krater nilsson

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Harvard Divinity School

KraterAuthor(s): Martin P. NilssonSource: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Apr., 1958), pp. 53-58Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity SchoolStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1508929 .

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HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEWVOLUME LI APRIL, 1958 NUMBER 2

KRATERMARTIN P. NILSSON

THE UNIVERSITY OF LUND, SWEDEN

THE WORD KpaTr'p, the great mixing vessel in which the wine wasmixed with water and from which it was drawn, is not seldomused metaphorically in religious literature. To begin with, it maybe useful to quote a few examples showing how the metaphor isused in secular literature. Pindar calls the messenger who bringshis ode a sweet krater of loud-sounding songs1 and Aristophanescalls the sycophant a vessel of evils.2 Plutarch speaks of a krater,placed in the middle which contains myths and arguments mixedup.3 In Aeschylus Clytaemestra says of Agamemnon that, sincehe has filled a krater in the house with so many evils, having re-

turned he has to drink it off himself.' Philostratus speaks ofkrateres set up from which the thirsty ones drew.5 The meta-phorical use of the word comes very near to the concrete facts: astorage vessel in which liquids are mixed and from which they aredrawn.

The mixing is emphasized in a passage in Plato.' When thewine is mixed and the symposion begins one prays to the gods,and this is done here too. Dionysos who was the god of the wine

and Hephaistos who alloys metals are quite naturally first hon-ored with a prayer on such an occasion. This is clear.' Further

1Pindar, 01., vi, v. 154 f., o-o- y&p ,yyehXo pO6•,

o O vK6/Iwv oKvrcXa Movav,YXUKbi Kpa7rLp yaqB~ 'yKrTWVOL iPv.

2Aristophanes, Acharnenses, v. 936 ff., rd'YXplo7rov iyyo o-rat

Kpa"ripKaK i.

SPlutarch, de defectu orac., p. 421 A, CAi5Owv al X6'ywpv vapepttypvWV Kpar"7pv

AtCocW rp6KeLrat.4Aeschylus, Agamemnon, v. 1397, roo-wv8ecpa7-rp' v K6pOLS KaKJ o8e 7Xo-aas

cLpaiwv aiT~rsKT7rilvetL OXd'V.5Philostratus, vita Apollonii, iv, 24, X67yw 7e

Kpa7• per i'Tav0o KalpiO'o7arwP 0l &4&WjPTES.

6Plato, Philebus, p. 61 B f., rois "eoois, W IIpdrapXe, eX6OEvEOL KEpavviw/EZv,etre A6'pvoos elTe Heq atro-os eJO' ao-rts OEWp ra'l771V 7l TL/lpY e6lX7)Xe 7-S O-vyKpcO-ewS.- - - - - K~ Cl KaOdrEp )piv olvoX60ts 7"to-l 7rape"otn

--KpVLpat, /eXLT"ros pV acireLKcOLK L 7 V 7) i)0lP?, 7T 8E 7) pOV JEWS P7)/(PTLK)l KaiOLvov 77 c7pov K7a

bytetvo^"rtvo

Mvaros, 'as rpoOv/rl'rTov (?S KaiXX oLra o-v/LetLypvpiaL.' So Boyanc6, Platon et le vin, Lettres d'humanite, 1951, p. 9.








54 HARVARD THEOLOGICAL EVIEW

Socrates mentions the springs which are at hand to them (theythemselves being cup-bearers), pleasure and wisdom. This issimple. So too is another passage which treats of the creation ofthe living beings by the demiurge.8 "Having said this he turnedonce more to the same mixing bowl wherein he had mixed andblended the soul of the universe, and poured into it what was leftof the former ingredients, blending them this time in somewhatthe same way, only no longer so pure as before, but second orthird in degree of purity."

