As Alcman also adfirms (PMG 98), symposia were normally opened by a paean in honour of Apollo. Hence derives the Alexandrian practice of opening the collections of sympotic poetry with a hymn to the gods (mainly Apollo, but other gods may also appear). The aim of this contribution is examining the hymns to Apollo included in the Theognidean Sylloge (ll. @-@0, 757-764, 773-782) and in the collection of Attic skolia (3 Fabbro) in order to envisage their peculiarities, since they share elements common both to choral paeans and to skolia. Some typical sympotic traits they exhibit are the overlap of performance modes (monodic or choral), or the interest towards the community in relation to specific historical events.