A PHALLUS HARD TO SWALLOW: 

THE MEANING OF ΑIΔΟIΟΣ IN THE DERVENI PAPYRUS

THE CONTROVERSY OF THE ΑIΔΟIΟΝ:URANUS’ PHALLUS OR  PROTOGONOS?

MARCO ANTONIO SANTAMARÍA ÁLVAREZ

.....the author of the Derveni Papyrus comments upon narrates the events that led Zeus to his seizure of power and alludes very summarily to his ancestors. The most important action that Zeus executes after receiving power from his father is described in the verse: αἰδοῖον κατ̣έπινεν, ὃς αἰθέρα ἔκθορ̣̣ε πρῶτος ( 8). The most controversial issue of the Derveni Papyrus has arguably been the meaning of the αἰδοῖον that Zeus swallows. Two opposing stances have been held: some scholars have understood it as a substantive meaning “phallus” and referring to Uranus’ member, cut off by Cronus (hereafter, hypothesis A); others have considered it an adjective meaning “venerable” and alluding to Protogonos, the firstborn god (hereafter, hypothesis B).Walter Burkert was the first to claim that αἰδοῖον means “phallus.” Geoffrey S. Kirk (independently, it seems) translates Orphic fragment 8 as “[Zeus] swallowed down the phallus [of him] who first leapt up to the upper air,” and states that the phallus is “the one severed from Ouranos by Kronos”; he translates Orphic fragment 12.1 (πρωτογόνου βασιλέως αἰδοίου) as “of the phallus of the first-born king.” According to Burkert, in Orphic fragment 8 “Zeus is made to ‘swallow the genitals’ of the god ‘who first had ejaculated the brilliance of the sky’; this must be Uranos, the ‘first king.’ Many other scholars have adhered to this theory and added further arguments in its favor.