Hipta

Hipta is the nurse. In the Orphic telling Dionysus is sewn into the thigh of Sabazios-Zeus and, when he comes out, is handed to her; she rears him on Mount Tmolus in Lydia and carries him in a liknon, the winnowing-basket that is itself an object of the mysteries. Proclus knew a poem attributed to Orpheus called On Hipta, now lost. Her name is not Greek — it is generally connected with the Anatolian Hepat — and for a long time she existed only inside the Hymns, until inscriptions turned up in western Asia Minor showing she had a real cult there. That is precisely the history of Melinoe, already in this registry, and of Mise.

Domains

• nursing and fosterage

Relations

• ally: MiseOne of the three goddesses — with Mise and Melinoe — known only from the Hymns until Anatolian inscriptions confirmed them.Reference treatment noting that Mise, Hipta and Melinoe were known only from the Orphic Hymns until inscriptions from western Asia Minor revealed their cult. (secondary)
• nurse of: DionysosReceived the newborn Dionysus from the thigh of Sabazios-Zeus and reared him on Mount Tmolus.Reference treatment of Hipta receiving the newborn Dionysus and rearing him on Mount Tmolus. (secondary)
• subordinate to: SabaziosReceives the child from Sabazios-Zeus in the hymn to Sabazios; her role in the Orphic material is defined by that handing-over.Orphic Hymns, the hymn to Sabazios, in which the god hands the newborn Dionysus to Hipta. (primary)

Sources

• Hipta is an Anatolian goddess addressed in Orphic Hymn 49 who receives the newborn Dionysus from the thigh of Sabazios-Zeus and rears him on Mount Tmolus; Proclus knew an Orphic work On Hipta, and her cult is confirmed by inscriptions from western Asia Minor.: Orphic Hymns 49, to Hipta. (primary); Reference treatment of Hipta, the Tmolus fosterage, the liknon, Proclus's On Hipta, and the Anatolian inscriptions. (secondary)