Orpheus, Theophilos Kairis and “The Great Moon Hoax”
Orpheus, Theophilos Kairis and “The Great Moon Hoax”

Summary/Abstract: This paper is about a challenging case of the reception of Orphic poetry in the 19th century. We present the use of an Orphic passage by the Greek man of letters Theophilos Kairis (1784-1853) in a supposedly scientific context. Kairis had wide interests and specific knowledge on many philosophical and epistemological issues. He was nevertheless close to becoming one of the victims of “The Great Moon Hoax” of 1835, namely the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon falsely attributed to the famous astronomer Sir John Herschel. Kairis was aware of the situation, as a series of letters exchanged between him and his sister Evanthia reveals. In the course of the story’s exposition he quoted an Orphic passage (fr. 155 Bernabé). It is argued that Kairis’ knowledge of the Orphic passage in question was in all probability due to the fact that he was familiar with Brucker’s chapter on Orphism (J.J. Brucker, Historia critica philosophiae, vol. I, Leipzig 1744), where this passage is quoted.

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