Living Poets - User contributions [en]

Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 9.27.3

2016-07-22T13:40:01Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Eusebius, ''Praeparatio Evangelica'' 9.27.3 = Artapanus ''FGrHist'' 726 F 3a, 3 = Orph. 942 Bernabé}}
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ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐτὸν {{#lemma: {ἀνδρωθέντα} | {ἀνδρωθέντα} secl. Freudenthal}} Μουσαῖον προαγορευθῆναι. γενέσθαι δὲ τὸν Μώυσον τοῦτον Ὀρφέως διδάσκαλον.
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But by the Greeks he [Moses] was called Musaeus {when he reached manhood}. And this Moses was the teacher of Orpheus.
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{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
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{{#set:Full title=Eusebius, ''Praeparatio Evangelica'' 9.27.3 = Artapanus ''FGrHist'' 726 F 3a, 3 = Orph. 942 Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Eusebius, ''Praeparatio Evangelica'' 9.27.3}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Euseb. ''Praep. evang.'' 9.27.3}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Plato, Meno 81a-c

2016-07-22T13:39:05Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Plato, ''Meno'' 81a-c = Orph. 424 + 443 + 666 Bernabé}}
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<poem id="maintext">{{AppCritAbbr}}ΣΩ. ἔγωγε· ἀκήκοα γὰρ ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν σοφῶν περὶ τὰ θεῖα πράγματα…
ΜΕΝ. Τίνα λόγον λεγόντων;
ΣΩ. ἀληθῆ, ἔμοιγε δοκεῖν, καὶ καλόν.
ΜΕΝ. Τίνα τοῦτον, καὶ τίνες οἱ λέγοντες;
ΣΩ. Οἱ μὲν λέγοντές εἰσι τῶν ἱερέων τε καὶ τῶν ἱερειῶν ὅσοις μεμέληκε περὶ ὧν μεταχειρίζονται λόγον οἵοις τ’ εἶναι διδόναι· λέγει δὲ καὶ Πίνδαρος καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ τῶν ποιητῶν ὅσοι θεῖοί εἰσιν. ἃ δὲ λέγουσιν, ταυτί ἐστιν· ἀλλὰ σκόπει εἴ σοι δοκοῦσιν ἀληθῆ λέγειν. φασὶ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἶναι ἀθάνατον, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν τελευτᾶν—ὃ δὴ ἀποθνήισκειν καλοῦσι—τοτὲ δὲ πάλιν γίγνεσθαι, ἀπόλλυσθαι δ’ οὐδέποτε· δεῖν δὴ διὰ ταῦτα ὡς ὁσιώτατα διαβιῶναι τὸν βίον· {{#lemma: οἷσιν γὰρ ἂν | οἷσιν γὰρ ἂν M: οἷσι δὲ Boeckh}}—
<blockquote>
Φερσεφόνα ποινὰν παλαιοῦ πένθεος
δέξεται, εἰς τὸν ὕπερθεν ἅλιον κείνων ἐνάτωι ἔτεϊ
ἀνδιδοῖ {{#lemma: ψυχὰς | ψυχὰς Boeckh: ψυχὰν Plat., Stob.}} πάλιν,
ἐκ τᾶν βασιλῆες ἀγαυοὶ
καὶ σθένει κραιπνοὶ σοφίαι τε μέγιστοι
ἄνδρες {{#lemma: αὔξοντ’ | αὔξοντ’ Boeckh: αὔξονται Plat., Stob.}}· ἐς δὲ τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἥρωες {{#lemma: ἁ-
γνοὶ | ἁγνοὶ m: ἀγανοὶ m}} πρὸς ἀνθρώπων καλεῦνται.
</blockquote>
Ἅτε οὖν ἡ ψυχὴ ἀθάνατός τε οὖσα καὶ πολλάκις γεγονυῖα, καὶ ἑωρακυῖα καὶ τὰ ἐνθάδε καὶ τὰ ἐν Ἅιδου {{#lemma: [καὶ] | [καὶ] Struve}} πάντα χρήματα, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτι οὐ μεμάθηκεν· ὥστε οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν καὶ περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ περὶ ἄλλων οἷόν τ’ εἶναι αὐτὴν ἀναμνησθῆναι, ἅ γε καὶ πρότερον ἠπίστατο.
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Socrates. I indeed have heard from men and women who are wise about matters divine…
Meno. What doctrine do they speak of?
S. A true and fine one, in my opinion.
Meno. What is it and who are the people telling it?
S. The people telling it are those of the priests and priestesses who are concerned to be able to give an account of the rites which they practice. And Pindar too tells it and many other of the poets who are godlike. And what they say is this. But consider whether they seem to you to speak the truth. For they say that the soul of man is immortal and sometimes reaches its end—which they call dying—and sometimes is born again, but is never destroyed. On account of this, to be sure, it is necessary to live one’s life as piously as possible. For to those

from whom Persephone receives compensation for her ancient grief, in the ninth year she sends their souls back up to the sunlight above and from them illustrious kings and men swift in strength and greatest in wisdom grow up. And, for all time, they are called by men holy heroes.

Seeing then, that the soul is immortal and has been born many times and has seen all things that are here and in Hades, there is nothing which it has not learned. So it is not at all remarkable that, concerning both wisdom and other things, it is able to remember things which it knew on a previous occasion.
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{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Plato, ''Meno'' 81a-c = Orph. 424 + 443 + 666 Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Plato, ''Meno'' 81a-c}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Pl. ''Men.'' 81a-c}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24

