worship, an interesting ‘‘historical’’ narrative of how Apollo helped defeat the invad-
ing marauder Brennos, and then modulation into aeolic measures for what is perhaps
theprosodionmentioned in one title. There have been modern ‘‘recordings’’ made of
the music of these hymns (e.g. Gregorio Paniagua and the Atrium Musicae de
Madrid’sMusique de la Gre`ce antique[1979]). One can well imagine a chorus
moving up the Sacred Way toward the temple of Apollo repeatedly singing these
hymns. The Athenians were so pleased with them that they had them inscribed on the
walls of their ‘‘treasury’’ at Delphi.
So one cannot write a history of cult song in ancient Greece. We possess fragments
of varying poetic merit which have survived more or less fortuitously from what must
have been a mass of hieratic poetry. I doubt there was a heyday of cult poetry; it was a
continuous stream with notable stretches created by individual talents such as Pindar
(or indeed the Athenian dramatists). There was fluctuation owing to rising or waning
popularity of particular cults, and local tradition must have been extremely important.
Sometimes Euripides refers to the founding of cults – for example of Hippolytus at
Troizen, Iphigeneia at Brauron – with their attendant myths. One can be sure that
cult at these localities featured hymns celebrating the interplay of divine power with
heroic fates. I might close this essay with a challenge to the reader: to review in his or
her mind the elements suitable for a prayer or hymn in the following situation: one
has arrived as an army commander at the Peneus river in Thessaly. It is in flood owing
to a recent deluge in the mountains inland and impassable for the troops. What
animals should best be sacrificed and how should a prayer or supplicatory hymn be
formulated to rectify theimpasse?
GUIDE TO FURTHER READINGFor prayers see above all the standard study of Pulleyn 1997, and also Des Places 1959, Corlu
1966, Versnel 1981b and Aubriot-Se ́vin 1992. For hymns see above all Furley and Bremer
2001 (two volumes of texts, translations, and commentaries), and also Bremer 1981, Devlin
1994, and Furley 1995 and 2000. For paeans see Ka ̈ppel 1992 and Rutherford 2001 and for
dithyrambs Zimmermann 1992. Bremer 1998 discusses the notion of reciprocity in Greek
worship.
Prayers and Hymns 131