Pindar (pronounced /ˈpɪndər/; Ancient Greek: Πίνδαρος Pindaros [píndaros]; Latin: Pindarus; c. 518 BC – c. 438 BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Among the nine officially recognized lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar’s work has been better preserved than others. Quintilian, a Roman teacher, once said, “Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is by far the greatest because of his inspiring grandeur, the beauty of his ideas and imagery, the richness of his language, and his powerful use of words, qualities that, as Horace correctly noted, make his work impossible to copy.” However, his poems can also seem difficult to understand and unusual. An Athenian comic playwright named Eupolis once said that people no longer enjoy reading Pindar’s work because most people dislike complex learning. Some modern scholars also found his poetry hard to understand until 1896, when poems by his rival Bacchylides were discovered. Comparing their work showed that many of Pindar’s unique features were common in ancient styles, not just his own. Though admired by critics, Pindar’s poetry still challenges casual readers, and his work is rarely read by the general public.

Pindar was the first Greek poet to think about the nature of poetry and the role of poets. His poetry shows the beliefs and values of Archaic Greece during the time when the Classical period began. Like other poets of the Archaic Age, he understood the changes and challenges of life, but he also strongly believed that people could achieve great things with the help of the gods. This belief is most clearly expressed in the ending of one of his Victory Odes.

Biography

Five ancient sources provide all the recorded information about Pindar’s life. One is a short biography found on an Egyptian papyrus from at least 200 AD (P.Oxy.2438), discovered in 1961. The other four sources were written much later, about 1,600 years after Pindar’s death:

• A brief description of Pindar and his tomb in Boeotia, from Pausanias’s “Descriptions of Greece” [9.23.2]-[9.23.5].
• Commentaries on Pindar by Eustathius of Thessalonica.
• A text called Vita Vratislavensis, found in a manuscript in Wrocław, with an unknown author.
• A work by Thomas Magister.
• Some short writings attributed to the lexicographer Suidas.

Although these sources are based on older traditions dating back to the 4th century BC, many scholars today are skeptical of their accuracy. Much of the information seems imaginative or unreliable. Because of this, scholars have turned to Pindar’s own poems, especially his victory odes, for clues about his life. Some poems mention historical events that can be dated precisely. The 1962 publication of Elroy Bundy’s book Studia Pindarica changed how scholars viewed the odes. Previously, they were thought to reflect Pindar’s personal thoughts, but now they are seen as public statements meant to praise people and communities. Some scholars say that trying to learn about Pindar’s life from his poems is the result of mixing two old ideas: historicism and Romanticism. Today, it is generally agreed that little is known about Pindar’s life from either traditional sources or his own poems. However, some scholars now believe it is acceptable to use his poems carefully for certain biographical purposes.

Pindar was born around 518 BC in Cynoscephalae, a village in Boeotia, near Thebes. His father’s name is recorded as Daiphantus, Pagondas, or Scopelinus, and his mother was named Cleodice. It is said that bees built a honeycomb in his mouth when he was young, which some people believe made him a poet with sweet, honey-like verses. This story is also told about other ancient poets. Pindar was about 20 years old in 498 BC when he wrote his first victory ode (Pythian 10) for the ruling family in Thessaly. He studied lyric poetry in Athens, where his teacher was Lasos of Hermione. He also received advice from Corinna.

Pindar’s early career overlapped with the Greco-Persian Wars, during the reigns of Darius and Xerxes. This time included the first Persian invasion of Greece, which ended at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, and the second Persian invasion (480–479 BC). During the second invasion, when Pindar was nearly 40, Thebes was occupied by Xerxes’ general, Mardonius. Mardonius and many Theban aristocrats later died at the Battle of Plataea. Pindar may have spent much of this time in Aegina. It is not known where he lived during the first invasion in 490 BC, but he attended the Pythian Games that year. There, he met Thrasybulus, a Sicilian prince and nephew of Theron of Acragas. Thrasybulus had won a chariot race, and he and Pindar became close friends, leading to Pindar’s later visit to Sicily.

Pindar used his odes to support his own and his friends’ interests. In 462 BC, he wrote two odes praising Arcesilas, king of Cyrene (Pythians 4 and 5), asking for the return of a friend named Demophilus. In one of these odes, Pindar proudly mentions his ancestry, which he shared with the king. He was descended from Aegeus, the legendary king of Athens. This clan was influential in many Greek cities, including Thebes, Sparta, Cyrene, and Thera. The historian Herodotus noted the importance of this clan (Histories IV.147). Being part of this clan may have helped Pindar become a successful poet and shaped his political views, which favored oligarchic governments.

Pindar may have been the Theban proxenos (a kind of consul) for Aegina and/or Molossia, as suggested in his ode Nemean 7, which praises Neoptolemus, a hero of Aegina and Molossia. According to tradition, Neoptolemus died disgracefully in a fight with priests at Delphi over sacrificial meat. Pindar avoided discussing this and ended his poem with a mysterious statement about his innocence. This may have been a response to anger from Aeginetans and Molossians over an earlier poem (Paean 6), which described Neoptolemus’s death as divine punishment for his crimes.

In his first Pythian ode, written in 470 BC to honor the Sicilian tyrant Hieron, Pindar celebrated Greek victories over foreign invaders, including battles at Salamis and Plataea. These celebrations upset some Thebans, who had supported the Persians and suffered losses. Pindar’s praise of Athens, calling it the “bulwark of Hellas” and “city of noble name and sunlit splendour,” led Theban authorities to fine him 5,000 drachmae. The Athenians reportedly gave him 10,000 drachmae in return. Some say the Athenians even made him their proxenos in Thebes. His close relationship with Hieron, a wealthy ruler, also caused tension. In response to Theban concerns, Pindar criticized tyrants in an ode written after visiting Hieron’s court in 476–75 BC (Pythian 11).