2016-07-22T13:37:27Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:[Eratosthenes] ''Catasterisms'' 24 (p. 29.3 Olivieri = 577.10 Maass) = Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta vol. 3, p. 138 Radt = Orph. 536 + 1033 I + 1070 + 1074 I Bernabé}}
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{{#lemma: | There are two manuscript traditions for the epitome in Ps. Eratosthenes, both ancient. The tradition with greater detail (T and R) was read by the Latin scholiasts who refer to the story. See M. L. West “Tragica VI”, ''BICS'' 30 (1983), 63–71, 81–82; “The Lycurgus Trilogy”, in ''Studies in Aeschylus'' (Stuttgart, 1990) 26-50. In the fuller version, Orpheus is originally devoted to Dionysus but switches his allegiance to Apollo after his visit to the underworld in quest of his wife. Massimo Di Marco, however (“Dioniso ed Orfeo nelle Bassaridi di Eschilo”, in A. Masaracchia (ed.), ''Orfeo e l’orfismo. Atti del seminario nazionale'', Rome 1993: 101-53), argues plausibly that T and R have been supplemented with material derived from elsewhere in the Orpheus tradition.<br /><br />
The portions of the text found only in T and R are bracketed in the text.}}
{{#lemma: [διὰ δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα εἰς Ἅιδου καταβὰς καὶ ἰδὼν τὰ ἐκεῖ οἷα ἦν] | διὰ—ἦν TR: om. cett.}} {{#lemma: ὃς | ὃς m: om. TR}} τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον {{#lemma: οὐκ[έτι] | οὐκέτι TR: om. cett.}} ἐτίμα, {{#lemma: [ὑφ’ οὗ ἦν δεδοξασμένος] | ὑφ’— δεδοξασμένος TR: om. cett.}}, τὸν δὲ Ἥλιον μέγιστον τῶν θεῶν ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι, ὃν καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα προσηγόρευσεν· ἐπεγειρόμενός τε {{#lemma: τῆς νυκτὸς κατὰ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἐπὶ | τῆς νυκτὸς κατὰ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἐπὶ m: τὴν νύκτα ἕωθεν κατὰ R: τὴν νύκτα κατὰ ἕωθεν κατὰ T}} τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Πάγγαιον {{#lemma: <ἀνιὼν> | <ἀνιὼν> Wilamowitz}} προσέμενε τὰς ἀνατολάς, ἵνα ἴδηι τὸν Ἥλιον πρῶτον. ὅθεν ὁ Διόνυσος ὀργισθεὶς αὐτῶι ἔπεμψε τὰς Βασσαρίδας, ὥς φησιν Αἰσχύλος ὁ τραγωιδιῶν ποιητής, αἵτινες αὐτὸν διέσπασαν καὶ τὰ μέλη διέρριψαν χωρὶς ἕκαστον. αἱ δὲ Μοῦσαι συναγαγοῦσαι ἔθαψαν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις Λειβήθροις.
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[having descended to Hades because of his wife and seen what things there were like]...who did not [any longer] worship Dionysus [by whom he had been made famous], but considered Helios the greatest of the gods, whom he also addressed as Apollo. Getting up during the night and ascending the mountain called Pangaion at dawn, he would wait for the sunrise, so as to be first to see the sun. Hence Dionysus, being angry with him, sent the Bassarids, as the tragedian Aeschylus says, who tore him to pieces and threw his limbs in different directions. But the Muses, gathering them together, buried him in the place called Libethra.
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{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=[Eratosthenes] ''Catasterisms'' 24 (p. 29.3 Olivieri = 577.10 Maass) = Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta vol. 3, p. 138 Radt = Orph. 536 + 1033 I + 1070 + 1074 I Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=[Eratosthenes] ''Catasterisms'' 24}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=[Eratosth.] ''Cat.'' 24}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12

2016-07-22T13:27:33Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 9.30.4}}
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{{#chapternum: 4}} Ὀρφεῖ δὲ τῶι Θραικὶ πεποίηται μὲν παρεστῶσα αὐτῶι Τελετή, πεποίηται δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν λίθου τε καὶ χαλκοῦ θηρία ἀκούοντα ἄιδοντος. πολλὰ μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλα πιστεύουσιν οὐκ ὄντα Ἕλληνες καὶ δὴ καὶ Ὀρφέα Καλλιόπης τε εἶναι Μούσης καὶ οὐ τῆς Πιέρου καί οἱ τὰ θηρία ἰέναι πρὸς τὸ μέλος ψυχαγωγούμενα, ἐλθεῖν δὲ καὶ ἐς τὸν Ἅιδην ζῶντα αὐτὸν παρὰ τῶν κάτω θεῶν τὴν γυναῖκα αἰτοῦντα. ὁ δὲ Ὀρφεὺς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ὑπερεβάλετο ἐπῶν κόσμωι τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ μέγα ἦλθεν ἰσχύος οἷα πιστευόμενος εὑρηκέναι τελετὰς θεῶν καὶ ἔργων ἀνοσίων καθαρμοὺς νόσων τε ἰάματα καὶ {{#lemma: <ἀπο>τροπὰς | <ἀπο>τροπὰς Herwerden}} μηνιμάτων θείων.

{{#chapternum: 5}} τὰς δὲ γυναῖκάς φασι τῶν Θραικῶν ἐπιβουλεύειν μὲν αὐτῶι θάνατον, ὅτι σφῶν τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀκολουθεῖν ἔπεισεν αὐτῶι πλανωμένωι, φόβωι δὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐ τολμᾶν· ὡς δὲ ἐνεφορήσαντο οἴνου, ἐξεργάζονται τὸ τόλμημα, καὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἀπὸ τούτου κατέστη μεθυσκομένους ἐς τὰς μάχας χωρεῖν. εἰσὶ δὲ οἵ φασι κεραυνωθέντι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ συμβῆναι τὴν τελευτὴν Ὀρφεῖ· κεραυνωθῆναι δὲ αὐτὸν τῶν λόγων ἕνεκα ὧν ἐδίδασκεν ἐν τοῖς μυστηρίοις οὐ πρότερον ἀκηκοότας ἀνθρώπους.

