Competitions in ancient Greece, at the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games, were a unique aspect of this rich culture because the main prize was not money but the glory symbolized by a wreath made of olive, laurel, or pine branches. The winners were the greatest pride of their cities and were celebrated as heroes, embodying Achilles, Hercules, and Bellerophon, and in their honor, Pindar, the greatest Greek poet, composed odes.
Life and work of the poet
Pindar was born during the Pythian festivities, in 518 or 522 BC, in the city of Kinoskefali, in the region of Boeotia near Thebes. He comes from an ancient and esteemed family of Egida. According to tradition, he learned poetry from the poetess Korinna, and music was taught to him by his teacher Skopelin. Later, Pindar would combine both skills and add choreography to his odes.
In Athens, he encounters the old Athenian aristocracy whose values weaken in the face of the onslaught of democracy. Being a member of a noble family himself, he will incorporate his life experiences into his poems. He studied philosophy and the principles of Greek nobility. He also travels to Greek colonies, but stays the longest in Sicily, in Syracuse and Agrigento, at the courts of the powerful and rulers Hieron and Teron. In honor of Hieron’s victory on horseback, he composed the Olympic Ode I.
His works are divided into 17 books: 1 book of hymns, 1 book of paeans (hymns in honor of Apollo), 2 books of dithyrambs (in honor of Dionysus), 2 books of prosodia (songs sung in processions), 3 books of parthenia (songs for girls’ choruses), 2 books of hyporchema (dance songs), 1 book of encomia (praise songs), 1 book of threnoi (lamentations), and 4 books of epinikia (odes dedicated to winners in sports competitions). Only fragments of individual books and 44 complete odes divided according to the names of sports competitions in ancient Greece have been preserved from this rich opus.
The period in which he lives, in the context of literature, is characterized by the flourishing of lyric poetry, especially choral poetry, i.e. the one sung by a chorus. His contemporaries, such as Simus, also tried their hand at this type of poetry. onida and Bakhil. Before Simonides, it was not customary for the chorus to sing a song specifically written for the winner. However, only Pindar will remain famous as the most renowned choral lyricist of his time. With his odes, epinikia, which are the pinnacle of his entire body of work, Pindar, while celebrating the winners of sports competitions, also acquires his own fame. The greatness of his poetic reputation is also evidenced by the fact that he offered a poem as a vow to the Delphi, and in return, the priests gave him a portion of the annual income of the deities.
Pindar’s epinikia are divided into Olympic, Nemean, Pythian, and Isthmian odes, named after the places of competition. Chronologically, Pindar’s first ode is Pythian X, from 498 BC, and the last is Pythian VIII from 446 BC.
There are 14 Olympic odes, named after Olympia where games in honor of the god Zeus were held every four years in July and August.
The Nemean competitions were held in Nemea, in the region of Argos. The Nemean Games are held in honor of Zeus every third year in June on the Peloponnese. There are 11 preserved Nemean odes by Pindar.
The Isthmian Games, named after the competitions held in honor of Poseidon in Isthmia on the Corinthian Isthmus, take place every second year in April. There are seven Isthmian odes.
There are 12 Pythian odes, named after the old name for Delphi, Pytho. These games are held every second year in July and August in honor of Apollo.
For the winner of these competitions, whether in boxing, running, horse racing, or pentathlon, odes would be commissioned by friends or relatives. They would be sung by a choir accompanied by an instrument, usually a lyre, rarely at the actual games, but certainly during the celebration of victory in the hometown. The rhythmic laws that governed this type of singing are forever lost, as there is doubt even about the authenticity of a single remaining musical fragment from the beginning of the first Pythian ode.
Typically, each ode would start with a mention of the winner, their origin, and any previous victories and accomplishments. Pindar rarely sang about the actual course of the competition or its details. After an introduction, he delved into the world of mythology, and the role of myths was to celebrate the virtues of the victor and teach the reader or listener about the glorious mythological past.
