>[!abstract] >Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned. Orphism has been described as a reform of the earlier Dionysian religion, involving a re-interpretation or re-reading of the myth of Dionysus and a re-ordering of Hesiod's Theogony, based in part on pre-Socratic philosophy. > >The suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans has been considered the central myth of Orphism. According to this myth, the infant Dionysus is killed, torn apart, and consumed by the Titans. In retribution, Zeus strikes the Titans with a thunderbolt, turning them to ash. From these ashes, humanity is born. > >In Orphic belief, this myth describes humanity as having a dual nature: body inherited from the Titans, and a divine spark or soul, inherited from Dionysus. In order to achieve salvation from the Titanic, material existence, one had to be initiated into the Dionysian mysteries and undergo *teletē*, a ritual purification and reliving of the suffering and death of the god. The uninitiated, they believed, would be reincarnated indefinitely. > >Orphic views and practices have parallels to elements of [[Pythagoreanism]], and various traditions hold that the Pythagoreans or Pythagoras himself authored early Orphic works; alternately, later philosophers believed that Pythagoras was an initiate of Orphism. The extent to which one movement may have influenced the other remains controversial.[14] Some scholars maintain that Orphism and Pythagoreanism began as separate traditions which later became confused and conflated due to a few similarities. Others argue that the two traditions share a common origin and can even be considered a single entity, termed *Orphico-Pythagoreanism* ("Orphism", 2025). ## References - Orphism. (2025, March 26). In *Wikipedia*. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orphism&oldid=1281393941 ## Related - [[Pythagoreanism]]