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It is well known that the legendary singer Orpheus was a source of inspiration for music and art in the Early Modern Age. Dr. Marzillo’s talk, however, pointed out that we also have to consider the theological aspect of the late sixteenth century reception of the writings ascribed to Orpheus.

After explaining Orpheus’ myth and introducing Orphic cult and writings, Dr. Marzillo came to speak of Orpheus’ astonishing career – from musician to epic poet, from poet to philosopher and finally from philosopher to theologian. It first reached its highest point during the revival of Platonic studies between the third and the sixth century AD. Christian authors had started regaining the idea of a Jewisized Orpheus connected to Moses and the Bible. So Neoplatonists, who felt the responsibility of defending Greek culture, referred to Orpheus’ authority and antiquity to demonstrate their chronological and hence qualitative superiority on Christian faith. Both parties, Pagans and Christians, had recourse to Orpheus in order to make him a forerunner of their own doctrines. Both utilized allegoresis in interpreting him. The result was that at the end of the fifth century Orpheus’ theology became a kind of a vulgarization of Christian Platonism. In this form, it was received in the late sixteenth century.

In an analog context of confessional debate, Protestant theologians mentioned Orpheus and its authority. In particular, Orpheus gained an important role in the frame of the debate on trinity. The Spanish theologian Michael Servetus tried to make him a supporter of Antitrinitarian ideas, whereas the orthodox Calvinist Theodor Beza mentioned Orpheus among those who believed in trinity. Both theologians, however, were not able to quote verses by Orpheus because they were not published yet. So Henricus Stephanus published in 1566 the Orphic Hymns and in 1573 a collection of “philosophical poetry” in which a large section is dedicated to Orpheus’ and his followers’ fragments; the famous humanist Joseph Justus Scaliger worked on Orpheus at least for the last twenty years of his life: on the one hand he corrected the original Greek text, on the other he commented on and interpreted it. Both scholars gave in this way a remarkable contribution to the confessional debate.