For example, in the Olympic 13th ode, praising Xenophon of Corinth, the winner in running and pentathlon, Pindar tells the myth of Bellerophon, who had to kill the Chimera, a monster composed of a lion, goat, and snake with a dragon’s head. Bellerophon received a prophecy that he could only kill the Chimera with the help of Pegasus and that he had to sleep in the temple of Athena. In his sleep, Athena appeared to him and gave him a golden bridle with which he could control and tame Pegasus, and then Bellerophon…
He tamed and saddled him,
then armed in bronze, he went into battle.
From the north, he attacked the army of arrow-shooting women,
killed the Chimera, which spewed fire,
and defeated the Solimi.
The Pythian 4th ode, dedicated to Arkesilaus of Corinth, the winner in chariot racing, is a smaller example… The epic about the Argonauts is called.
For Aristocles of Egina, the victor in the pentathlon, the Nemean III ode was sung. His poet’s strength reminded of Achilles, so in this ode we also learn something about Achilles’ birth and life:
Achilles, the boy with the blue eyes, lived in the house of Philyra,
even then the whole surroundings began to praise him for his deeds…
In the Isthmian VI ode dedicated to Phylacid of Egina, the victor in the pancratium, Pindar speaks about the origin of Ajax’s name, where Ajax was a famous Achaean hero in Troy. The Greek word aetos means eagle. Thus Heracles speaks to Telamon:
Son, whom you long for,
will be born to you, oh Telamon.
By the name of the bird, that he just saw,
give him the name, call him Ajax!
For Heracles, among other things, in the Olympic III ode he also says:
The Hyperboreans gave him an olive tree,
those who worship Apollo,
When he sincerely asked them.
There are also stories about Asclepius, the Dioscuri, Homer, Dionysus…
Pindar extols the gods because only with their help can heroic deeds be achieved. That is the The main point of the ode, Pythian VIII, is when he says:
“We are a family,
living the life of a single day!
What are we? – What are we not? –
A man dreams of shadows! –
Yet, if light illuminates the divine in him,
then radiant joy emanates from within him…”
After the myth, the poet brings us back to reality and prays to the gods to grant the victor and his family fame and a blessed, long life.
In addition to the content elements of the ode, it is necessary to mention the formal ones. Pindar’s lyrics are rich in stylistic devices and unique metaphors. The odes have different intonations, ranging from melancholic and nostalgic to cheerful and comforting, and as a whole, they are an important example of the beauty of poetry in ancient Greece.
Pindar was highly regarded by Herodotus, Plutarch, Theocritus, Horace, and many others. In Plato’s Meno, Socrates includes him among “wise men and women who speak truly and beautifully about divine matters.” Pausanias mentions that near the altar in Delphi, there was Pindar’s chair on which… He sat and sang songs in honor of Apollo. He also says that in the Athenian square, around the temple of Ares, besides Hercules, Theseus, and Apollo, there is a statue of Pindar, and the Athenians had it erected in his honor when he praised them in a poem. The Olympic VII Ode in antiquity was mentioned to be carved in its entirety in golden letters in the temple of Athens Lindos.
As theorist Hermann Fränkel noticed, everything in Pindar is subordinated to one goal – his ode elevates the event of victory to the realm of true values, of which the poet himself is a proponent. Pindar is interested in victory only as an expression of virtue that he celebrates in the person of the victor. The victor is the one who has harmonized the beautiful and the good within himself, the physical and the spiritual, athletics and ethics. This is the one who has achieved the ideal called kalokagatia (kalos – beautiful + kai – and + agathos – good = beauty and goodness) that the ancient Greeks fervently sought.
Fragments
SILENCE IS GOLDEN
Do not utter inappropriate words in front of everyone.
There is a path,
which heals the heart with silence. ,
because a torrent of words
is the source of quarrel.
NATURE IS
THE BEST TEACHER
Do not judge anything,
do not change anything,
what the shining
earth gave birth to
and what the waves gave birth to
for us!
USELESS PRAISE
Oh, pitiful mortal,
how you speak into the wind
and talk about trivial things,
praising wealth!
THE POWER OF INTELLIGENCE
Do you think that
wisdom would be
if a man
shows the strength
of his powers to another man?
It is impossible to decipher
all the intentions
of the eternal gods
with human intelligence;
for it is the daughter of mortal daughters!