{{#chapternum: 6}} ἄλλοις δὲ {{#lemma: [προ]εἰρημένον | [προ]ειρημένον Siebelis}} ἐστὶν ὡς προαποθανούσης οἱ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐπὶ τὸ Ἄορνον δι’ αὐτὴν τὸ ἐν τῆι Θεσπρωτίδι ἀφίκετο· εἶναι γὰρ πάλαι νεκυομαντεῖον αὐτόθι· νομίζοντα δέ οἱ ἕπεσθαι τῆς Εὐρυδίκης τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἁμαρτόντα ὡς ἐπεστράφη, αὐτόχειρα αὐτὸν ὑπὸ λύπης αὑτοῦ γενέσθαι. λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Θρᾶικες, ὅσαι τῶν ἀηδόνων ἔχουσι νεοσσιὰς ἐπὶ τῶι τάφωι τοῦ Ὀρφέως, ταύτας ἥδιον καὶ μεῖζόν τι ἄιδειν.

{{#chapternum: 7}} Μακεδόνων δὲ οἱ χώραν τὴν ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος τὴν Πιερίαν ἔχοντες καὶ πόλιν Δῖον, φασὶν ὑπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν γενέσθαι τὴν τελευτὴν ἐνταῦθα τῶι Ὀρφεῖ· ἰόντι δὲ ἐκ Δίου τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος καὶ στάδια προεληλυθότι εἴκοσι κίων τέ ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾶι καὶ ἐπίθημα ἐπὶ τῶι κίονι ὑδρία λίθου, ἔχει δὲ τὰ ὀστᾶ τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἡ ὑδρία, καθὰ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι λέγουσι.

{{#chapternum: 8}} ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ ποταμὸς Ἑλικών· ἄχρι σταδίων ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε προελθόντι τὸ ῥεῦμα ἀφανίζεται τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου κατὰ τῆς γῆς· διαλιπὸν δὲ μάλιστα δύο καὶ εἴκοσι στάδια ἄνεισι τὸ ὕδωρ αὖθις, καὶ ὄνομα Βαφύρας ἀντὶ Ἑλικῶνος λαβὼν κάτεισιν ἐς θάλασσαν ναυσίπορος. τοῦτον οἱ Διασταὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπιρρεῖν διὰ παντὸς τῆι γῆι τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς φασι· τὰς γυναῖκας δὲ αἳ τὸν Ὀρφέα ἀπέκτειναν ἐναπονίψασθαί οἱ θελῆσαι τὸ αἷμα, καταδῦναί τε ἐπὶ τούτωι τὸν ποταμὸν ἐς τὴν γῆν, ἵνα δὴ μὴ τοῦ φόνου καθάρσια τὸ ὕδωρ παράσχηται.

{{#chapternum: 9}} ἤκουσα δὲ καὶ ἄλλον ἐν Λαρίσηι λόγον, ὡς ἐν τῶι Ὀλύμπωι πόλις οἰκοῖτο Λίβηθρα, ἧι ἐπὶ Μακεδονίας τέτραπται τὸ ὄρος, καὶ εἶναι οὐ πόρρω τῆς πόλεως τὸ τοῦ Ὀρφέως μνῆμα· ἀφικέσθαι δὲ τοῖς Λιβηθρίοις παρὰ τοῦ Διονύσου μάντευμα ἐκ Θράικης, ἐπειδὰν ἴδηι τὰ ὀστᾶ τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἥλιος, τηνικαῦτα ὑπὸ συὸς ἀπολεῖσθαι Λιβηθρίοις τὴν πόλιν. οἱ μὲν {{#lemma: δι’ | δι’ Sylburg: δὴ M}} οὐ πολλῆς φροντίδος ἐποιοῦντο τὸν χρησμόν, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι θηρίον οὕτω μέγα καὶ ἄλκιμον ἔσεσθαι νομίζοντες ὡς ἑλεῖν σφισι τὴν πόλιν, {{#lemma: συῒ δὲ | συῒ δὲ Kuhn: οὐδὲ M}} θρασύτητος μετεῖναι μᾶλλον ἢ ἰσχύος.

{{#chapternum: 10}} ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐδόκει τῶι θεῶι, συνέβαινέ σφισι τοιάδε. ποιμὴν περὶ μεσοῦσαν μάλιστα τὴν ἡμέραν ἐπικλίνων αὑτὸν πρὸς τοῦ Ὀρφέως τὸν τάφον, ὁ μὲν ἐκάθευδεν ὁ ποιμήν, ἐπήιει δέ οἱ καὶ καθεύδοντι ἔπη τε ἄιδειν τῶν Ὀρφέως καὶ μέγα καὶ ἡδὺ φωνεῖν. οἱ οὖν ἐγγύτατα νέμοντες ἢ καὶ ἀροῦντες ἕκαστοι τὰ ἔργα ἀπολείποντες ἠθροίζοντο ἐπὶ τοῦ ποιμένος τὴν ἐν τῶι ὕπνωι ὠιδήν· καί ποτε ὠθοῦντες ἀλλήλους καὶ ἐρίζοντες ὅστις ἐγγύτατα ἔσται τῶι ποιμένι ἀνατρέπουσι τὸν κίονα, καὶ κατεάγη τε ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ πεσοῦσα ἡ θήκη καὶ εἶδεν ἥλιος {{#lemma: ὅ τι ἦν | ὅ τι ἦν Porson: εἰς τὴν m}} τῶν ὀστῶν τοῦ Ὀρφέως λοιπόν.

{{#chapternum: 11}} αὐτίκα δὲ ἐν τῆι ἐπερχομένηι νυκτὶ ὅ τε θεὸς κατέχει πολὺ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς ὁ Σῦς – τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον χειμάρρων καὶ ὁ Σῦς ἐστι – τότε οὖν οὗτος ὁ ποταμὸς κατέβαλε μὲν τὰ τείχη Λιβηθρίοις, θεῶν {{#lemma: <δὲ> | <δὲ> Musurus}} ἱερὰ καὶ οἴκους ἀνέτρεψεν ἀνθρώπων, ἀπέπνιξε δὲ τούς τε ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ ἐν τῆι πόλει ζῶια ὁμοίως {{#lemma: [τὰ] | [τὰ] Hitzig}} πάντα. {{#lemma: ἀπολομένων | ἀπολομένων Bekker: ἀπολλυμένων M}} δὲ ἤδη Λιβηθρίων, οὕτως οἱ ἐν Δίωι Μακεδόνες κατά γε τὸν λόγον τοῦ Λαρισαίου ξένου ἐς τὴν ἑαυτῶν τὰ ὀστᾶ κομίζουσι τοῦ Ὀρφέως.