Lyric poetry was often performed with music and dance, and Pindar

Works

Pindar's unique talent is clearly seen in all his surviving works. However, unlike Simonides and Stesichorus, he did not create new types of lyrical poetry. Instead, he used the existing genres in new and creative ways. For example, in one of his victory odes, Olympian 3, he claimed to have invented a new kind of musical accompaniment that combined lyre, flute, and voice. However, our knowledge of Greek music is limited, so we do not fully understand what this innovation meant.

Although Pindar likely spoke Boeotian Greek, he wrote in a literary style that mostly used the Doric dialect. This was different from his rival Bacchylides, who used Doric less often, and Alcman, who used it more strongly. Other dialects, like Aeolic and forms from epic poetry, also appear in his work, along with some Boeotian words.

Pindar composed "choral" songs, but it is uncertain whether all of them were performed by choirs. This idea comes from ancient scholars, whose accounts are not always reliable.

Scholars at the Library of Alexandria collected Pindar's works into seventeen books, grouped by type:

• 1 book of hymnoi – "hymns"
• 1 book of paianes – "paeans"
• 2 books of dithyramboi – "dithyrambs"
• 2 books of prosodia – "processionals"
• 3 books of parthenia – "songs for maidens"
• 2 books of hyporchemata – "songs for light dances"
• 1 book of enkomia – "songs of praise"
• 1 book of threnoi – "laments"
• 4 books of epinikia – "victory odes"

Of these, only the epinikia (victory odes) survive in full. The rest exist only as quotes in other ancient writings or from fragments found on Egyptian papyrus. Even in these incomplete pieces, the same complex ideas and language from the victory odes are present.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus described Pindar's style as serious and elegant. However, he noted that this style was less common in the parthenia (songs for maidens). One surviving fragment of a maiden song seems different in tone, likely because it is written from the perspective of a girl.

Enough of Pindar's dithyrambs (a type of poem) remains to compare with Bacchylides, who used them for storytelling. Pindar's dithyrambs, however, focus on religious feelings and the wild spirit of Dionysus, showing a connection to the dramatic works of Euripides. In one of these, written for the Athenians and meant to be sung in spring, he describes the powerful energy of the world being renewed.

Most of Pindar's victory odes celebrate athletic victories at major Greek festivals like the Olympic Games. These festivals were important achievements of Greek aristocracies. Even in the 5th century BC, when professional athletes became more common, these events were mostly attended by wealthy and powerful people. Attending or competing was a way to show off and gain prestige, which was far more valuable than modern athletic victories.

Pindar's odes are organized into four books named after the four major festivals: Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean Games. These were held at Olympia, Delphi, Corinth, and Nemea, respectively. Most of the odes honor recent victories in athletic or musical contests at these festivals. However, some odes celebrate older victories or even wins in smaller games, often to address other topics. For example, Pythian 3 mentions a past victory by Hieron of Syracuse but is actually meant to comfort him about his illness. Similarly, Nemean 9 and Nemean 10 celebrate victories in local games, and Nemean 11 honors a victory in a political election. These odes were placed at the end of the Nemean book because the Nemean festival was considered the least important.

Pindar's poetic style is very unique. His odes often begin with grand, vivid descriptions, using metaphors or references to places or gods. He uses rich, elaborate language and complex adjectives. His sentences are often short and difficult to understand, with unusual words and phrases that make his work feel mysterious. The ideas in his poems sometimes shift suddenly, creating a vivid and unforgettable style.

His odes were animated by…

Some of these qualities can be seen in

Influence and legacy

The important Alexandrian poet Callimachus was interested in Pindar's unique style. His famous work, Aetia, included a poem honoring Queen Berenice, which celebrated her victory in a chariot race at the Nemean Games. This poem was written in a way that reminded people of Pindar's style.

The Hellenistic epic Argonautica, written by Apollonius Rhodius, was influenced by some parts of Pindar's writing style, especially his use of short stories within a larger narrative. This epic describes the adventures of Jason, a topic also mentioned by Pindar in Pythian 4. Both works connect the myth to a Greek audience in Africa.

After Horace published his first three Odes, there was a trend for writing poems in Pindar's style. Horace had mastered other styles, like Sapphic and Alcaeic, which made others hesitant to try those forms. However, he did not write in the triadic stanzas that Pindar used.

During the Byzantine Era, Pindar's work was often read, quoted, and copied. For example, Christophoros Mytilenaios, a 11th-century poet, imitated a chariot race in his sixth poem, using clear references to Pindar.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, European experts in literature divided lyric poetry into two types, loosely connected to Horace and Pindar. Poems with regular four-line stanzas were linked to Horace's Odes, which inspired many poets. Poems with irregular, longer stanzas were called Pindarics, though this connection was not always accurate. Abraham Cowley was the main writer of English Pindarics. However, many "Pindaric" odes were actually more similar to Horace's style, as seen in some poems by Thomas Gray.

A "Pindaric Ode" was written for the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens by George Stuart Robinson, an Oxford scholar. Similar poems were created by Armand D'Angour, a classicist, for the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics.

The Latin poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus admired Pindar's style. He wrote about it in one of his poems in the Sapphic style, which he addressed to a friend named Iullus Antonius:

C. M. Bowra, the main expert on Pindar of his time and the editor of the 1935 Oxford University Press edition of Pindar's poems, described Pindar's strengths in the following words: