Paean - Ancient Greek Paean

Ancient Greek Paean

In Homer, Paeon was the Greek physician of the gods. In Iliad V he heals the wounded Ares and Hades with his herbal lore. In time Paeon (or Paean) became an epithet of Apollo as a god capable of bringing disease and propitiated as a god of healing. Hesiod identifies Paeon as a separate god, and in later poetry Paeon is invoked independently as a health god. Later, Paean becomes an epithet of Asclepius, another healer-god.

The earliest appearances of a paean or hymn of thanksgiving also appear in the Iliad. After the prayer to avert evil from the Achaeans, a paean is sung. In an almost identical line (X.391) that suggests a formulaic expression, Achilles tells the Myrmidons to sing the paean after the death of Hector.

To discover the relation between Paean or Paeon the healer-god and paean in the sense of "song" it is necessary to identify the connection between ritual chant and the shaman's healing arts. Martin Nilsson observed:

The curing of diseases everywhere plays an important part and among primitive peoples lies in the hands of sorcerers and priests. There was in earlier Greece a class of seers and purificatory priests which in all essentials fulfilled this function. The art of healing consisted in magical ceremonies and incantations. In later times these were usually called έπωδαί, charms, but in earlier days they were certainly called paeans (παιάν), for Homer speaks of the god, Paieon, who takes his name from them. With the charm was blended the name of the god, and thus the paean became a song of thanksgiving and eventually of victory. In later times Apollo has made the art of healing his own, and after him his son Asklepios took it over.

Previously, L. R. Farnell had referred to the ancient association between the healing craft and the singing of spells, but found it impossible to decide which was the original sense. At all events the meaning of "healer" gradually gave place to that of "hymn", from the phrase Ιή Παιάν.

Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods, Dionysus, Helios, Asclepius. About the 4th century the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to implore protection against disease and misfortune, or to offer thanks after such protection had been rendered. Its connection with Apollo as the slayer of the Python led to its association with battle and victory; hence it became the custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won.

The Greek poet Aeschylus who took part in the Battle of Salamis, commented on the power of the paean over enemies (in this case the Persians):

All the barbarians felt fear because they had been deprived of what they expected. The Greeks were singing the stately paean at that time not for flight, but because they were hastening into battle and were stout of heart.

A paean was sung before the resuming of the naval battle between the Corcyraeans and Corinthians in a war leading up to the Peloponnesian War, implying that it might have been a common practice. In addition, the paean is said to have been sung just before the start of various battles (including the Battle of Cunaxa) in Xenophon's "Anabasis" (or "Persian Expedition").