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... ing Greek manuscript, was discovered in the remains of a funeral pyre1 almost forty years ago, in January 1962. Along with other bizarre and astounding material, it offers an allegorical interpretation of a cosmogonic poem ascribed to Orpheus. It is a text of capital importance for understanding the religious and philosophical crisis of the late fifth century B.C.E., when polytheism was challenged by monotheism and pantheism. The papyrus' final publication is still awaited, although the difficult and painstaking work of putting together the over 200 carbonized fragments, recovered by the use of static electricity, appears, according to what has been published, to be largely complete.2 Meanwhile, considerably more can be done to interpret what is already known of the papyrus, especially since the recent publication of a greatly improved text of its opening.3 The excellent supplements there offered prove that this text is a work of the sophistic enlightenment, by clarifying its attitude to mystery cult and traditional Greek religion in general.4 In offering a translation based on my own restorations of the original Greek, I shall argue three propositions, which are wholly independent of each other: For help in developing the ideas in this article I wish to thank audiences at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and in particular