{{#chapternum: 12}} ὅστις δὲ περὶ ποιήσεως ἐπολυπραγμόνησεν ἤδη, τοὺς Ὀρφέως ὕμνους οἶδεν ὄντας ἕκαστόν τε αὐτῶν ἐπὶ βραχύτατον καὶ τὸ σύμπαν οὐκ ἐς ἀριθμὸν πολὺν πεποιημένους· Λυκομίδαι δὲ ἴσασί τε καὶ ἐπάιδουσι τοῖς δρωμένοις. κόσμωι μὲν δὴ τῶν ἐπῶν δευτερεῖα φέροιντο ἂν μετά {{#lemma: <γε> | <γε> m}} Ὁμήρου {{#lemma: <τε> | <τε> m}} τοὺς ὕμνους, τιμῆς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ θείου καὶ ἐς πλέον ἐκείνων ἔχουσι.
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{{#chapternum: 4}} Beside Orpheus the Thracian stands a statue of Telete and around him are beasts of stone and bronze listening to his singing. The Greeks believe many other things that are not true and, in particular, that Orpheus was the son of the Muse Calliope and not of the daughter of Pierus and that beasts, being enchanted, were drawn to his song, and even that he went to Hades alive to ask for his wife from the gods below. But Orpheus seems to me to have surpassed those who preceded him in the sweetness of his verses and to have acquired considerable power because he was believed to have discovered the mysteries of the gods, purifications from unholy deeds, cures from sicknesses, and ways of averting the anger of the gods.

{{#chapternum: 5}} They say that the wives of the Thracians plotted his death, because he had persuaded their husbands to follow him in his wanderings. But they did not dare to do anything, because they were afraid of their husbands. But when they had drunk a lot of wine, they did the deed, and as a result of this the men had the custom of going drunk into battle. There are some who say that Orpheus met his end after being struck by lightning by the god and that he was struck by lightning by the god because of the discourses which he taught in the mysteries to men who had not heard them before.

{{#chapternum: 6}} But by others it is said that, when his wife died before him, he went to Aornum in Thesprotia on her account. For there was an ancient oracle of the dead there. And thinking that the soul of Eurydice was following him, and being deprived of her when he turned around, he committed suicide because of his grief. The Thracians say that the nightingales who have their nests on the tomb of Orpheus sing more sweetly and loudly.

{{#chapternum: 7}} The Macedonians who live in the region below Mount Pieria and in the city of Dium, say that Orpheus met his end there at the hands of women. But if one goes out of Dium and advances along the road towards the mountain for about twenty stades, there is a pillar on the right and a monument on top of the pillar—a stone urn—and the urn holds the bones of Orpheus, so the inhabitants say.

{{#chapternum: 8}} The river Helicon also flows here. If one walks seventy five stades one reaches a point at which its course disappears beneath the earth. Remaining invisible for twenty two stades or so, the water resurfaces again and, taking the name Baphyra instead of Helicon, flows down to the sea as a navigable river. The people of Dium say that this river originally flowed above ground for the entirety of its course, but the women who killed Orpheus wished to wash off the blood in it and at this the river plunged into the earth, so as not to provide its waters for purifying the murder.

{{#chapternum: 9}} I also heard another story in Larisa that on Mount Olympus there is a city called Libethra, where the mountain faces towards Macedonia, and that the tomb of Orpheus is not far from the city. But an oracle came to the Libethrans from Dionysus in Thrace that whenever the sun saw the bones of Orpheus, the Libethrans’ city would be destroyed by a boar. They did not take much notice of the oracle, since they did not think that any other beast would be big and strong enough to destroy their city, and that a boar had more courage than strength.

{{#chapternum: 10}} But when the god thought the time right, the following things happened to them. A shepherd fell asleep around midday while leaning against the tomb of Orpheus, and it happened that while he was sleeping he sang verses of Orpheus in a loud and sweet voice. Those who were grazing their flocks or ploughing very nearby each left their tasks and gathered to hear the song of the sleeping shepherd. And pushing one another and quarrelling about who would be nearest to the shepherd they overturned the pillar and the urn fell down from it and was broken, and the sun saw whatever was left of the bones of Orpheus.

{{#chapternum: 11}} Immediately, on the following night, the god sent a tremendous rainfall from the heavens and the river Sus, which is one of those torrential rivers around Mount Olympus, then threw down the walls of Libethra and overturned the sanctuaries of the gods and the dwellings of men, and drowned the men and all the animals in the city alike. After Libethra had been destroyed, the Macedonians in Dium, according to the story of my guest friend from Larisa, took the bones of Orpheus to their city.

{{#chapternum: 12}} Whoever has inquired closely into poetry knows that each of the hymns of Orpheus is very short and that, in total, the number composed is not very great. The Lycomids know them and sing them in their rituals. In poetic quality they could be considered second to the hymns of Homer but in honour from the gods they surpass even them.
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{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 9.30.4}}
{{#set:Short title=Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 9.30.4}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Paus. 9.30.4}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Josephus, Îgainst Apion 1.12

2016-07-22T13:26:26Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Josephus, ''Against Apion'' 1.12.1 = (in part) Orph. 882.II Bernabé}}
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<div class="textwithtranslation">

<div id="maintext">{{AppCritAbbr}}
ὅλως δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν οὐδὲν ὁμολογούμενον εὑρίσκεται γράμμα τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως πρεσβύτερον, οὗτος δὲ καὶ τῶν Τροϊκῶν {{#lemma: ὕστερος | ὕστερος Eusebius: ὕστερον m}} φαίνεται γενόμενος· καί φασιν οὐδὲ τοῦτον ἐν γράμμασι τὴν αὑτοῦ ποίησιν καταλιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ διαμνημονευομένην ἐκ τῶν ἀισμάτων ὕστερον συντεθῆναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλὰς ἐν αὐτῆι σχεῖν τὰς διαφωνίας.
</div>

