Water is best, and gold, like a blazing fire in the night, stands out supreme of all lordly wealth. But if, my heart, you wish to sing of contests, [5] look no further for any star warmer than the sun, shining by day through the lonely sky, and let us not proclaim any contest greater than Olympia. Pindar, Olympian 1, 1–7, translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien[1] The ancient Olympic Games… Read more
Introduction, Translation, and Notes by Jack Vaughan Introduction Pindar’s second Pythian Ode, as the poem has come down to us arranged in a book of “Pythians” is the second of three odes addressed to Hieron, who was the ruler of Syracuse after the death of his brother Gelon in 478 BCE and until his own death in 466. The poem is in four strophes (marked, as in Greek editions, Α’,… Read more
We were excited to welcome back Maša Ćulumović for an Open House. The topic of the discussion is “Musical Heroes: A Discussion on Pindar’s Pythian 12.” The event took place on Friday, May 29, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. EDT and was recorded. To get ready for the event, you might like to read: Pythian 12, PDF handout (English, translated by Maša Ćulumović) Pythian 12 (Greek), on Scaife Maša Ćulumović invites… Read more
In part 1, we looked at dreams as represented in Homeric epic. In part 2, we continue our exploration with some passages from other texts. Starting with tragedy, we learn from Jean Alaux Lectures Tragiques d’Homère that “According to Jacques Jouanna, there are two types of dreams: the vision-dream which offers the sleeper a symbol to decipher … and the visitation–dream where a god or a messenger or a ghost… Read more
We were excited to welcome back Maria G. Xanthou for an Open House. The full title of the discussion is “The Muse(s)’s “white noise”, sympotic calm, and the taste of sound: the background of sound-scape and the gustatory acoustics of Pindar’s epinician odes.” The event took place on Thursday, February 20 at 11:00 a.m. EST. It was live-streamed and recorded. In preparation, you might like to read this handout (PDF)… Read more