We enjoy a great abundance of Greco-Roman religious material since Hellenes and Latins lived in highly literate societies. Medieval pagan practices are forever lost because they were largely oral and practiced by illiterate societies. Here are a series of ancient hymns to be recited before prayer to attract a god’s presence.

Zeus

“Io, Kouros most Great, I give thee hail, Kronian, Lord of all that is

wet and gleaming, thou art come at the head of thy Daimones. To

Dikte for the Year, Oh, march, and rejoice in the dance and song,

that we make to thee with harps and pipes mingled together, and sing

as we come to a stand at thy well-fenced altar. For here the shielded

Nurturers took thee, a child immortal, from Rhea, and with noise of

beating feet hid thee away.

And the Horai began to be fruitful year by year and Dike to possess

mankind, and all wild living things were held about by wealth-loving

Peace. To us also leap for full jars, and leap for fleecy flocks, and leap

for fields of fruit, and for hives to bring increase. Leap for our Cities,

and leap for our sea.”

-Cretan hymn to the son of Cronos,

author unknown since it was found carved on a wall in ruins.

Persephone

“March chanting loud your lays Your hearts and voices raising The

Saviour goddess praising Who vows she ll still Our city save to

endless days Whate er Thorycion’s will”

-Aristophanes, Frogs

Demeter

“O Lady over our rites presiding Preserve and succour thy choral

throng And grant us all in thy help confiding To dance and revel the

whole day long And much in earnest and much in jest Worthy thy feast

may we speak therein And when we have bantered and laughed our best

The victor’s wreath be it ours to win”

-Aristophanes, Frogs

Dionysus

“O God of many names, glory of the Cadmeian bride, offspring of

loud-thundering Zeus! thou who watchest over famed Italia, and

reignest, where all guests are welcomed, in the sheltered plain of

Eleusinian Deo! O Bacchus, dweller in Thebe, mother-city of Bacchants,

by the softly-gliding stream of Ismenus, on the soil where the fierce

dragon’s teeth were sown!

Thou hast been seen where torch-flames glare through smoke, above the

crests of the twin peaks, where move the Corycian nymphs, thy

votaries, hard by Castalia’s stream.

Thou comest from the ivy-mantled slopes of Nysa’s hills, and from the

shore green with many-clustered vines, while thy name is lifted up on

strains of more than mortal power, as thou visitest the ways of Thebe:

Thebe, of all cities, thou holdest first in honour, thou and thy

mother whom the lightning smote; and now, when all our people is

captive to a violent plague, come thou with healing feet over the

Parnassian height, or over the moaning strait!

O thou with whom the stars rejoice as they move, the stars whose

breath is fire; O master of the voices of the night; son begotten of

Zeus; appear, O king, with thine attendant Thyiads, who in night-long

frenzy dance before thee, the giver of good gifts, Iacchus!”

-Sophocles, Antigone

“O come with the joy of thy festival song O come to the goddess O mix

with our throng Untired though the journey be never so long O Lord of

the frolic and dance lacchus beside me advance For fun and for

cheapness our dress thou hast rent Through thee we may dance to the

top of our bent Reviling and jeering and none will resent O Lord of

the frolic and dance lacchus beside me advance A sweet pretty girl I

observed in the show Her robe had been torn in the scuffle and lo

There peeped through the tatters a bosom of snow O Lord of the frolic

and dance lacchus beside me advance ”

-Aristophanes, Frogs

Artemis

“Lady, lady most revered, daughter of Zeus, my greeting, daughter of

Leto and of Zeus, of maidens the fairest by far, who dwellest in the

broad heaven in the court of your good father, the gilded house of

Zeus. My greeting to you, fair one, fairest of all who dwell in

Olympus!”

-Euripides, Hippolytus

“O sovereign goddess, to you I bring

this garland made of woven flowers

gathered in unspoiled meadowlands,

where shepherds dare not graze their flocks

and harvest sickles are still unknown.

In spring, bees fly through pristine fields,

and modest Reverence feeds the land

with purest streams of river dew.

These flowers the virtuous may pick,

the ones who keep a constant rein

on their desires in all they do,

whose virtue comes from who they are

and not from what they have been taught.

But those who are not pure may not do so.

Dear mistress, accept from my chaste hand

this flowery wreath for your golden hair.

Of mortal men I am the only one

who has the privilege of spending time

alone with you. We converse together,

and though I never gaze upon your face,

I can hear your voice. I pray my life

will end like this, just as it has begun.”