<div id="translation">
Among the Greeks there is no written work at all which is agreed to be older than the poetry of Homer and he was clearly born even later than the Trojan War. And they say that not even he left his poetry in writing, but that having been kept alive in memory it was later put together out of the songs and it is for this reason that it has many inconsistencies in it.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Josephus, ''Against Apion'' 1.12.1 = (in part) Orph. 882.II Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Josephus, ''Against Apion'' 1.12.1}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Joseph. ''Ap.'' 1.12.1}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on De Anima 1.5, 410b27

2016-07-22T13:25:04Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on Aristotle ''De Anima'' 186.24 Hayduck = Orph. 421.II Bernabé}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<div id="maintext">
λεγομένοις εἶπεν, ἐπειδὴ μὴ δοκεῖ Ὀρφέως εἶναι τὰ ἔπη, ὡς καὶ {{#lemma: αὐτὸς | Arist. fr. 7 Rose}} ἐν τοῖς Περὶ φιλοσοφίας λέγει· αὐτοῦ μὲν γάρ εἰσι τὰ δόγματα, ταῦτα δέ φασιν Ὀνομάκριτον ἐν ἔπεσι κατατεῖναι.
</div>

<div id="translation">
He says ‘in the so-called poems’, since the poems do not seem to be by Orpheus, as Aristotle himself says in ''On Philosophy''. For the doctrines are his (Orpheus’) but they say that Onomacritus put them into verse.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on Aristotle ''De Anima'' 186.24 Hayduck = Orph. 421.II Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on Aristotle ''De Anima'' 186.24 Hayduck}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Phlp. ''in De an.'' 1.5, 410b27}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34

2016-07-22T13:12:58Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'' 1.23-34}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<poem id="maintext">{{AppCritAbbr}}πρῶτά νυν Ὀρφῆος μνησώμεθα, τόν ῥά ποτ’ αὐτή
Καλλιόπη Θρήικι φατίζεται εὐνηθεῖσα
Οἰάγρωι σκοπιῆς Πιμπληίδος ἄγχι τεκέσθαι.
αὐτὰρ τόνγ’ ἐνέπουσιν ἀτειρέας οὔρεσι πέτρας
θέλξαι ἀοιδάων ἐνοπῆι ποταμῶν τε ῥέεθρα·
φηγοὶ δ’ ἀγριάδες κείνης ἔτι σήματα μολπῆς
{{#lemma: ἀκτῆι Θρηικίηι Ζώνης | ἀκτῆι Θρηικίηι Ζώνης Fraenkel: ἀκτῆς θρηικίης ζώνης M: ἐν τῆι (v.l. τῶι) θρηικίηι ζώνηι sch. Nic.}} ἔπι τηλεθόωσαι
ἑξείης στιχόωσιν ἐπήτριμοι, ἃς ὅγ’ ἐπιπρό
θελγομένας φόρμιγγι κατήγαγε Πιερίηθεν.
Ὀρφέα μὲν δὴ τοῖον ἑῶν ἐπαρωγὸν ἀέθλων
Αἰσονίδης Χείρωνος ἐφημοσύνηισι πιθήσας
δέξατο, Πιερίηι Βιστωνίδι κοιρανέοντα.
</poem>

<div id="translation">
First let us mention Orpheus, whom once Calliope herself is said to have given birth to in Thrace, after sleeping with Oeagrus near the Pimpleian peak. But they say that by the sound of his songs he bewitched stubborn rocks and flowing rivers in the mountains. And even now wild oaks, traces of his song, flourish on the Thracian headland at Zone, ranged in rows, closely packed. He led them straight down from Pieria, bewitched by his lyre playing. Such was Orpheus, lord of Bistonian Pieria, whom Aeson’s son received as an ally in his trials, obeying the orders of Chiron.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'' 1.23-34}}
{{#set:Short title=Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'' 1.23-34}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title= Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1

2016-07-22T13:08:53Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'' 4.25.1}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<poem id="maintext">{{#chapternum: 1}} ...παρῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ μετέσχε τῶν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι μυστηρίων, Μουσαίου τοῦ Ὀρφέως υἱοῦ τότε προεστηκότος τῆς τελετῆς.

{{#chapternum: 2}} ἐπεὶ δ’ ’Ορφέως ἐμνήσθημεν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειόν ἐστι παρεκβάντας βραχέα περὶ αὐτοῦ διελθεῖν. οὗτος γὰρ ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Οἰάγρου, Θρᾶιξ δὲ τὸ γένος, παιδείαι δὲ καὶ μελωιδίαι καὶ ποιήσει πολὺ προέχων τῶν μνημονευομένων· καὶ γὰρ ποίημα συνετάξατο θαυμαζόμενον καὶ <{{#lemma: τῆι | <τῆι> Dindorf}}> κατὰ τὴν ὠιδὴν εὐμελείαι διαφέρον. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ προέβη τῆι δόξηι ὥστε δοκεῖν τῆι μελῳδίᾳ θέλγειν τά τε θηρία καὶ τὰ δένδρα.

{{#chapternum: 3}} περὶ δὲ παιδείαν ἀσχοληθεὶς καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς θεολογίας μυθολογούμενα μαθών, ἀπεδήμησε μὲν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, κἀκεῖ πολλὰ προσεπιμαθὼν μέγιστος ἐγένετο τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔν τε ταῖς θεολογίαις καὶ ταῖς τελεταῖς καὶ ποιήμασι καὶ μελωιδίαις.

