Pindar: v. 2 (Loeb Classical Library) by Pindar

by Pindar

Of the Greek lyric poets, Pindar (ca. 518-438 BCE) was "by far the greatest for the magnificence of his inspiration" in Quintilian's view; Horace judged him "sure to win Apollo's laurels." The esteem of the ancients may help explain why a good portion of his work was carefully preserved. Most of the Greek lyric poets come down to us only in bits and pieces, but nearly a quarter of Pindar's poems survive complete. William H. Race now brings us, in two volumes, a new edition and translation of the four books of victory odes, along with surviving fragments of Pindar's other poems.Like Simonides and Bacchylides, Pindar wrote elaborate odes in honor of prize-winning athletes for public performance by singers, dancers, and musicians. His forty-five victory odes celebrate triumphs in athletic contests at the four great Panhellenic the Olympic, Pythian (at Delphi), Nemean, and Isthmian games. In these complex poems, Pindar commemorates the achievement of athletes and powerful rulers against the backdrop of divine favor, human failure, heroic legend, and the moral ideals of aristocratic Greek society. Readers have long savored them for their rich poetic language and imagery, moral maxims, and vivid portrayals of sacred myths.Race provides brief introductions to each ode and full explanatory footnotes, offering the reader invaluable guidance to these often difficult poems. His new Loeb Pindar also contains a helpfully annotated edition and translation of significant fragments, including hymns, paeans, dithyrambs, maiden songs, and dirges.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Mythology, Ancient, Literature, Ancient History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 447

About the author

also know as Pindare.

People remember Greek lyric poet Pindar (522 BC-443 BC) especially for his odes, celebrating victorious athletes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pindar

Reviews

[Daniel Seltier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read only for the fragments. Loved them. If we could only have more complete poetry by him than just the Odes.

[Ihezal · Rating 5 out of 5]

91

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comment:

Yet another Loeb book that I have lost the companion volume to! This is translated by William H. Race.

Pindar is of the ancient race, and his judgments belong to an Archaic Greece that was gradually being transformed into our 'Classical Greece.'

"I believe that Odysseus story has become greater than his actual suffering because of Homer's sweet verse, for upon his fictions and soaring craft rests great majesty, and his skill deceives with misleading tales. The great majority of men have a blind heart, for if they could have seen the truth, mighty Aias, in anger over his arms, would not have planted in his chest the smooth sword. Except for Achilles, in battle he was the best..." (Nemean 7.)

Ajax, and not Odysseus, deserved Achilles arms. This is the ancient (or archaic) judgment, but today, we who have been formed by a history that truly begins in Classical Greece all feel differently. When I was young and first read the Iliad and Pindar it was then that I first realized that there had once been a different world...