Pindar / Richard Stoneman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stoneman, Richard, author.

Series:

Understanding classics

Understanding classics.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pindar--Criticism and interpretation.

Pindar.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xvi, 232 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : I.B. Tauris, 2014.

Summary:

The 6th/5th century BCE Greek melic (or songwriting) poet Pindar was the most celebrated lyricist of antiquity. His famous victory odes offer a paean to the heroic athlete, and are an attempt to encapsulate, through choral songs of acclamation, the glory of the sportsman's moment of triumph at a variety of Panhellenic festivals including the Olympic Games. His other poems, collected in thirteen books, are largely lost or fragmentary - except for the Paeans - but were devoted to the praise of gods and heroes. Yet Pindar, though still respected, is now considered a difficult poet, and is sometimes dismissed as a reactionary. In this wide-ranging introduction, Richard Stoneman shows that Pindar's works, even where they seem obscure, follow a logic of their own and reward further study. An unmatched craftsman with words, and witness to a profoundly religious sensibility, he is a poet who takes modern readers to the heart of Greek ideas about the gods, fleeting human achievement and mortality. The author examines questions of performance and genre; patronage; imagery; and reception, from Horace to the twentieth century. Book jacket.

Contents:

I Pindar the Poet 1

II Pindar's Career 17

III The Range of Pindar's Poetry 51

IV Athletes and Heroes 79

V The Practice of Praise 103

VI Telling Stories 135

VII Reception 163.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781780761848

1780761848

1780761856

9781780761855

OCLC:

858825969