$ Zρφναν μολο ́ ντα παι
δ, εAτε ∆ιο ́ νιν εAπω | εAτ, ,Αμφιτρ3ωνο jνιν | 0μνη
σαι
στεφα ́ νωμα μο ́ χθων δι, ε1λογα θλω (352–6). Another such recital, in the
second person, appears in the cult hymn that Virgil describes as sung by
the Salii in memory of Hercules’ killing of Cacus (Aen. 8. 287–303).
It was argued in Chapter 6 that Heracles absorbed some of the mythology
attached to the Indo-European storm-god, and that the story of Hercules and
Cacus is a version of the same myth as that of Indra and Vr
̇
tra. It is striking
that this technique of serial allusion to mythical deeds is a feature of hymns
to both Indra and Heracles. The coincidence is yet more telling when we find
that their Nordic counterpart Thor is praised in the same style by tenth-
century skalds:
You broke the legs of Leikn,
lamed Thrivaldi,
overthrew Starkadr,
stood over Gialpr’s corpse.
It hit on Keila’s pate,
Kiallandi you broke entire;
before that you slew Lutr and Leidi,
you made Buseyra bleed,
you hobbled Hengiankiapta;
Hyrrokkinn died earlier;
yet sooner was the swarthy
Svivor robbed of life.^15Perhaps all this reflects an ancient Indo-European tradition of hymns to the
Storm-god.
‘Hear us’Hymns and prayers typically call upon the god or gods addressed to ‘hear’.^16
We find this already in Hittite prayers, as for example in Mursili’s Plague
Prayers, nusmas kuit memiskimi, numu istamasten, ‘what I am saying, hear
me!’;numudUuruH
̆
atti EN- istamas, numu h
̆uisnut, ‘Storm-god of Hatti,
my lord, hear me, and save me’.^17
In Indo-Iranian, Greek, and Messapic the traditional verb used is the local
reflex of *lu, often in association with the god’s name in the vocative and/or
(^15) Vetrliði and Thorbiorn dísarskáld, quoted by Snorri in Skáldsk. 4 vv. 57–8.
(^16) Schmitt (1967), 195–9; Campanile (1977), 63–5. So in some Semitic prayers: West (1997),
270 f.
(^17) CTH 378(1) rev. 28′; (2) A rev. 21 = Lebrun (1980), 197, 208; cf. 376 A obv. 5′, 377 i 15 f.,
384 ii 14 (Lebrun, 157, 181, 332).
316 8. Hymns and Spells