Professor Ziegler thinks that it is difficult to separate thispas-sage from the great part played by the krater in the Orphic writ-

ings 9 and Professor Pfister asserts that Plato has taken this fromOrphic sources."' This is not at all certain. Two Orphic poemswith such a title are known, Kpar'p and 'O /Kpo'-Tpo1 KparTp.The titles do not prove anything of the contents. Plato knew themetaphorical use of the word; he had used it so earlier in thePhilebus. If dependence on an Orphic source is to be proved, the

proof must consist in the doctrine of the soul. 'O z1UKpO~EpO Kpar~Tpis quoted once only, by a Byzantine scholar, Joannes DiaconusGalenus. He adduces also some fragments." The first one isfairly long and displays an explanation of the pagan gods whichwas familiar to the Byzantines: Hermes is the messenger who ex-plains everything, the Nymphs are the water, Hephaistos the fire,Demeter the corn, etc. Another fragment contains the Stoic ex-planation of the various forms of the name of Zeus. This is a late

elaboration and may be put to one side. The Kpar'p is better at-tested,12 mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, it must be earlierthan the second part of the second century A.D. It is ascribedeither to Orpheus or to Zopyrus of Heraclea (so also in Suidas).According o Servius, Orpheus had dedicated this poem to Musaeus.No fragment is preserved. However, Proclus says: "Plato men-

s Plato, Timaeus, p. 41 D,rdXL,

Zr r~ rp6repop Kpa7-^jpa, ' r ~rq roi 7rav7r?tvX/VIP Kepappvvs to-yev, r&

rpVrp6o'-Oep

brd6XotwraKarexcro io-ywpv

wpl,ovp

o

' rtpa

ToJ'avroi', dKilpara5' OKfcrt Kara rav'r&'oai'rw t , dCXX& 6repa Kal rptra. Cornford's

translation.SIn the Realencyklopiidie der Altertumswiss., xviii, p. 211.

'0Pfister, Die Autoritit der gittlichen Offenbarung, Glauben und Wissen beiPlaton, Wiirzburger Jahrbiicher, ii, 1947, p. 181.

n Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, 297 f., p. 309 ff." For the testimonia see Orph. fragm., p. 308.








KRATER 55

tions in the Philebus the Hephaestiac krater and the Dionysiackrater, and Orpheus knows also the Dionysiac krater and placesmany others around the Sun's table." 13 These are evidently Neo-platonic speculations. The contents of the

KpaTrpare unknown,

and this too must be put to one side.In the myth of the travels of Thespesius in the Underworld

Plutarch describes a great krater."4 Three daemons are seatedaround it and mix three streams of various colors. This is theoracle of Nyx and Selene which has no fixed place, but occurs tomen in dreams and images. It is added that Orpheus came untothis place when he sought for his wife, and as he did not rememberrightly, he divulged false information among men. Such a descrip-tion seems to be appropriate for a Kara'daro-t Etq A~8ov. An Orphicwriting with this title is quoted by the Alexandrian scholar Epi-genes, and thus Kern has placed the passage under this title as hisfragment 294. But it is not at all likely that a passage, whichcriticizes Orpheus so severely and even accuses him of spreading

false information among men, belongs to any Orphic writing.However, the krater looms large in Orphic literature. The titles

prove this but not more. Proclus has an important passage.'5Speaking of the two principal gods, Nyx and Phanes, he attributesthe life-producing krater to Nyx who, together with Phanes, bringsforth every living thing from the invisible, likewise as the kraterbears all souls of those in the world. The krater is said to be thesource of the souls of all living beings. Arnobius, who speaks of

the soul that flows in from living krateres,16 seems to have takenthis from a kindred source.

Here the reference to the mixing is not used; the krater is astorage vessel containing the life, the souls, or perhaps the soul-stuff, just like the krater at the symposium which contains the re-freshing wine. This passage comes near to another in the Oracula

18Proclus, in Timaeum, p. 41 D; Orphic. fragm., 217.

"1 Plutarch, de sera num. vind., p. 566 B f.1 Proclus in Timaeum E, prooem. iii, p. 169 Diehl; Orphic. fragm. o104,

7-6•81

Kpacr a 7-6woy6Yoi T7- NVCK7- Tl Tc^lr l i4 K -w^ al1JWP@Prapa-yolvfl wJ /Aert 7ov^

44'Jv71TO, (b Kat 6 KpaLri'p r&0-av o ToLJrlTv Kr6' ) /VXz'?."1 Arnobius, adv. nationes, ii, 25, haecine est anima docta illa quam dicitis, im-

mortalis, perfecta, divina, post deum principem rerum et post mentes geminaslocum optinens quarum et afluens ex crateribus vivis? (mentes geminas: daemoneset genios, conjecit Klussmann).









