Invocations and theological structures in Roman prayer

One of the most striking peculiarities of the Roman prayer is the complexit y of its first part, consisting in the invocation. Comic poets like Plautus laughed at the great numbers of gods invoked showing that it was a wide-sp read practice in the second century B.C. Archaic rituals indicate that in f act the original invocations consisted only in the name of the god whose he lp was requested. Addressing several gods, the Romans prayed them individua lly and repeated the formulas so many times as necessary. In the ritus Roma nus the the god must be clearly identified by his name, generally precised by an epithet of function in the ritual of Cato (Mars pater for instance). There was a tendency to accumulate names to intensify the power of the pray er, the most striking example is the deuotio ducis (Livy VIII,9,6) and pray ers concerning agricultural and military rituals. This extension of the inv ocation can be explained by the part played by the Indigitamenta in the org anisation of the Roman religion and in the mind of the prayer. We can find such a tendency in subordinating the gods to each other, in elaborating hym ns, and celebrating rituals like lectisternia, ludi saeculares or pompa cir censis. The two tendencies coexisted in Roman religion: special individuali zation and appeal to several gods who must help together the prayer (extens ion of unit).