{{#chapternum: 4}} συνεστρατεύσατο δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις, καὶ διὰ τὸν ἔρωτα τὸν πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα καταβῆναι μὲν εἰς ιδου παραδόξως ἐτόλμησε, τὴν δὲ Φερσεφόνην διὰ τῆς εὐμελείας ψυχαγωγήσας ἔπεισε συνεργῆσαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ συγχωρῆσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ τετελευτηκυῖαν ἀναγαγεῖν ἐξ ιδου παραπλησίως τῶι Διονύσωι· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνον μυθολογοῦσιν ἀναγαγεῖν τὴν μητέρα Σεμέλην ἐξ ιδου, καὶ μεταδόντα τῆς ἀθανασίας Θυώνην μετονομάσαι.
</poem>

<div id="translation">
{{#chapternum: 1}} [Heracles] came to Athens and took part in the Eleusinian mysteries, Musaeus, the son of Orpheus, then being in charge of the rite.

{{#chapternum: 2}} But since we have mentioned Orpheus, it is not unfitting for us to make a digression and give a brief account about him. He was the son of Oeagrus, a Thracian in origin, far surpassing those on record in his education, his singing, and his poetry. Indeed, he composed a marvelous poem whose song had a remarkable melody. His reputation became so great that he was thought to bewitch even beasts and trees with his music.

{{#chapternum: 3}} After he had devoted himself to study and had learned the mythical stories whose subject matter is theological, he moved to Egypt, and there, having learnt much in addition, he became the greatest of the Greeks in praises of the gods and in initiations as well as poems and melodies.

{{#chapternum: 4}} He also took part in the Argonautic expedition and, on account of love for his wife, he dared to descend to Hades—incredibly—and having ensorcelled Persephone through his melodious singing, he persuaded her to cooperate with his desires and to allow him to lead his dead wife up out of Hades—just like Dionysus. For in myth they say that he, too, led his mother Semele out of Hades and that, after he had given her a share of immortality, he re-named her Thyone.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'' 4.25.1}}
{{#set:Short title=Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'' 4.25.1}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Diod. Sic. 4.25.1}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 5.64.4

2016-07-22T13:01:10Z

Nick White: Mnt -> Mount

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'' 5.64.4 = Orph. 519 Bernabé}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<div id="maintext">
ἔνιοι δ’ ἱστοροῦσιν, ὧν ἐστι καὶ {{#lemma: Ἔφορος | ''FGrHist'' 70 F 104}}, τοὺς Ἰδαίους Δακτύλους γενέσθαι μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἴδην τὴν ἐν Φρυγίαι, διαβῆναι δὲ μετὰ Μυγδόνος εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην· ὑπάρξαντας δὲ γόητας ἐπιτηδεῦσαι τάς τε ἐπωιδὰς καὶ τελετὰς καὶ μυστήρια, καὶ περὶ Σαμοθράικην διατρίψαντας οὐ μετρίως ἐν τούτοις ἐκπλήττειν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους· καθ’ ὃν δὴ χρόνον καὶ τὸν Ὀρφέα, φύσει διαφόρωι κεχορηγημένον πρὸς ποίησιν καὶ μελωιδίαν, μαθητὴν γενέσθαι τούτων, καὶ πρῶτον εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξενεγκεῖν τελετὰς καὶ μυστήρια.
</div>

<div id="translation">
Some, including Ephorus, recount that the Idaian Dactyls were born on Mount Ida in Phrygia and crossed with Mygdon into Europe. Being wizards, they practised charms and initiations and mysteries, and when they were staying on Samothrace, they astonished the inhabitants not a little in these activities. At which time, Orpheus, too, being endowed with exceptional talent for poetry and song, became their pupil, and first introduced initiations and mysteries to the Greeks.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'' 5.64.4 = Orph. 519 Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'' 5.64.4}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Diod. Sic. 5.64.4}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Apollodorus Library 1.3.2

2016-07-22T13:00:10Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:[Apollodorus] ''Library'' 1.3.2 = Orph. 901 II + 987 + 501 Bernabé}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<div id="maintext">{{AppCritAbbr}}
Καλλιόπης μὲν οὖν καὶ Οἰάγρου, κατ’ ἐπίκλησιν δὲ Ἀπόλλωνος, Λίνος, ὃν Ἡρακλῆς ἀπέκτεινε, καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ὁ ἀσκήσας κιθαρωιδίαν, ὃς ἄιδων ἐκίνει λίθους τε καὶ δένδρα. ἀποθανούσης δὲ Εὐρυδίκης τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ, δηχθείσης ὑπὸ ὄφεως, κατῆλθεν Ἅιδου θέλων {{#lemma: ἀνάγειν | ἀνάγειν Heyne: ἀγαγεῖν M}} αὐτήν, καὶ Πλούτωνα ἔπεισεν ἀναπέμψαι. ὁ δὲ ὑπέσχετο τοῦτο ποιήσειν, ἂν μὴ πορευόμενος Ὀρφεὺς ἐπιστραφῆι πρὶν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν αὑτοῦ παραγενέσθαι· ὁ δὲ ἀπιστῶν ἐπιστραφεὶς ἐθεάσατο τὴν γυναῖκα, ἡ δὲ πάλιν ὑπέστρεψεν. εὗρε δὲ Ὀρφεὺς καὶ τὰ Διονύσου μυστήρια, καὶ τέθαπται περὶ τὴν Πιερίαν διασπασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν μαινάδων.
</div>

<div id="translation">
Born of Calliope and Oeagrus, but nominally of Apollo, were Linus, whom Heracles killed, and Orpheus, who was a kitharode and who, when he sang, moved stones and trees. When his wife, Eurydice, died after being bitten by a snake, he went down to Hades, wishing to lead her out, and persuaded Pluto to send her up. Pluto promised to do this, provided that on the journey back Orpheus did not turn around until he arrived at his house. But Orpheus disobeyed and, turning around, looked at his wife, who returned to Hades. Orpheus also discovered the mysteries of Dionysus and was buried in Pieria after being torn apart by maenads.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=[Apollodorus] ''Library'' 1.3.2 = Orph. 901 II + 987 + 501 Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=[Apollodorus] ''Library'' 1.3.2}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=[Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a

