Kneeling down to pray is unusual. The gesture of entreaty is outstretched arms. To invoke the heavenly gods, both hands are raised to the sky with upturned palms; to call on the gods of the sea, the arms are extended out to the sea; the hands are also stretched towards the cult image. A cult image or sanctuary must always be given a friendly greeting – a chaire – even if one is simply passing by without any special reason, or else the gesture of a kiss may be made by raising a hand to one’s lips; a short, simply prayer may always be added. Socrates greets the rising sun also in this way. Simple apostrophes invoking the gods punctuate everyday life; in excitement, fear, amazement, or anger, the ‘gods’ or some fitting divine name are invoked. Often names of local gods trip off the tongue, or else Zeus and Apollo and especially Heracles, the averter of all that is evil; Herakleis – mehercule in Latin – is almost as overworn as the exclamation, ‘Jesus!’. Women have their own special goddesses, Artemis, Pandrosos, and so on. Special measures are required, however, if the dead or the gods of the underworld are to be reached. Poets describe how the suppliant hurls himself on the ground and hammers the earth with his fists.
Greek Religion by Walter Burkert
