The Odes

Pindar

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780520299986
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520971578
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Greek Ancient History
• Index: Literature

One of the most celebrated poets of the classical world, Pindar wrote odes for athletes that provide a unique perspective on the social and political life of ancient Greece. Commissioned in honor of successful contestants at the Olympic games and other Panhellenic contests, these odes were performed in the victors' hometowns and conferred enduring recognition on their achievements. Andrew M. Miller's superb new translation captures the beauty of Pindar's forty-five surviving victory odes, preserving the rhythm, elegance, and imagery for which they have been admired since antiquity while adhering closely to the meaning of the original Greek. This edition provides a comprehensive introduction and interpretive notes to guide readers through the intricacies of the poems and the worldview that they embody.

The Pythian Odes

PYTHIAN 1

for Hieron of Syracuse, victor in the chariot race

...

	O golden Lyre, possession of Apollo and the violet-haired	[Str. 1]
	Muses that speaks on their behalf, to whom the dance-step hearkens
	as instigator of festivity,
	while singers heed the signals you provide
	whenever you strike up the preludes that
	lead off the chorus with your throbbing notes—
5	you even quench the warlike thunderbolt
	of ever-flowing fire; and as the eagle sleeps
	on Zeus’s scepter, his swift wings
	relaxed and folded on each side,
	that king of birds, you pour a black-faced cloud	[Ant. 1]
	over his curving head to set
	a sweet seal on his eyelids: slumbering,
	he undulates his supple back, held fast
10	by your impetuous spells. Yes, even violent
	Ares, relinquishing the rough
	fury of spearpoints, cheers his heart
	in utter quiet, while your shafts enchant the minds
	of other gods as well, thanks to the skill
	of Leto’s son and the deep-girded Muses.
	But all who are shut out from Zeus’s love grow faint with terror	[Ep. 1]
	on hearing the Pierian maidens’ cry, both those on land
	and in the irresistible sea,
15	and he who in dire Tartarus lies pinned, foe of the gods,
	the hundred-headed Typhon. For a time

Table of contents

• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Maps
• Introduction
• The Olympian Odes
• The Pythian Odes
• The Nemean Odes
• The Isthmian Odes
• Appendix on Conventions and Motifs
• Glossary of Names
• Textual Conspectus