Pindar's poetry has always been a source of fascination for classicists and non-classicists alike despite (or maybe because of?) its idiosyncrasy and obscurities. S.'s recent book seeks to render Pindar's poetic output accessible to a wider audience of non-specialists providing a first, but nevertheless rich, orientation to his multifaceted world. The book is published in the Understanding Classics series, whose aim is ‘to introduce the outstanding authors and thinkers of antiquity to a wide audience of appreciative modern readers, whether undergraduate students of classics, literature, philosophy and ancient history or generalists interested in the classical world’ (p. iii).
Chapter 1, ‘Pindar the Poet’, introduces a number of issues pertaining to Pindar's œuvre: the gods, light, the ‘programme’ that needs to be followed, the epinician commission which gained Pindar notoriety for being the hireling of the ruling class, etc. It also provides an overview of the trajectory of Pindaric studies, thus introducing the neophyte to a number of significant Pindarists, such as Wilamowitz, Gildersleeve and Bundy. (An omission here and in the bibliography is G. Norwood's Pindar [1945], regardless of the fact that his theory of Pindaric symbolism did not have a wide appeal, as also D. Young's ‘Pindaric Criticism’, first published in 1964 and reprinted in a revised form in 1970, in W. Calder III & J. Stern [edd.], Pindaros und Bakchylides.) The survey ends with reference to recent, more nuanced approaches, subscribing to, or flirting with, New Historicism, where Pindar's poetry is examined not merely as a piece of literature but also as a civic phenomenon. Of particular interest are the two anonymous Lives of Pindar and the one by Eustathius of Thessalonica in hexameter verse – translated for the first time into English – cited at the end of the chapter.
The second chapter, ‘Pindar's Career’, focuses on Pindar the Theban and his distinguished patrons and laudandi. S. provides useful information about the socio-political ambience at Thebes, Aegina and Sicily in the fifth century b.c., in an attempt to outline the milieu within which Pindar lived and composed his poetry. Special reference is made to the passage from the traditional institution of xenia to monetary society and the ways in which the epinician poets appropriated this new money economy and reconceptualised their relationship with their patrons in monetary terms.
Chapter 3, ‘The Range of Pindar's Poetry’, addresses the dissemination, survival and re-performance of Pindar's work. The chapter also includes an extended and informative discussion of issues and problems emanating from the Alexandrians' generic nomenclatures and classification. There follows a condensed history of the epinician genre with notes on Ibycus and Simonides. The discussion is rounded off with reference to the multidimensional character of the odes, drawing attention to the non-textual notions of dance and music.
Chapter 4, ‘Athletes and Heroes’, opens with an illuminating introduction to athletics in the ancient Greek world. Though S. makes reference to contemporary attacks on athletics, it would have been instructive to make a stronger distinction between the less glamorous aspect of athletics evidenced on Greek vases and in the later tradition, and the idealised image conjured up in Pindar and Bacchylides: no bruises and bleeding noses are to be found here; only shining limbs and fair faces. The chapter closes with some useful remarks on Pindar's and Bacchylides' different handling of heroes, especially Heracles (p. 102).
Chapter 5, ‘The Practice of Praise’, seeks to outline the ‘way in which the rhetoric of praise is constructed: the themes that demand praise, the methods employed (including the problems that praise evokes) and the imagery that expresses praise’ (p. 105). Special attention is paid to the images that Pindar draws from nature, the animal world and the symposium, as well as to his treatment of the notions of envy and malice. Not surprisingly, the poet's relationship with his Muse holds a central place in the discussion. S. adopts the traditional view that advances Pindar as the ‘prophet’ of the Muse, even though this characterisation befits Pindar's cultic, rather than his epinician, persona. It is not insignificant, for instance, that in the Epinicians Pindar often ascribes information to tradition and previous poets through the extensive use of terms such as λέγεται and ϕασί (cf. R. Scodel, ‘Poetic Authority and Oral Tradition in Hesiod and Pindar’, in J. Watson [ed.], Speaking Volumes: Orality and Literacy in the Greek and Roman World [2001], pp. 109–38).
Chapter 6, ‘Telling Stories’, is dedicated to myth – an integral constituent of Pindaric poetry – and explores the intricate and variegated ways in which Pindar shapes and organises his mythical narratives, even though one could object that Pindar's stories, especially in the Epinicians, should not be limited only to the mythical. S. emphasises that, far from being decorative and digressive, Pindar's myths are dexterously interwoven into the main texture of each poem and contribute to praise. However, as he points out, ‘the rhetorical role of myth is not just that of deepening the context of the victory praised, but also of delaying praise to make the climax more intense’ (p. 138). After a few general remarks on lyric narratives, the focus shifts to Pindar and his narrative techniques: his preference for ring-composition, his extensive use of break-offs, his mixing of various time levels and his revisionist stance towards traditional myths. Special attention is paid to Pindar's toying with time, even though more emphasis could be laid upon the effects of this temporal distortion with regard to the odes' reception by the audience.
The final chapter is dedicated to the reception of Pindar's work from Hellenistic times to the twentieth century, thus bringing to the fore Pindar's great influence on the European lyric tradition. The chapter opens with reference to Theocritus (Idylls 17, 22, 24) and Horace (the fourth book of his Odes); discussion then moves on to the Renaissance (Francesco Filelfo, Pierre Ronsard and Erasmus Schmid of Wittenberg), to the English Pindarists (Ben Johnson, Abraham Cowley, Gilbert West and Thomas Gray), and finally to the German Enlightenment and Hölderin. An omission here is G. Hamilton's study on the literary reception of Pindar and the traditio obscura associated with his work (Soliciting Darkness: Pindar, Obscurity, and the Classical Tradition [2003]).
The book includes a glossary, a timeline of Pindar's career, a list with Bacchylides' odes, bibliography and an index. It also provides a useful list of various festivals mentioned in Pindar's songs, although in a number of cases the identification of the festival is a matter of conjecture.
Whereas S. touches upon a wide range of issues regarding Pindar's poetry, more attention could have been paid to the differences between epinician and cultic songs, a distinction that remains somewhat blurred. Finally, there are some important recent publications, which should have been included in the bibliography; to those mentioned above add N. Nicholson's Aristocracy and Athletics in Archaic and Classical Greece (2005). I noticed only a few typographical errors (e.g. that the reforms of Cleisthenes took place in 518, for which we should read 508 b.c.).
The book is written for the non-specialist and, as such, offers no advances in Pindar studies: its aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of Pindar's poetry and this is done well. S.'s book constitutes an accessible, concise and well-written introduction to Pindar's œuvre and, in this respect, serves as a springboard for anyone wishing to get to grips with the seemingly impenetrable world of Pindar's poetry.
