she sits with draped or walks with upright leg
to aid her friends, or like a bold commander
she reconnoitres the Phlegraean plain,
may she come: a god hears even from afar.
(Aesch. Eum. 292–7; cf. Il. 16. 514 f.; Ananias fr. 1;
Ar. Nub. 270–3; Anon. PMG 950a.)PrayersWhen the deity has been effectively invoked and lauded, it remains to ask him
or her for boons. This completes a logical structure that is arguably Indo-
European. The invocatory hymn to Telibinu read daily on behalf of the Hittite
king exemplifies it well. Here it is in outline:
(Summons to the god) Now whether, esteemed Telibinu, thou art up in heaven among
the gods, or in the sea, or gone to roam the mountains, or gone to the country of the
enemy to battle, now let the sweet and soothing cedar essence summon thee: come
back to thy temple!... Whatever I say to thee, hold thine ear inclined to me, O god,
and hearken to it.
(Praises, occupying about half of the whole) Thou, Telibinu, art an estimable god; thy
name is estimable among names; thy divinity is estimable among the gods...
(Prayers, paraphrased) Grant the king and queen and princes life, health, strength,
long years, progeny, fertility of crops and livestock, peace and prosperity; transfer
famine and plague to our enemies’ lands.^30
The proportions are very variable, depending on occasion and circum-
stances. If the prayer part is of a routine nature, it is often confined to the
closing section of the composition; e.g. RV 1. 5. 10 ‘may mortals do us no
bodily harm, hymn-loving Indra; as you have the power, ward off the death-
blow’; 1. 6. 10, 16. 9, 116. 25, 159. 5; 3. 32. 17 = 34. 11; 4. 15. 9 f.; Hymn. Dem.
490–4, Hymn. Hom. 6. 19 f., 10. 5, 11. 5, 15. 9, 20. 8, 22. 7, 26. 12 f., 30. 18, 31.
17, Bacchyl. 17. 130–2, Timoth. Pers. 237–40.
The prayer texts that have come down to us are for the most part of a
public nature. Blessings are requested not for a single individual but for a
smaller or larger group: the circle of sacrificers, or the whole community or
country. Individuals’ prayers for themselves would not normally have been
recorded and preserved unless they were of a literary or exemplary character,
intended for public appreciation. Circumstances of transmission also favour
re-usable prayers, that is, those asking for such general benefits as are always
(^30) CTH 377; Lebrun (1980), 180–91.
- Hymns and Spells 323