| In contrast with the exclusively action-focused approach to ancient Greek sacrifice that has long dominated the field, this study attempts to bring about a new awareness of the importance of prayer and hymns in connection with sacrifice. Through the analysis of a wide array of sources, the first chapters attempt to recapture the sense of connection that the ancient worshipper perceived at work between both prayers and hymns and the performance of a sacrifice. With each new source a deep sense of connection becomes more and more clear, thus revealing the impossibility of thinking about sacrifice without also taking into account its verbal dimension. The third chapter analyzes sources attempting a more technical study of literary genres, among them the hymns pronounced during sacrifice. The disconnect between sacrifice and the genres of hymns pronounced during its performance can be seen as originating in antiquity when most ancient scholars discuss hymns meant for performance during sacrificial festivals without contextualizing them, often due to a lack of direct knowledge of such festive occasions. Chapter Four is dedicated to the analysis of a few chosen hymns known to have been used in ritual practice: the paean from Erythrae, the Diktean Hymn to the Kouros, and Pindar, Paean 6. The entire study ends with an appendix dedicated to a specific class of aetiological myths in which the performance of a festival is connected to a mythical or semi-mythical performance of a paean or another kind of verbal utterance in connection with sacrifice. The festival as known in historical times is presented as the perpetuation of a past event that brought together verbal and non-verbal elements, or, if one prefers, one could see in the mythical episode a projection into the mythical past of those elements perceived as essential to the sacrificial ritual. Our ancient sources were aware that both readings are correct. |
