Prayer in Greek Religion (Oxford Classical Monographs)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book if you practice Hellenismos
Review: I was very impressed with this book. Written for an academic audience, it contains extensive quotes from primary sources and esteemed secondary sources. The ideas were presented in a very lucid manner, and the language itself was very accessible to an average adult reader. One must keep in mind, however, that this book was not written by a polytheist, or written for a pagan audience. However, it is of great value to us as practitioners of Hellenismos because it presents an accurate description of what prayer was for the ancient Hellenes.

The underlying theme of the book is that prayer is an expression of ÷Üñéò. This is the reciprocal nature of the relationship between the gods and humans. We ask things of the gods, and also give things to them. They receive our offerings, and grant our requests. Pulleyn states, "[P]rayer for a Greek meant asking the gods for something. One had to give as well as take. One did not customarily approach the gods empty handed. Prayer was not of itself an autonomous mode of religious action. It relied on sacrifice." (p. 15) He arrives at this conclusion after looking at prayers documented in texts which are still available to us. In fact, throughout the book, he not only sites the primary sources, but gives us the original text with its translation.

Several points that he makes in this book are essential for those of us trying to reconstruct this religion. Let me give a few examples: Sacrifice always accompanies prayer. The gods were usually prayed to separately. Prayers were always said aloud, even when alone. One raised the hands above the head when praying. Kneeling was a rather uncommon position in which to pray. Magic and curses, while done, were not extremely common. There were no "pre-set" prayers such as ones used by Christians. Women didn't offer public prayers unless they were priestesses. To me, I have found these, and others, to be extremely helpful in understanding the way in which to live my religion. These details allow us to take this from an academic activity and make this into a living religion, complete with theory and action.

One other thing that I liked about this book was that one can pull phrases from documented prayers to use in one's own worship. Even though prayers were composed for each occasion, there were certain phrases that were used often. Myself, I like to use these phrases as I feel I am participating in the tradition of Hellenismos, and continuing it into this century. Therefore phrases such as "Hear me, God of the Silver Bow" which is used in The Iliad is something that I will incorporate into my repertoire.

The only criticism I have of this book is the price tag. It seems as though it is only available in hard cover, so it is rather expensive. However, it should be available at larger libraries. It is well worth the trouble of trying to locate it, as reading it will give you a level of understanding that will benefit your worship immensely.