-Euripides, Hippolytus

Apollo and Artemis

“O universal lights

Most glorious! ye that lead the gliding year

Along the sky, Liber and Ceres mild,

If by your bounty holpen earth once changed

Chaonian acorn for the plump wheat-ear,

And mingled with the grape, your new-found gift,

The draughts of Achelous; and ye Fauns

To rustics ever kind, come foot it, Fauns

And Dryad-maids together; your gifts I sing.

And thou, for whose delight the war-horse first

Sprang from earth’s womb at thy great trident’s stroke,

Neptune; and haunter of the groves, for whom

Three hundred snow-white heifers browse the brakes,

The fertile brakes of Ceos; and clothed in power,

Thy native forest and Lycean lawns,

Pan, shepherd-god, forsaking, as the love

Of thine own Maenalus constrains thee, hear

And help, O lord of Tegea! And thou, too,

Minerva, from whose hand the olive sprung;

And boy-discoverer of the curved plough;

And, bearing a young cypress root-uptorn,

Silvanus, and Gods all and Goddesses,

Who make the fields your care, both ye who nurse

The tender unsown increase, and from heaven

Shed on man’s sowing the riches of your rain:

And thou, even thou, of whom we know not yet

What mansion of the skies shall hold thee soon,

Whether to watch o’er cities be thy will,

Great Caesar, and to take the earth in charge,

That so the mighty world may welcome thee

Lord of her increase, master of her times,

Binding thy mother’s myrtle round thy brow,

Or as the boundless ocean’s God thou come,

Sole dread of seamen, till far Thule bow

Before thee, and Tethys win thee to her son

With all her waves for dower; or as a star

Lend thy fresh beams our lagging months to cheer,

Where ‘twixt the Maid and those pursuing Claws

A space is opening; see! red Scorpio’s self

His arms draws in, yea, and hath left thee more

Than thy full meed of heaven: be what thou wilt-

For neither Tartarus hopes to call thee king,

Nor may so dire a lust of sovereignty

E’er light upon thee, howso Greece admire

Elysium’s fields, and Proserpine not heed

Her mother’s voice entreating to return-

Vouchsafe a prosperous voyage, and smile on this

My bold endeavour, and pitying, even as I,

These poor way-wildered swains, at once begin,

Grow timely used unto the voice of prayer.

In early spring-tide, when the icy drip

Melts from the mountains hoar, and Zephyr’s breath

Unbinds the crumbling clod, even then ’tis time;

Press deep your plough behind the groaning ox,

And teach the furrow-burnished share to shine.

That land the craving farmer’s prayer fulfils,

Which twice the sunshine, twice the frost has felt;

Ay, that’s the land whose boundless harvest-crops

Burst, see! the barns.”

-Virgil

Olympian Eros

This hymn is to Aphrodite’s son who shouldn’t be confused with primeval Eros AKA Phanes.

“Eros, god of love, distilling liquid desire down upon the eyes,

bringing sweet pleasure to the souls of those against whom you make

war, never to me may you show yourself to my hurt nor ever come but in

due measure and harmony. For the shafts neither of fire nor of

the stars exceed the shaft of Aphrodite, which Eros, Zeus’s son, hurls

forth from his hand.”

-euripides hippolytus

Rhea

“A mother of gods and men! O assistant and partner in the throne of

mighty Jupiter! O fountain of the intellectual gods! O thou whose

nature concurs with the uncontaminated essences of intelligibles, and

who, receiving a common cause from all intelligibles, dost impart it

to intellectual natures! Vivific goddess, Counsel and Providence, and

the fabricator of our souls! O thou who didst love the mighty Bacchus,

who didst preserve the castrated Attis, and when he had fallen into

the cavern of earth, didst again lead him upwards to his pristine

abode! O thou who art the leader of every good to the intellectual

gods, with which thou dost likewise fill this sensible world, and who

dost impart to us all possible good in every thing belonging to our

nature! Graciously bestow upon all men felicity, the summit of which

is the knowledge of the gods: but especially grant to the Roman people

in common, that they may wipe away the stains of their impiety; and

that they may be blessed with prosperous fortune, which, in

conjunction with them, may govern the empire for many thousands of

years. But with respect to myself, may the fruit of my cultivation of

thy divinity be the possession of truth in dogmata concerning the

gods, perfection in Theurgy, in all the actions which I shall

undertake, both political and military, virtue, in conjunction with

good fortune; and lastly a departure from the present life without

pain, and attended with glory, together with good hope of a

progression to thy divinity.”

-Emperor Julian, oration 5

Muses

“You Pieridian maidens, Muses all, tell me how Alphesiboeus responded,

we cannot all do all things. (Alphesiboeus said), ?Bring water, and

gird this altar with soft wool fillets, burn rich vervain and male

frankincense, that I may attempt, with magic spells and sacrifice, to

turn aside my love’s wiser senses, nothing is to be missing save the

force of my song. Away from the city, away from his home, my charms,

draw Daphnis forth to me.

