First-Born of Night or Oozing from the Slime? Deviant Origins in Orphic Cosmogonies
Author: Radcliffe Edmonds
Source: The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004436367_004
Publication type: Chapter in a book
Abstract: In his treatise on First Principles, Damascius, the last head of the Platonic Academy in the fifth century CE, describes several Orphic cosmogonies that deviate significantly from one another even within their first stages, one positing Time as its first principle or archê, another water, and yet another Night. Although Damascius presents the evidence to show that all these cosmogonies have the same underlying meaning and structure, I argue that the evidence Damascius provides, taken together with other evidence for Orphic and other cosmogonies, shows that they all have different structures and different meanings, constructed to express a variety of understandings of the cosmos. The choice of what kind of archê to put at the beginning of a cosmogonic account is a meaningful and evaluative act of bricolage by the cosmogonic thinker, who selects the piece from the mythic tradition that best fits his ideas of what question is most important for thinking about the origins of the cosmos. The choice of archê shows which question each thinker prioritizes, whether the myth depicts the emergence of matter oozing from the slime of primordial water or the regular motions of Time or the firstborn of Night dawning from the darkness.