“ Orphée, sorcier ou mage ? ”
Résumé
Orpheus, sorcerer or magus? “Orpheus the magician in the pagan tradition at the beginning of our Era” The description of Orpheus as a "magician" was pejorative in the classical time and also in the texts which reflect the spirit of this period. However, when associated with the mention of his Thracian, and hence Barbarian origin, in some texts of the second century A.D onwards, the same criticism seems to become a source of praise. The pejorative position is on the one hand linked to Plato's famous declaration (as in Strabo) as well as to a popular opinion unfavourable to the singer (as in Plinius). The praise on the other hand is due to, among other things, a new way to conceive of philosophy and suggested by the summoning of him to the magi's defence (in Apollonius Tyanensis and in Apuleius). Within this context Orpheus is raised to the status of magus..”), confers a title of positive value, and is thus rehabilitated as a magician. He deserves from then on to be placed near Pythagoras, Socrates and his greatest enemy, Plato himself. Therefore, when in the same period Clement of Alexandria again uses the terms found in the Res Publica and in the Laws to condemn Orpheus, and refers to his goêteia, he ignores the good reputation of the Thracian poet as a magician among some of his contemporaries in order to defend another figure accused of magic—Christ.
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