Derveni Papyrus, col. 14: Kronos or Uranus?

Abstract

The col. 14 of de Derveni Papyrus exemplifies a set of interpretative issues that this allegorical commentary on the oldest known Orphic poem raises. We seek to analyze here: 1) difficulties in linguistic overlap in texts from different periods, as shown in the vocabulary (ekthroiskein, aidoion); 2) interpretative excesses which the commentator does not avoid, when bringing data and events of the theogony underlying the poem to the cosmogonic plane. This results in an ambiguous language that adds new “enigmas” to an already enigmatic poem. This is what happens with “the great deed” (meg’erexen), traditionally associated with Cronos, which in 14.8 is attributed to Uranus, as the rules of the grammar prove. An interpretation that is complemented by the understanding of the form aphairethenai as a middle voice and not passive.