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SPRING 2000 BACKGROUND NOTES PINDAR   Suggestions for Study Contents
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Pindar Pindar of Thebes (518-ca. 438 b.c.e.) wrote victory ("epinician") odes celebrating victors in panhellenic athletic contests--Olympian, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian Games (see below). "Epinician" is from the Greek meaning "upon the occasion of" (epi) a victory (nikê). To read more about Pindar's epinician odes, link here to a site constructed by two students at Tufts for a course on Delphi and Olympia, Spring 1997. Pindar would receive a commission either from the victor himself or from his family to compose a celebratory ode to be performed either at the hometown of the victor (after he returned from the Games), at the site of the Games, or occasionally at another location.. Pindar was from an aristocratic family, no doubt, and his odes express an affinity with traditional aristocratic values. Many of his odes celebrate the excellence (aretê) of victors that results from their combination of hard work, native ability (phya, inherited through the patriline), and divine support. The Odes Pindar's poems regularly contain features of the epinician genre--victor praise (often including a victory list), moral maxims, a myth or mythic exemplum, praise of the gods, and a prayer for the victor's future success. The myth in a given ode may be relevant to the victor, his family and his hometown in a variety of ways. It may include an account of the foundation of the hometown and of exploits of the victor's ancestors. It often provides parallels to the victor's attainments, setting his contemporary triumph within a paradigm of timeless heroism. Sometimes the myth recounts a disaster which a heroic figure did not avoid but which now can serve as a lesson to Pindar's contemporary audience. In general, as the poet praises the victor whom he was commissioned to celebrate, he also interprets the victory in light of timeless values. It is possible that shorter, less
elaborate odes were performed soon after the victory but
that for the lengthier ones Pindar took some time both
composing the ode and training a chorus to perform it in
song and dance before a hometown audience. We know very little about the performance of these choral odes, but we do have the meter (either a series of strophes on the same plan or a series of triads, each consisting of a strophe, antistrophe and an epode). We also have references within many of the odes to the circumstances of the present performance. Link here to the Tufts Classics 135
Student Site on the Performance
of Victory Odes. Link here to the Tufts Classics 135
Student Site showing the location
of Cyrene; link here to a map
showing the cities
on mainland Greece which
Pindar praised. Link here to another map on which the sites
of Olympia,
Delphi, Nemea and Isthmia are
identified. The
Games Pythian 4 This is a long ode, which is also convoluted in terms of its central myth, which is what concerns us. Here is how to read it: 1. Read the
Introduction,
(either on this site or in your course packet) and continue
on to read through the whole ode.
Pythian 4 Outline The basic chronological sequence of events is: 1. return of Jason to Iolcus; 2. reunion with family and dispute with Pelias; 3. proposal of voyage to recover the golden fleece; 4. departure of Argo; 5. landing of Argo in Colchis; 6. episode with Medea; 7. departure of Argo and sojurn on the island of Lemnos; 8. sojurn in Libya, where Euphemus is given the clod of earth; 9. sojurn on Thera, where Medea delivers the prophecy about the foundation of Cyrene; 10. the foundation of Cyrene by Battus, descendant of Euphemus, in the seventeenth generation after the voyage of the Argo. Before beginning, you might find it useful to consult a map of the voyage of the Argo according to a later author; it differs slightly from Pindar's version, but it's close enough. In order to follow the story by chronological sequence, begin by rereading the mythological background paragraph in the introduction and then start the story from that point: Back in Iolcus, Pelias usurped the throne from his elder brother, Aeson. When Jason was born, Aeson had him smuggled out of the way to the centaur Cheiron; when Jason grew up he returned to Iolcus to claim the throne. This part of the myth is related in Pythian 4, beginning with strophe 4 (below), which sets out to explain why the voyage of the Argo was undertaken. (The numbers of the paragraphs are keyed to the chronological outline above.) 1. In strophes 4-7, Jason returns to Iolcus. Read these, noting the references to parentage and genealogy: Jason claims the right to the throne (in antistrophe 5) by virtue of his descent from Aeolus. Pelias (the usurper and the half-brother of Jason's father Aeolus), by contrast, was descended from Poseidon rather than Aeolus. Link here to see an outline of the genealogy. 2 and 3. Pelias is no dummy, however, and in epode 7-strophe 8 he reminds Jason that his grandfather's brother (Athamas) had committed a crime against his son Phrixus which still requires expiation--namely, a voyage to retrieve the golden fleece. If Jason accomplishes that, Pelias promises, he will yield the throne to him. 4. In antistrophe 8-antistrophe 9 Jason assembles the crew of the Argo: note the inclusion of Euphamus, identified as being from Tainaros in the Peloponnese. He is the link to Cyrene, and he is the son of Poseidon and Europa (see epode 2). 5. In epode 9-strophe 10 the Argo sets out, reaches the mouth of the Black Sea (the Euxine), and goes on to land at the banks of the river Phasis in Colchis. See PHA 51 for the location. 6. The story of Medea and Jason is related in strophe 10-antistophe 11. In epode 11, Pindar indicates he will "make a long story short," and he goes on there and in strophe 12 to relate aspects of the return journey of the Argo and to rejoin the myth to the main body of the poem. 7 and 8. The main points
of the juncture are: 9. On the voyage home, the Argo and its crew reach the future site of Cyrene. There, the sea-god Triton, in the guise of Eurypylos, son of Poseidon, welcomes the crew, offers them hospitality, and, when they politely decline, gives Euphemus a portent in the form of a clod of earth. This segment is related in epode 1-antistrophe 2. 10. In antistrophe 2, Medea, who is speaking, reports that the clod of earth fell overboard as the Argo journeyed home, and that it washed up on the shores of Thera. At this point in the poem, the Argo has landed at Thera, and Medea's speech, delivered on Thera, is part of a prophecy which links Euphemus with Thera. 11. As Medea reports it in antistrophe 1, Libya will eventually be colonized from Thera--i.e., through the foundation of Cyrene. 12. At the end of the prophecy, in epode 2, Medea reports that, if the clod had not been washed overboard, Cyrene would have been colonized from Tainaros, in the fourth generation. 13. Instead, as Medea goes on to explain in strophe 3-epode 3, Cyrene was colonized from Thera by Battus, in the seventeenth generation (see strophe 1; the seventeenth generation from the time of the Argo = eight generations back from the time of Arcesilas, 462 bce).
Pythian 5 and 9 Read through both the odes and the accompanying notes, but concentrate on Pythian 9 lines 1-75 (the story of Cyrene) and lines 103-26 (the story of Alexidamus' marriage). The illustration for Pythian 9 shows a hoplitodromos, in keeping with the contest in which Telesikrates was the victor. This "race in full armor" was the last event of the Olympic games, and the 25 competitors who took part in it wore a helmet and greaves (shin-guards) and carried a round shield. The illustration in the course packet is from a vase on which a trainer is preparing five young athletes for the race. You can link here to a description of the vase and browse the rest of the images. Link here to a page on which the race itself is depicted, and note that in the myth retold below Atalanta is described as having run "in arms." For Pythian 9, read also the ode and commentary on the student web project to which these links will take you. (You can see the contents of the whole "page" on "The Poetry of Praise: Pindar's Epinician Odes" by going to the Main Menu at the bottom of the pages on Pythian 9.) As an adjunct to the story of Cyrene in Pythian 9, consider the myth of Atalanta as retold by Apollodorus:
(The victor in this footrace is sometimes identified as Hippomenes, rather than Melanion.) And then go to the illustration on the study page for this class and consider the question asked there about the meaning of this motif in Greek mythology.
Last updated 28 March 2000 |