2016-07-22T12:56:02Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Scholium, Pindar ''Pythian'' 4.176 = 313a Drachmann (II.139.15 Drachmann = ''Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker'' 12F 6a) = Orph. 899 + 1044 + 912.III Bernabé}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<div id="maintext">
ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτάς· Ἀπόλλωνος τὸν Ὀρφέα φησὶν εἶναι, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ {{#lemma: Πίνδαρος | fr. 128c S.-M.}} καὶ ἄλλοι Οἰάγρου λέγουσιν. Ἀμμώνιος δὲ σύμφωνον τὴν ἱστορίαν θέλων εἶναι, οὕτως ἀποδίδωσιν· ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτάς· ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος μουσικός·

<blockquote><poem>
{{#lemma: ἐκ γάρ τοι Μουσέων καὶ ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος
ἄνδρες ἀοιδοὶ ἔασιν ἐπὶ χθονὶ καὶ κιθαρισταί | Hes. ''Theog.'' 94-5}}
</poem></blockquote>

ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκ Διὸς λέγουσιν εἶναι τοὺς βασιλεῖς, οὐχ ὅτι γόνος εἰσὶ τοῦ Διός, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τὸ βασιλεύειν ἐκ Διὸς ἔχουσιν, οὕτως ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος φορμικτὴν αὐτὸν εἶπεν· ἡγεμὼν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῆς κιθαρωιδίας. ὁ μέντοι Χαῖρις οὐκ ἀπιθάνως τούτους φησὶν ὠνομάσθαι τοὺς ἐκ θεῶν γεγονότας, οἷον Διοσκούρους καὶ Ἡρακλέα· οὕτω δὴ καὶ Ὀρφέα, διὰ τὸ Ἀπόλλωνος εἶναι υἱὸν γόνωι. παρατίθεται δὲ καὶ χρησμόν τινα, ὅν φησι {{#lemma: Μέναιχμον | ''FGrHist'' 131 F 2}} ἀναγράφειν ἐν τῶι Πυθικῶι. ἔχει δὲ οὕτως·

<blockquote><poem>
Πιέρες αἰνοπαθεῖς, στυγνὴν {{#lemma: ἀποτείσετε | ἀποτείσετε Kern: ἀποτίσετε schol.}} λώβην
Ὀρφέ’ ἀποκτείναντες Ἀπόλλωνος φίλον υἱόν.
</poem></blockquote>

καὶ {{#lemma: Ἀσκληπιάδης | ''FGrHist'' 12 F 6a-c}} ἐν ἕκτωι Τραγωιδουμένων ἱστορεῖ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Καλλιόπης Ὑμέναιον, Ἰάλεμον, Ὀρφέα.
</div>

<div id="translation">
From Apollo <came> the lyre player. He says that Orpheus is the son of Apollo, whom Pindar himself and others say is the son of Oeagrus. But Ammonius, wishing the story to be without contradiction, interprets as follows: ‘from Apollo came the lyre player’: he is from Apollo ''qua'' musician:

<blockquote>
‘For from the Muses and Apollo the far-shooter are singers and lyre-players on the earth.’ (Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 94-5)
</blockquote>

So just as they say that kings are from Zeus, not because they are Zeus’ progeny, but because they have the power of kingship from Zeus, in the same way he calls him a lyre-player from Apollo. For the god is the sovereign of lyre-playing. Chairis, however, says that it is not implausible for these men to be called children of the gods, like the Dioscuri and Heracles, and that Orpheus, too, is referred to in the same way, on account of his being the son of Apollo by birth. He also cites as evidence for this an oracle which he says Menaechmus inscribed in the Pythian shrine. It runs as follows:

<blockquote>
Pierians who suffer dire ills, you will pay back your hateful crime, since you have killed Orpheus, Apollo’s own son.
</blockquote>

And Asclepiades, in the sixth book of his ''The Subjects of Tragedy'', recounts that the children of Apollo and Calliope are Hymenaeus, Ialemus, and Orpheus.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Scholium, Pindar ''Pythian'' 4.176 = 313a Drachmann (II.139.15 Drachmann = ''Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker'' 12F 6a) = Orph. 899 + 1044 + 912.III Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Scholium, Pindar ''Pythian'' 4.176}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Schol. Pind. ''Pyth.'' 4.176}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a

2016-07-22T12:53:16Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Scholium, Pindar ''Pythian'' 4.313a (II.139.15 Drachmann = ''Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker'' 12F 6a) = Orph. 899 + 1044 + 912.III Bernabé}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">

<div id="maintext">
ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτάς· Ἀπόλλωνος τὸν Ὀρφέα φησὶν εἶναι, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ {{#lemma: Πίνδαρος | fr. 128c S.-M.}} καὶ ἄλλοι Οἰάγρου λέγουσιν. Ἀμμώνιος δὲ σύμφωνον τὴν ἱστορίαν θέλων εἶναι, οὕτως ἀποδίδωσιν· ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτάς· ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος μουσικός·

<blockquote><poem>
{{#lemma: ἐκ γάρ τοι Μουσέων καὶ ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος
ἄνδρες ἀοιδοὶ ἔασιν ἐπὶ χθονὶ καὶ κιθαρισταί | Hes. ''Theog.'' 94-5}}
</poem></blockquote>

ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκ Διὸς λέγουσιν εἶναι τοὺς βασιλεῖς, οὐχ ὅτι γόνος εἰσὶ τοῦ Διός, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τὸ βασιλεύειν ἐκ Διὸς ἔχουσιν, οὕτως ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος φορμικτὴν αὐτὸν εἶπεν· ἡγεμὼν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῆς κιθαρωιδίας. ὁ μέντοι Χαῖρις οὐκ ἀπιθάνως τούτους φησὶν ὠνομάσθαι τοὺς ἐκ θεῶν γεγονότας, οἷον Διοσκούρους καὶ Ἡρακλέα· οὕτω δὴ καὶ Ὀρφέα, διὰ τὸ Ἀπόλλωνος εἶναι υἱὸν γόνωι. παρατίθεται δὲ καὶ χρησμόν τινα, ὅν φησι {{#lemma: Μέναιχμον | ''FGrHist'' 131 F 2}} ἀναγράφειν ἐν τῶι Πυθικῶι. ἔχει δὲ οὕτως·

