first word, for instance RV 1. 146. 1 trimu ̄rdha ̄ ́nam
̇
saptáras ́mim
̇gr
̇n
̇̄sı
̇e
ánu ̄nam Agním, ‘the three-headed, seven-rayed one I exalt, the flawless Agni’;
Anacreon, PMG 348. 1–3γουνο μα σ, $λαφηβο ́ λε | ξανθ^ πα4 ∆ι: qγρων |
δσποιν, eρτεμι θηρ;ν, ‘I supplicate you, deer-shooter, fair-haired daughter of
Zeus, Artemis mistress of beasts of the wild’;PMG 885. 1 Πλο3του μητρ,
Ο, λυμπαν qεδω | ∆ μητρα, ‘Wealth’s Olympian mother I sing, Demeter’;
similarly in Umbrian ritual, Tab. Iguv. VIa. 22 teio subocau suboco, Dei
Graboui, ‘thee I invoke, Jupiter Grabovius’, and in the Gaulish curse-tablet
from Chamalières, line 1 andedíon uediíumi diíiuion risunartiu Mapon Arue-
riíatin, ‘by virtue of the Lower Gods I invoke Mapon Arveriatis’.^3
In certain cases it is specified that the god is the first to be invoked, when
others are to be added afterwards: RV 1. 35. 1 hváya ̄mi Agním prathamám
̇
suastáye, | hváya ̄mi Mitra ̄ ́várun
̇
a ̄v iha ̄ ́vase, ‘I call on Agni first for well-being,
I call Mitra and Varuna hither for help’; 112. 1 ı ̄ ́l
̄
e Dya ̄ ́va ̄pr
̇thivı ̄ ́ pu ̄rvácittaye, |
Agním
̇
gharmám
̇surúcam
̇ya ̄ ́man is
̇t
̇áye, ‘I invoke Heaven and Earth for prior
mindfulness, (then) Agni, bright blaze, to be eager in coming’; Aesch. Eum.
1f. πρ;τον μCν ε1χHι τHιδε πρεσβε3ω θε;ν | τ^ν πρωτο ́ μαντιν Γα4αν, $κ δC τH
Θμιν,‘firstly among the gods in this prayer I venerate the primal prophetess
Earth, and after her Themis’; Soph. OT 159 πρ;τα σC κεκλο ́ μενο, θ3γατερ
∆ι: Eμβροτ, Lθα ́ να, | γαια ́ οχο ́ ν τ, qδελφεα ́ ν | eρτεμιν ... | κα? Φο4βον καβο ́ λον
α!τ;,‘firstly invoking thee, daughter of Zeus, immortal Athena, and thy
sister who holds the land, Artemis... and Phoebus the far-shooter I pray’.
Sometimes, however, other gods are not mentioned, and the idea is just ‘you
are first in our thoughts’, as in RV 1. 102. 9 tuva ̄ ́m
̇
devés
̇u prathamám
̇
hava ̄mahe, ‘theefirst among the gods we invoke’, 8. 31. 14; Y. 29. 10, 31. 8;
Theognis 1–4, ‘O Lord, son of Leto, child of Zeus, never will I forget thee as I
begin, nor when I cease: always I will sing of thee first and last and in
between’.
This motif of ‘not forgetting’ to sing of the god is found twice in the
Homeric Hymns (3. 1, 7. 58 f.). But it too is Vedic: RV 7. 22. 5 ná te gíro ápi
mr
̇
s
̇ye turásya, | ná sus
̇t
̇utím asuríyasya vidva ̄ ́n: | sáda ̄ te na ̄ ́ma svayas ́o vivakmi,
‘I do not forget (my) praise-songs for thee the powerful one, not the eulogy
for (thee) the divine, I who know: ever I proclaim thy name, self-glorious
one’.
Vedic and early Greek agree further in a syntactic peculiarity that some-
times appears when two deities are invoked together. One is addressed in the
(^3) Lambert (2003), 154 f. In risunartiu we have apparently a preposition ri(s) with the instru-
mental of su-nartion‘good manhood’. This may be an ancient sacral word, cf. RV 10. 104. 5 táva
su ̄nr ́
̇
ta ̄bhih
̇
‘by thy [Indra’s] generosity’.
306 8. Hymns and Spells