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(coco) #1
O sweet message from Zeus, in what form
are you arriving in lovely Thebes
from Delphi, plentiful in gold?
My nerves are stretched in shaking
agitation of the heart,


  • Hail! Delian Apollo! –
    I am in awe of you. What claim
    do you intend to make on me,
    new, or one with a long history?
    Tell me, please, child of Anticipation,
    news from heaven.
    (Oedipus Tyrannus151–7)


sings the Chorus in Sophocles’Oedipus Tyrannuswhen Thebes is afflicted by plague,
and it hopes to receive an oracle from Delphi which will instruct it on the path to
salvation. Now these two examples are literary prayer-hymns; they express a sense
of vague (or very specific) anxiety which suits the dramatic context: the songs of
the Chorus are functional elements in the unfolding drama. Nevertheless, we know
from many sources that a necessary and tricky part of polytheism was first to establish
to which god(s) one should address oneself in prayer and sacrifice. Oracles and
prophets were regularly asked by states and individuals: ‘‘To which god(s)?’’ (Versnel
1981b:5–6; cf. Chapter 9 in this volume) The answer was usually a combination
of gods almost like ingredients in herbal medicine: not one, but a combination of
active ingredients was thought most efficacious. Then the worshiper went home and
sacrificed and prayed to precisely this combination of powers, stating their names
and attributes meticulously (Versnel 1990 talks of the ‘‘henotheistic moment’’ in
polytheism). So, whilst I think there is truth in the contention of Pulleyn (1997:106)
that the elaborate naming at the beginning of hymns and prayers is more for the greater
glory of the gods than because the worshiper is worried he may omit one, I think we
should remember that the identification of the right godswasacrucialmatter,one
requiring great verbal care. Elsewhere I have referred to the ‘‘diagnostic’’ quality of
many theatrical hymns: they ask rhetorically which of a number of deities is responsible
for the human crisis being staged (Furley 2000). In real life, prayers and hymns named
the deities which had been identified previously bymantike ̄or were traditional in a
given area. One could not afford to pray and sacrifice with a question prefixed: ‘‘Are
you the right god(s) for this petition?’’.
Another parody, this time from Aristophanes’Thesmophoriazusae, illustrates the
onus of due naming in prayer-hymns well. The tragic poet Agathon is overheard
rehearsing with his chorus of girls; they ask him ‘‘To which of the gods is our
celebration addressed? Speak. I’m inclined faithfully to worship the gods.’’ The
following verses involve a lyric dialogue between Agathon and his chorus, in which
he names a god and the chorus ‘‘echo’’ his suggestion; I give only the first two
divinities mentioned (Austin and Olson 2004 ad loc.):


AGATHON. Praise now in your song
the drawer of golden bows,
Phoibos, who founded a city
in the land of the Simoeis.

Prayers and Hymns 123
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