dead on payment of a fee, undertook to punish the enemies of their
clients, and held out to them the prospect of perpetual banqueting
and drinking-bouts in Paradise.
A large number of writings in the tone of the Orphic religion were ascribed to Orpheus. They dealt with such subjects as the origin of the gods, the creation of the world, the ritual of purification and initiation, and oracular responses. These poems were recited at rhapsodic contests together with those of Homer and Hesiod, and Orphic hymns were used in the Eleusinian mysteries.[1] The best-known name in connexion with them is that of Onomacritus (q.v.), who, in the time of the Peisistratidae, made a collection (including forgeries of his own) of Orphic songs and legends. In later times Orphic theology engaged the attention of Greek philosophers—Eudemus the Peripatetic, Chrysippus the Stoic, and Proclus the Neoplatonist, but it was an especially favourite study of the grammarians of Alexandria, where it became so intermixed with Egyptian elements that Orpheus came to be looked upon as the founder of mysticism. The “rhapsodic theogony” in particular exercised great influence on Neoplatonism. The Orphic literature (of which only fragments remain) was united in a corpus, called τὰ Ὀρφικὰ, the chief poem in which was ἡ τοῦ Ὀρφέως θεολογία. It also included a collection of Orphic hymns, liturgic songs, practical treatises, and poems on various subjects. The so-called Orphic Poems, still extant, are of much later date, probably belonging to the 4th century A.D.; they consist of: (1) an Argonautica, glorifying the deeds of Orpheus on the “Argo,” (2) a didactic poem on the magic powers of stones, called Lithica, (3) eighty-seven hymns on various divinities and personified forces of nature. Some of these hymns are probably earlier (1st and 2nd centuries). The Orphic poems also played an important part in the controversies between Christian and pagan writers in the 3rd and 4th centuries after Christ; pagan writers quoted them to show the real meaning of the multitude of gods, while Christians retorted by reference to the obscene and disgraceful fictions by which the former degraded their gods.
Bibliography.—C. A. Lobeck’s Aglaophamus (1829) is still indispensable. Of more modern writings on Orpheus and Orphism the following may be consulted. The articles by O. Gruppe in Roscher’s Lexikon der Mythologie and by P. Monceaux in Daremberg and Saglio’s Dictionnaire des antiquités; “Orphica” in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed., 1891), by L. C. Purser; J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (2nd ed., 1908, with a critical appendix by Gilbert Murray on the Orphic tablets); E. Rohde, Psyche, ii. (1907), and article in Heidelberger Jahrbücher (1896); E. W. Maass, Orpheus (1895); S. Reinach, “La mort d’Orphée” in Cultes, mythes, et religions, ii. (1906); O. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie, ii. (1906), pp. 1028–1041; T. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, i. (Eng. trans., 1901), pp. 84-90, 123-147; E. Gerhard, Über Orpheus und die Orphiker (1861); A. Dieterich, Nekyia (1893), pp. 72-108, 136-162, 225-232; O. Kern, De Orphei, Epimenidis, Pherecydis theogoniis (1888); O. Gruppe, Die rhapsodische Theogonie (1890); A. Dieterich, De hymnis Orphicis (1891); G. F. Schömann, Griechische Alterthümer, ii. (ed. J. H. Lipsius, 1902), p. 378; P. Stengel, Die griechischen Kultusaltertümer (1898),
There is an edition of the Orphic Fragments and of the poems by E. Abel (1885). The Argonautica has been edited separately by J. W. Schneider (1803), the Lithica by T. Tyrwhitt (1791), and there is an English translation of the Hymns by T. Taylor (reprinted, 1896).
On the representations of Orpheus in heathen and Christian art (in which he is finally transformed into the Good Shepherd with his sheep), see A. Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, ii. p. 1120; P. Knapp, Über Orpheusdarstellungen (Tübingen, 1895); F. X. Kraus, Realencyklopädie des christlichen Alterthums, ii. (1886); J. A. Martigny, Dictionnaire des antiquités chrétiennes (1889); A. Heussner, Die altchristlichen Orpheusdarstellungen (Leipzig, 1893); and the articles in Roscher’s and Daremberg and Saglio’s Lexicons.