Chaldaica.17 In sophisticated language it speaks of "the band ofthe wonderful Eros who first, vested with the connecting firesprang forth from the Father, in order to mix the krateres of thesprings, holding forth the flower of fire." The passage speaks of amixing, that is the preliminary to the gushing forth from the liv-ing krateres.18

A krater flanked by birds, doves or peacocks, is seen in somepaintings, even in Christian paintings. E.g., in one of the Coeme-terium Callisti"1 are in the upper field five blessed dead in theattitude of

orantes,in the lower at each side a

krater,doves sit on

the rim and drink. The krater is not merely a decorative element,but has a symbolic sense. Certain sarcophagi show two opposedlions and between them a krater on which they lay their paws.20It would be worth while to enquire into these monuments; here itis not possible.

What has been set forth in the foregoing are but preliminaries othe most interesting problem, the interpretation of the only text

preserved with the title Kparip, the fourth Hermetic tract,'EptoD 7rp6g Tar, 6 KpaTqvp, q p

OV,&. The title is double and is as

usual taken from some particularities of the tract; it treats of theascension of the soul to God, the One and the Good. The Monas

"7Proclus in Parmenidem, p. 769. Cousin, ed. 2: W. Kroll, Oracula chaldaica(Breslauer philologische Abhandlungen, vi, 1895), p. 25,

•j6up "Epwros C'iro70Q, 8s K 60UoKKOpE 7rpw0roS

o-aciaevoo 7rept ms7rvpL) wi3p wavvULtov, 5pa Kepacaa?77r--yaiovS KpaT-pas co• irvps avOos f7rrtaXWBP.

Cf. Idem. Theol. Platonis, p. 318, 27 Portus, wmwyalovs o^V Kpar7-pas Kai oi OeoerpoeorfaTKaaL 7s 7rpw070wovpyOs V UfepLKWV ai7Ras.

18 Only in a footnote I quote a passage in which the content of the krater is theopposite. As a proof that the soul, inebriated with the matter, is drawn downwardsMacrobius, In somnium Scipionis, i, 12, 7, refers to the constellation Krater: craterLiberi patris ille sidereus in regione inter Cancrum et Leonem locatus ebrietatemillic primum descensuris animis evenire silva influente significans, unde et comesebrietatis oblivio illic animis incipit eam latenter obrepere. Kern has introducedthis passage as his fragment 241 with questionable right. The metaphor is clear,taken from the intoxication following the drinking of the wine in the krater. It isused to illustrate the well-known doctrine that when the soul is sent down into a

new incarnation, she,when

descending,is invested with the vices.

Accordingto the

Hermetism this takes place in the spheres of the planets, here the name of the con-stellations and the consequences of drinking wine have called forth another version.Just as an intoxicated man forgets his human nature, so the soul, intoxicated by theconstellation of the Krater, forgets his celestial nature.

oL. v. Sybel, Christliche Antike, i, 19o6. P1. iv to p. 256.0 Cumont, Recherches sur le symbolisme funeraire des Romains, 1942, pp. 158 f.

with fig. 26.








KRATER 57

appears in ? o f. as the first principle, the krater is described in?4. The text reads: KparTpa~ 'yav rrX17pco%-a3 OvTOv TOiVOP )

KaTE11EqJ, 01onkpVKaL, KacLEKEXEVEV aLTo K7Paor v-G LV.

&vpapervit Rap8Tvew'" lRcLITihovo- vrtVt gvvaCLfLaE TOVoiriV KpaT7pa,rPrroTtEVnOVO'a OT• Ioninw••, 7r ,

Father Festugiore has tried to explain this text in a learned

paper in this Review.21 Rejecting his first thought of a metaphorsimilar to oi',q) /TIt4EO-qOa&,22 he finds the explanation n two Gnos-

tic Coptic books, the Pistis Sophia and the book Jefi. (The readerwho wishes to know it is asked to look up the paper in question.)

A translation runs: "He (God) filled a large krater with this(the Nous), sent it down and added a messenger, and enjoinedhim to announce this to the hearts of men: you who are able, bap-tize yourself in this krater, you who trust that you can ascend to

Him who has sent down this krater, you who know to what you areborn. All who understood the message and were baptized with theNous, took part of the Wisdom and became complete men, hav-ing received the Nous." In a translation into a modern languagethe feminine forms and with them the reference to ma&Kap&'ac

vanish, and this is a serious impediment to a right understanding.A correct translation will be very clumsy and almost unreadable:"Thou heart that art able, immerse thyself in this krater, thouheart that trustest that thou will ascend to Him who has sent downthis krater, thou heart that knowest to what thou art born."

