Pindar the complete odes5/9/2023 ![]() The extreme piety with regard to the gods Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hera, and the Muses is singularly apparent throughout. ![]() The Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian games were also highly regarded in ancient times, and odes to victors in those games make up a large part of these surviving pieces. His last, a Nemean ode, was composed in 444 B.C.Īlthough the Olympic games are today the most famous of Greek athletic contests, they were not the only ones of importance. His first extant ode, Pythian number 10, was written in 498 B.C. Pindar was born in Boeotia around 518 B.C., and, according to tradition, died at Argos in 443 B.C. Pindar's renown as a poet was richly deserved, and he was extremely well paid for his work. ![]() Pindar knew these athletes and their noble families, as he was a member of the nobility - he had a personal link to the traditions that were highly cherished by Dorian Greeks. Those myths were the religious foundation for the athletic festivities. These odes, the only complete surviving pieces by Pindar, are marvels of sustained imagination, packed with dense parallels between the athletic victor, his illustrious aristocratic ancestors, and the myths of Olympian gods and heroes like Jason, Heracles, and Perseus. ![]() He is best known today for his odes to the victors of athletic contests, including those at famed Olympia. Pindar was one of the greatest lyric poets of ancient Greece. ![]()
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