Spells can draw down the moon from the heavens; Circe’s incantations

changed Ulysses? friends from their human forms; furthermore, by

singing charms the cold-blooded serpent is burst apart. Away from the

city, away from his home, my charms, draw Daphnis forth to me.

Three times around I first bind you with this thread of three diverse

colours, then three times I lead your effigy around this altar. Uneven

numbers please the gods. Away from the city, away from his home, my

charms, draw Daphnis forth to me.

Bind, Amaryllis, with triple knots the three coloured strings

together. Bind, Amaryllis, while singing a charm in this manner, “A

chain of Venus I weave, a chain of Venus I weave, a chain of Venus I

weave to bind my lover.” Away from the city, away from his home, my

charms, draw Daphnis forth to me.

As this clay image shall harden its heart towards others, and this wax

figure shall soften to me by this very same fire, so too, by our love,

will Daphnis be towards me.

Pay with a mole of salt and burn the fragile bay leaf with bitumen; as

cruel Daphnis makes me burn, so I with this laurel shall make Daphnis

to burn for me. Away from the city, away from his home, my charms,

draw Daphnis forth to me.

Such is my love for Daphnis, even as a wearied heifer who through

forest grove and woodland heights seeks out a young steer to stud her,

near the water of a mountain stream, will bend down upon green sedge,

abandoned, does not think to return to the safety behind bolted gates

at the descent of night, such my love keeps hold of me, no cures shall

remedy me. Away from the city, away from his home, my charms, draw

Daphnis forth to me.

These garments my unfaithful lover once left to me as a pledge of his

love. These now, O Earth, on this very threshold I give to you; these

pledges Daphnis, bound by charms and promises, must reclaim. Away from

the city, away from his home, my charms, draw Daphnis forth to me.

These herbs Moeris gave to me, poisons he picked herself in Pontus,

(Pontus where many such baneful herbs are born). Often have I seen

Moeris changed by such herbs into the form of wolf and conceal himself

in the forest. Often have I seen him summon souls from their graves,

and seen him transport a harvest of grain across to a fallow field.

Away from the city, away from his home, my charms, draw Daphnis forth

to me.

Carry the ashes outside, Amaryllis, to the flowing stream, and throw

them over your head; do not look back. With this I will attack the

heart of Daphnis; he cares nothing for the Gods, he cares nothing for

charms. Away from the city, away from his home, my charms, draw

Daphnis forth to me.

Look! The embers stir themselves to seize upon the altar with rising

flames, while I delay to carry them. May it be a good omen. I know not

for certain what it is, and yet Hylax, as a sign, on the threshold

barks! May we believe it? Or do lovers only fool themselves with

wishful dreams? Away from the city, away from his home, my charms,

draw Daphnis forth to me. ”

-Virgil

“O most glorious lights above, stars illuminating the universe, you

lead in the gliding year. Liber and gentle Ceres, if by your gifts the

earth once changed, exchanging Chaonian acorns for rich heads of

grain, and receiving your invention of wine from Acheloian cups, and

you Fauns, your divine presence an aid for rustics, bring dancing

feet, as when Dryad girls frolic with Fauns, of your gifts I sing. And

you, O Neptune, for whom the earth first brought forth the horse from

her womb by the pounding of your trident; and inhabitant of sacred

groves, for whom three hundred snow white heifers graze along fertile

Ceaean thickets, quitting your own native woodlands and Lycean

pastures, Pan, patron god of shepherds and sheep alike, though your

love for Mount Maenalus calls to you, come, O Tegean Pan, favoring us

with your presence. And Minerva, inventrix of olive oil; and the boy

inventor of the curved plough, Silvanus, carrying tender cypress

saplings. All you Gods and Goddesses, whose affection is to watch over

fields, both nourish seeds to rise up as the earth’s new bounty and

send ample rain down from the heavens.”

-Virgil

Tisiphone

“Daughter of the nurturing Night, with your right hand lay low these

walls, and in their pride fell these people by their own hands. Juno

bids it. She brings Herself on nearby clouds and will watch your

zealous execution of all She asks. Use the bolts that confound the

gods and even Highest Jupiter, and that make Dis Pater in the lowest

depths tremble, with flame and monstrous serpents and your hideous

hissing that shuts the mouths of Cerberus with fear; and, with

frothing bile and venom and whatever other vicious compound you make,

and everything abundantly painful and wrathful to you boil up in their

hearts, to swiftly heap up the Rutilians’ thread and send all of

Saguntum to Erebus. May this be the cost for Fides’ gentle descent

upon them.

-silius italicus