The story of Orpheus, as was to be expected of a legend told both by Ovid and Boetius, retained its popularity throughout the middle ages and was transformed into the likeness of a northern fairy tale. In English medieval literature it appears in three somewhat different versions: Sir Orpheo, a “lay of Brittany” printed from the Harleian MS. in J. Ritson’s Ancient English Metrical Romances, vol. ii. (1802); Orpheo and Heurodis from the Auchinleck MS. in David Laing’s Select Remains of the Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland (new ed., 1885); and Kyng Orfew from the Ashmolean MS. in J. O. Halliwell’s Illustrations of Fairy Mythology (Shakespeare Soc, 1842). The poems show traces of French influence. (J. H. F; X.)
ORPHREY, gold or other richly ornamented embroidery,
particularly an embroidered border on an ecclesiastical vestment
(see Vestments). The word is from O. Fr. orfreis, mod. orfroi,
from med. Lat. aurifrisium, aurifrigium, &c., for auriphrygium, aurum, gold, and phrygium, Phrygian; a name given to gold-embroidered tissues, also known as vestes Phrygiae, the Phrygians being famous for their skill in embroidering in gold.
ORPIMENT (auripigmentum), arsenic trisulphide, As2S3,
or yellow realgar (q.v.), occurring in small quantities as a mineral
crystallizing in the rhombic system and of a brilliant golden-yellow
colour in Bohemia, Peru, &c. For industrial purposes
an artificial orpiment is manufactured by subliming one part
of sulphur with two of arsenic trioxide. The sublimate varies
in colour from yellow to red, according to the intimacy of the
combination of the ingredients; and by varying the relative
quantities used many intermediate tones may be obtained.
These artificial preparations are highly poisonous. Formerly,
under the name of “king’s yellow,” a preparation of orpiment
was in considerable use as a pigment, but now it has been largely
superseded by chrome-yellow. It was also at one time used
in dyeing and calico-printing, and for the unhairing of skins,
&c.; but safer and equally efficient substitutes have been
found.
ORPINGTON, a town in the Dartford parliamentary division of Kent, England, 1334 m. S.E. of London, and 212 m. S. by E. of Chislehurst, on the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1901), 4259. The church (Early English) contains some carved woodwork and ancient brasses. An old mansion called the Priory dates in part from 1393. The oak-panelled hall and the principal rooms are of the 15th century. In 1873 John Ruskin set up at Orpington a private publishing house for his works, in the hands of his friend George Allen. Fruit and hops are extensively grown in the neighbourhood. From its pleasant situation in a hilly, wooded district near the headwaters
of the Cray stream, Orpington has become in modern times a
favourite residential locality for those whose business lies in
London. A line of populous villages extends down the valley
between Orpington and Bexley—St Mary Cray (pop. 1894),
St Paul’s Cray (1207), Foots Cray (an urban district, 5817),
and North Cray.
ORRERY,[2] CHARLES BOYLE, 4th Earl of (1676–1731), the second son of Roger, 2nd earl, was born at Chelsea in 1676.
He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and soon distinguished himself by his learning and abilities. Like the first earl, he was an author, soldier and statesman. He translated Plutarch’s life of Lysander, and published an edition of the epistles of Phalaris, which engaged him in the famous controversy with Bentley. He was three times member for the town of Huntingdon; and on the death of his brother, Lionel, 3rd earl, in 1703, he succeeded to the title. He entered the army, and in 1709 was raised to the rank of major-general, and sworn one of her Majesty’s privy council. At the battle of the Wood he acted with distinguished bravery. He was appointed queen’s envoy to the states of Brabant and Flanders; and having discharged this trust with ability, he was created an English peer, as Baron
Boyle of Marston, in Somersetshire. He received several
additional honours in the reign of George I.; but having had the misfortune to fall under the suspicion of the government he was committed to the Tower, where he remained six months, and was then admitted to bail. On a subsequent inquiry it was found impossible to criminate him, and he was discharged. He died on the 28th of August 1731. Among the works of Roger, earl of Orrery, will be found a comedy, entitled As you find it, written by Charles Boyle. His son John (see Cork, Earls of),
the 5th earl of Orrery, succeeded to the earldom of Cork on the failure of the elder branch of the Boyle family, as earl of Cork and Orrery.
ORRERY, ROGER BOYLE, 1st Earl of (1621–1670), British soldier, statesman and dramatist, 3rd surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork, was born on the 25th of April 1621, created baron of Broghill on the 28th of February 1627, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and, according to Wood,
- ↑ For Orphism in relation to the Eleusinian and other mysteries see Mystery.
- ↑ The orrery, an astronomical instrument—consisting of an apparatus which illustrates the motions of the solar system by means of the revolution of balls moved by wheelwork—invented, or at least constructed, by Graham, was named after the earl.
