The Pindaric Mind: A Study of Logical Structure in Early Greek Poetry

by Thomas K. Hubbard

In contrast with previous methodologies which seek ''key ideas'' or functional ''programs, '' this book argues that the unique complexity of Pindar's choral lyric can be better understood by analysis of each text's logical configuration as a network of interacting polarities and analogies.
Against the backdrop of pre-Socratic philosophy and later rhetorical radition, the book systematically examines the primary polar relations which are prominent in Pindar's work, illustrating their development and transformation through the course of individual odes. The author concludes that Pindar expands traditional ethical dichotomies into dynamic tensions which play on the semantic fluidity of Greek poetic language in its formative period.
This work attempts to apply ''structuralist'' hermeneutics in an appropriate way to the elucidation of an often difficult and obscure archaic poet. Accordingly, it should be of interest not only to the Pindaric specialist, but also to students of literary theory and the history of ideas in antiquity

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Thomas K. Hubbard is an American historian who has written about the topic of homosexuality in Ancient Greece. He served as a professor at the University of Texas (UT) for over 30 years and worked as chair at the American Philological Association's Placement Committee.
Hubbard's 1998 article titled Popular Perceptions of elitist Homosexuality in Classical Athens became influential among critics of the phallocentric paradigm of homosexuality in Ancient Greece, promoted by Michel Foucault and Kenneth Dover, according to which the male act of sexual penetration was seen as an assertion of dominance over women, boys and other men, as opposed to a more pure manifestation of sexual desire. He is also the author of the book Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents (2003).