THE «GREAT» TABLET FROM THURII (L 12)TRANSLATION OF TABLET 12 FROM THURIICOMMENTARIES6.1. A disconcerting discovery6.2. A new reading proposal6.3. Sacred formulas among meaningless letters. Some parallels6.4. Reconstruction of the religious backgroundVII. PASSWORDS TO ACCEDE TO THE MEADOW OF THE BLESSED AND A PRAYER TO PERSEPHONE: THE TABLETS FROM PHERAI (L 13 AND 13A)TRANSLATION OF THE TABLETS FROM PHERAI (L 13 AND 13A)COMMENTARIES7.1. The passwords7.2. The names used as passwords7.3. The effects of the passwordsVIII. OTHER TABLETS (L 14-16)TRANSLATION OF TABLETS L 14-16COMMENTARIES8.1. Greetings to Plato and Persephone: tablets from Milopotamus (L 15), Rethymno (L 14), and Heraclea (L 15a)8.2. Identifications of the mystai; tablets from Pella and other places 8.3. The tablet from Manisa and other documents that cannot be attributed to the OrphicsIX. THE SOUL'S FINAL DESTINY. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS9.1. Recapitulation. Mentions of the soul's destiny9.2. Previous conditions9.3. The scenario of the happy life9.4. Characteristics of the afterlifeX. THE CENTRAL QUESTION: ARE THE GOLD LEAVES ORPHIC? 10.1. Discussions of the religious atmosphere of the tablets10.2. Argument from authorship10.3. The Geography of the tablets10.4. Belonging to a mysteric ambiance10.5. Purity and justice10.6. The gods in the tablets and in other Orphic texts10.7. Iconography10.8. ColophonXI. PARALLELS TO THE TABLETS IN OTHER CULTURES11.1. Introduction11.2. The Egyptian «Book of the Dead»11.3. A Hittite parallel: the «Great voyage of the soul».11.4. Indian parallels11.5. Parallels in the Iranian world11.6. «Tablets» in the Italian environment11.7. A tablet in Gallia11.8. The 'Punic' tablets11.9. Echoes in modern timeXII. LITERARY QUESTIONS: CHARACTERISTICS, MODELS AND ARCHETYPES12.1. Problems of a literary nature12.2. Functional texts12.3. The possible model of the tablets12.4. The tablets' relation to ritual12. 5 Various uses of the tablets12.6. The relation of use and forms of appearance or with thematic motifs APPENDIX I. EDITION OF THE TABLETS APPENDIX II. ICONOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE ORPHIC TABLETS Selection of illustrations and commentaries by Ricardo Olmos, CSIC; Drawings by Sara OlmosIndex locorum