CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Performing the Sacred:
Prayers and Hymns
Frances Hickson Hahn
Religious rituals were a favorite subject for Roman sculptors and painters; we
possess countless images of processions and sacrifices, but only a very few that expli-
citly show a worshiper in the act of praying. This is not surprising given both the
difficulties of portraying and characterizing speech and by contrast the unambigu-
ous and visually more interesting scenes of ritual action. In any event, sculptures and
paintings are mute: we do not hear the sound of the pipes or the priest dictating
the prayer formulae or the magistrate repeating the solemn words. And yet, all sacrifices
and offerings were accompanied by prayers, most simply defined as words addressed
to divine powers. Clearly prayer was the most ubiquitous form of religious ritual in
Rome, since it not only accompanied all ritual acts but could stand alone as an
independent speech act. This chapter attempts to restore the voices to those silent
images. After opening with a consideration of the potency of ritual words, I analyze
a series of prayers illustrating the different varieties of prayer and characteristics of
their performance. The chapter concludes with consideration of the role of prayer
in the socio-political life of ancient Rome.
The Power of Ritual Words
Answering the question “do words have any potency?,” Pliny the Elder responds
that “a sacrifice without prayer is thought to be useless and not a proper consulta-
tion of the gods” (Nat.28.10). But the choice of the correct form of prayer was
crucial. As Valerius Maximus writes: “following ancient tradition... one must use
a prayer of petition when entrusting something for protection, a vow when making
a request, a prayer of thanksgiving when fulfilling a vow, an inquiry when divining
the will of the gods” (1.1.1). This was a significant aspect of the Roman emphasis