Homeric Verses with Ritual Power

The paper investigates the Homeric “Prayer of Chryses”, as it appears in GEMF 30 (= PGM VI+II), with a particular focus on the associations built around the figures of Apollo (Smintheus) and Daphne/laurel. As this example shows, the power of Homeric verses in “magical” rituals is not grounded solely in Homer’s authority and/or the immediate meaning of the words, but also in the aura of meaning that certain Homeric verses or passages have acquired through their successive reuses and recontextualizations. In this respect, Homeric verses can function in a manner partially analogous to that of the historiolae, creatively adapting mythical elements and possibly reactivating a performative discourse (such as the famous Homeric prayer) in a new ritual context.