Words
spoken
to the
gods.
Antiquae Preces — an open collection of ancient prayers: hymns, incantations, votive formulas, liturgical texts of Greece and Rome. With originals, translations, and brief commentary.
Three goals we set for ourselves
Preserve
To gather ancient prayer texts in one place: from Homeric hymns to Roman votive inscriptions. Scattered across editions and libraries, they are rarely found together.
Translate
To provide each text with an honest translation that preserves the rhythm and ritual gravity of the original. The original is always presented alongside the translation.
Explain
A concise commentary: who prayed, to whom, on what occasion, and in what form. Without academic verbosity, but with precise source references.
Selection of texts and translation principles
We include texts that ancient authors themselves called prayer — εὐχή, ὕμνος, prex, carmen. These are the Homeric and Orphic hymns; prayer fragments from tragedy and lyric poetry; liturgical formulas preserved by Cato and Varro; votive inscriptions in stone; the philosophical "prayers" of the Stoics.
We do not include spells and magical papyri — these belong to a separate tradition with a different grammar of ritual. Exceptions are borderline cases, which we mark accordingly.
Translation. We strive to preserve the rhythm of the original, even in prose formulas. Where a canonical translation exists (e.g. Evelyn-White for the Homeric hymns, Athanassakis for the Orphic) — we use it with attribution. For texts without an established translation, we provide our own, marked "editorial translation".
Commentary. Each prayer is annotated with: author, work, section, period, occasion, form, addressee, function. For complex cases — a brief editorial note.
Editions we rely on
Editor's Note
"The ancients prayed differently — without confession, without faith in our sense of the word. They asked for the birth of livestock, for a harvest, for a favorable wind. It is good for us to hear this honest voice: then our own words to heaven become less anxious."