What the word Kap na,heart, here means is shown by a passagein the same tract: "you will see (God's image) with the eyes ofthe heart," and by two in the seventh tract: "look up with theeyes of the heart," and "look with your heart on Him who wants

21A.-J. Festugiere, Le bapteme dans le Crater, Harvard Theol. Review, XXXI,

1938, pp. I ff.I have

objectedto his

interpretationin

myGesch. d.

griech. Religion,ii, p. 584, n. I, but, my exposition not being satisfactory, I come back to the problemhere.

22 However, he seems now more inclined to such an understanding. In his reviewof my book, Revue des 6tudes grecques, lxiv, 1951, p. 485, he says: M. N.

preiftrepour pIcrr-rov aeavriv le sens metaphorique "durchtriinkt von etwas" a celui de"plonge-toi dans" que j'avais jadis adopte. Tres possible, et j'avais moi-memelongtemps hesite.









to be seen." 23 Kap8'a may perhaps be rendered with the word"mind," although such a translation is not very good.

If the peculiar significance of the word Kap81a in the quotedpassages is taken into account, it appears that the words in thequoted text cannot possibly refer to a concrete action, a sacral, ora mystical. The metaphor belongs evidently to the spiritual sphere.If the words Nous and Mind are used in a translation, it would belogical for us to say that Nous and Mind are mixed in the krater,24but the word Kap8ta, heart, kept so much of its concrete signifi-

cance to a Greek writer that he could not use such a phrase.He had to use another expression: P8arnrtELv, and this word tooneeds some explanation. Hearing the verb "baptize" we think ofthe baptismal act as we are wont to see it, the pouring out of wateron the child's head. We should rather think of the old baptism,when the person who was to be baptized descended into the water.This is confirmed by the fact that the verb

p36i•ro-rovvEavrTv is

followed by ELgwith an accusative: immerse yourself into the

krater. BaTrrti'ELv has originally precisely this significance, e.g.Plutarch says of a purification: 037jirno-ov cEavrbOv EI g

Xao'Toav.25In the passive the word signifies "to be wetted with," "imbuedwith," "oppressed by," even "to be drowned," o'tv1,Orv,

b•y )ao 3Ltpar1r-iEo-OaL. Such is the sense of the word here, im-

mersing itself in the krater filled with Nous the heart is wetted, im-bued with Nous and is able to see God. Thus the following sen-tence reads: "all those who understood the message and wereimbued with Nous got a part of the Wisdom and became completemen, having received Nous."

SCorp. Herm., iv, iI, 'P) dKpLtfP El61O-d.

Kai VOafELtT oEST S Kapias 6qOaXLoOSvii, I,

dv~,XdVareroFs 0OaXo^ts r s Kap5ias; Vii, 2, d/opcvrEs 7r Kap65 76

r?,v6paO6vatc dXovra. Nock points to I Clement, 36, 2, &t& o6rov (Christus) vefXeXO-qarfct~iv o1

p60aXtzo'^Is Kapilas. Cf. Corp. Herm., I, 31, 64at XOYLK&s valas &yv&s

drwb vXXS Kai Kap6ilas rp• • Varerap•vas;

cf. the Greek version of Asclepius, ii,p. 353 Nock-Festugiere, Xdcptv ot

oofal•evivX•

r•d'ciaKa

Kaps.iL7rpbs oeA

dAva•r-aE'dVV.Cf. also phrases such as Plato, de rep., p. 533 D, rb r~i kvxijs SApa; this seems to

be especially Platonic: Lucian, vitarum auctio, I8, rv/Xb' y&p e r ^s vvXs rbv6O)aXp6P. Corp. Herm., v, 2, v 7o-a y-p puyp-q p rb cicavir (God), ( Kadil ar

doavhs o~aa. el6Uao'at,

rots 70roO o6oOaXtotZs qav~ooEraL.24 Cf. K6p-q K6aELov, fragm. xxiii, 14, Nock-Festugibre, iv, p. 4,

-rve•Cay&p Saov

adpKeErv dro 7ero 61ov Xap'cVi Kacl oepE670•7ro

rvpt'

as a'yvw'orots roLv erepactXaLts CeKpaacE.

'Plutarch, de superstitione, p. i66 A.

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