Lesser known prayers and hymns to Athena

Oh Pallas Athena... In my personal practice, She is chief amongst the Gods. All my life, she has been protectress and as I am preparing to move houses, I call upon Her to fortify its walls and make them impenetrable to everything and all. We all know the Homeric and Orphic hymns to Athena but there are a few lesser known ones you might not be familiar with. I'd like to share those today.

Solon, fr. 4.4-5 (6th Century BCE)

“This sort of a great-hearted overseer, a daughter of a strong-father

Holds her hands above our city, Pallas Athena”

(τοίη γὰρ μεγάθυμος ἐπίσκοπος ὀβριμοπάτρη

Παλλὰς ᾿Αθηναίη χεῖρας ὕπερθεν ἔχει)

Euripides, Heracleidae 770-72 (5th Century BCE)

“Queen, the foundation of the land

and the city is yours, you are its mother,

mistress and guardian..”

(ἀλλ’, ὦ πότνια, σὸν γὰρ οὖ-

δας γᾶς καὶ πόλις, ἆς σὺ μά-

τηρ δέσποινά τε καὶ φύλαξ…)

Aristophanes, Knights 581-585 (5th Century BCE)

“O Pallas, protector of the city,

The most sacred city-

and defender of a land

that surpasses all others

in war and poetry.”

(῏Ω πολιοῦχε Παλλάς, ὦ

τῆς ἱερωτάτης ἁπα-

σῶν πολέμῳ τε καὶ ποη-

ταῖς δυνάμει θ’ ὑπερφερού-

σης μεδέουσα χώρας)