Pindar: Victory Odes

The Greek lyric poet Pindar is renowned for his poems celebrating the victories of athletes in the great games of Greece at Olympia, Delphi (the Pythian Games), Corinth (the Isthmian Games) and Nemea. Pindar’s victory odes have the reputation of being complex and allusive in their language and reference. In this much-needed commentary on seven of the extant odes, Professor Willcock aims to open up Pindar’s poetry to a wider readership by starting with a short and straightforward poem and progressing by level of difficulty to one of the greatest. The book begins with an introduction which includes sections on Pindar’s life and on his thought, language and style, but which pays particular attention to the genre of the victory ode and its conventions.

• Only available commentary on Pindar at this level • Will make possible the reading of the very difficult poet Pindar in undergraduate and graduate course • Extensive treatment in the introduction of the conventions of the genre of odes celebrating victories in games

Introduction; 1. Greek lyric poetry; 2. Pindar’s life and works; 3. The games; 4. The victors; 5. The genre; 6. Pindar’s thought; 7. Pindar’s style; 8. Pindar’s language; 9. Metrical form; 10. The text and scholia; Pindar: Victory Odes: The Eleventh Olympian; The Seventh Isthmian; The Fourth Isthmian; The Third Isthmian; The Fourth Nemean; The Seventh Olympian; The Second Olympian; Commentary; Appendices; Bibliography; Indexes.