ODES OF SOLOMON. - This is the title of 42 hymns written in Greek in the 2nd century and inspired by a very hazy mysticism.

The very lack of clear outlines in this religious poetry, otherwise beautiful, makes the classification of the O. of S. difficult: to some they seem rather of Gnostic origin, to others instead compatible with orthodoxy. The Word is praised (ode 12), the descensus ad inferos is sung (ode 17), and there is mention (ode 19) of the virginal conception of a woman by the Father and the Holy Spirit, in which some recognize an allusion to the Madonna.

The author of the O. of S. is unknown; they are known in their entirety (except for ode 2) through an ancient Syriac version edited by J. R. Harris-A. Mingana (2 vols., Cambridge 1916-20). The Gnostic book Pistis Sophia contains 5 odes.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: French translation: J. Labourt-P. Batifoli, Les Odes de Salomon, Paris 1911; Italian translation, Le O. di S., Rome 1914; J. M. Bover, La mariologia en las Odas de Salomon, in Estudios Eclesiásticos, 10 (1931), pp. 349-63; B. Altaner, Patrologie, Freiburg im Br. 1950, p. 47 with bibliography.

Ignazio Ortiz De Urbina

@incollection{ec9_odi_di_salomone, author = {Ortiz, de Urbina Ignazio}, title = {Odi di Salomone}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {70}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/odi-di-salomone} }

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Odes of Solomon

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