Considered to be ancient Greece’s greatest lyric poet, Pindar was born in Thebes in 522 B.C. He produced a considerable body of work most of which has not survived but which are known in part from quotations by other authors. His victory odes (epinikia) which were composed to celebrate triumphs in various athletic festivals, have survived. These 45 victory odes linked athletic achievement, aristocratic ancestry and a rich mythology of gods and heroes.
Pindar came from an aristocratic family and his writings were greatly influenced by his upper class upbringing. Since most of the clients for which he wrote victory odes came from a similar background, his poetry associates athletic achievement with elite status. His writings also had strong religious overtones stressing the victor’s linkage not only with noble origins but also with immortal entities. He clearly believed that “power is born in the blood”, that the nobility enjoys some form of kinship with the gods and that long after the victors are dead “poems and legends (will) convey their noble deeds”. In reading Pindar the first reaction is to think that this poet belongs to the Age of Aristocracy. Instead, he flourished during the era of Pericles when many Greeks were being swept up in the groundswell towards democracy.
Pindar spent most of his life in Thebes. When Alexander, the Great razed Thebes for defying him, he instructed his soldiers to spare the family home of the long dead poet. That was probably partially in recognition of poetry that Pindar had written praising Alexander I of Macedon but also in recognition of the high esteem in which Pindar was held by all Greeks.
