Ch. 3. Pindar’s Pythian 4: Interpreting History in Song

Authors

  • Peter Agócs

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/histos31

Keywords:

Pindar, Pythian 4, collective/social memory, ideological meaning of poetry, time and narrative, Cyrene, Herodotus.

Abstract

This chapter comprises a narratological analysis of Pindar’s longest victory-ode, Pythian 4, composed to celebrate a chariot victory at Delphi of Arcesilas IV, the Battiad king of Cyrene. Through a close reading of the ode as a colonisation story, and through comparison with the traditions set out by Herodotus in his Libyan logos, it examines Pindar’s handling of oral and poetic tradition, and the connection between poetic form and political/social ideology. Published in C. Constantakopoulou and M. Fragoulaki, ed., Shaping Memory in Ancient Greece (HISTOS Supplement 11), p. 87-154.

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Published

2020-01-01

How to Cite

Agócs, Peter. 2020. “Ch. 3. Pindar’s Pythian 4: Interpreting History in Song”. Histos, January, 87-154. https://doi.org/10.29173/histos31.

Issue

2020: HISTOS Supplement 11: Shaping Memory in Ancient Greece: Poetry, Historiography, and Epigraphy, edited by C. Constantakopoulou and M. Fragoulaki (2020)

Section

Articles

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