<blockquote><poem>
Πιέρες αἰνοπαθεῖς, στυγνὴν {{#lemma: ἀποτείσετε | ἀποτείσετε Kern: ἀποτίσετε schol.}} λώβην
Ὀρφέ’ ἀποκτείναντες Ἀπόλλωνος φίλον υἱόν.
</poem></blockquote>

καὶ {{#lemma: Ἀσκληπιάδης | ''FGrHist'' 12 F 6a-c}} ἐν ἕκτωι Τραγωιδουμένων ἱστορεῖ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Καλλιόπης Ὑμέναιον, Ἰάλεμον, Ὀρφέα.
</div>

<div id="translation">
From Apollo <came> the lyre player. He says that Orpheus is the son of Apollo, whom Pindar himself and others say is the son of Oeagrus. But Ammonius, wishing the story to be without contradiction, interprets as follows: ‘from Apollo came the lyre player’: he is from Apollo ''qua'' musician:

<blockquote>
‘For from the Muses and Apollo the far-shooter are singers and lyre-players on the earth.’ (Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 94-5)
</blockquote>

So just as they say that kings are from Zeus, not because they are Zeus’ progeny, but because they have the power of kingship from Zeus, in the same way he calls him a lyre-player from Apollo. For the god is the sovereign of lyre-playing. Chairis, however, says that it is not implausible for these men to be called children of the gods, like the Dioscuri and Heracles, and that Orpheus, too, is referred to in the same way, on account of his being the son of Apollo by birth. He also cites as evidence for this an oracle which he says Menaechmus inscribed in the Pythian shrine. It runs as follows:

<blockquote>
Pierians who suffer dire ills, you will pay back your hateful crime, since you have killed Orpheus, Apollo’s own son.
</blockquote>

And Asclepiades, in the sixth book of his ''The Subjects of Tragedy'', recounts that the children of Apollo and Calliope are Hymenaeus, Ialemus, and Orpheus.
</div>

</div><div style="clear:both"></div>

{{CollectionsBox
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
}}

{{#set:Full title=Scholium, Pindar ''Pythian'' 4.313a (II.139.15 Drachmann = ''Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker'' 12F 6a) = Orph. 899 + 1044 + 912.III Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Scholium, Pindar ''Pythian'' 4.313a}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Schol. Pind. ''Pyth.'' 4.313a}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]

Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources

2016-07-22T12:48:25Z

Nick White: /* Bibliography */

{{GuideHighlightBox}}
'''''Sarah Burges Watson'''''
{{#howtoquote:}}
<div id="guide">{{GuideTextsBy|Sarah Burges Watson}}
Orpheus is the archetypal musician of Greek myth, whose singing enchants all of nature and even the realm of the dead. His mother is Calliope, Muse of epic. His {{#lemma: father | [[Pindar, fragment 128c 11-12 Snell-Maehler | Pind. fr. 128c 11-12]] [[Pindar, Pythian 4.176-7 | Pind. ''Pyth.'' 4.176-7]] [[Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a | Schol. Pind. ''Pyth.'' 4, 313a]]}} is sometimes Apollo, but usually the Thracian Oeagrus—a river god, according to {{#lemma: Servius | [[Servius, Commentary to the Aeneid 6.645 | Serv. ''in Aen.'' 6.645]]}}. By the classical period, Orpheus is known as the author of mystical hexameter poetry and {{#lemma: founder of mysteries | [[Apollodorus Library 1.3.2 | [Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2]] [[Damagetus Palatine Anthology 7.9 | Damag. ''Anth.Pal.'' 7.9]] [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 5.64.4 | Diod. Sic. 5.64.4]] [[Aristophanes, Frogs 1030-6 | Ar. ''Ran.'' 1030-6]] [[Euripides Rhesus 941-7 | [Eur.] ''Rhes.'' 941-7]] [[Demosthenes 25.11 Against Aristogeiton 1 | [Dem.] 25.11]] [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1 | Diod. Sic. 4.25.1]]}}, most importantly at Eleusis (Graf 1974). Accounting for the relationship between his mythical, mystical and authorial identities proves a challenge for the many interested parties.

== The Antiquity of Orpheus ==

Our earliest evidence for the ‘kitharode’ (lyre-singer) is a fragmentary relief from Delphi, dated to ca. 575 BCE, on which he appears beside the Argo. A {{#lemma: scholion to Apollonius | [[Scholion to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23 | Schol. Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23]]}} says that it was a matter of scholarly dispute why Orpheus, who lacked strength, had sailed with the heroes. {{#lemma: Apollonius | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]]}} gives him first position in the catalogue of Argonauts, accepting the tradition, probably recounted in early epic (West 2005), that Orpheus accompanied the Argonauts to ensure them safe passage past the Sirens. Orpheus’ Argonautic status gives him indisputable priority over Homer, since the Argonauts belonged to the generation before the Trojan War. {{#lemma: An apparently canonical sequence — Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, Homer | [[Hippias of Elis, 86 B6 Diels-Kranz | Hippias of Elis 86 B6 D-K]] [[Aristophanes, Frogs 1030-6 | Ar. ''Ran.'' 1030-6]] [[Plato, Apology 41a | Pl. ''Ap.'' 41a]]}} — is attested in several authors from the classical period onwards, but already in the classical period doubts were expressed about authorship of Orphic poems, {{#lemma: some of which were thought to have been written by Pythagoreans | [[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies) 1.21.131 | Clem. Al. ''Strom.'' 1.21.131]] [[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}}. {{#lemma: Aristotle | [[Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals 2.1, 734a 16 | Arist. ''Gen. an.'' 2.1, 734a16]] [[Aristotle, On the Soul 1.5, 410b27 | Arist. ''De an.'' 1.5, 410b27]] [[Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on De Anima 1.5, 410b27 | Phlp. ''in De an.'' 1.5, 410b27]]}}, who speaks of the ‘so-called’ Orphic poems, probably believed (as {{#lemma: Cicero | [[Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 1. 107 | Cic. ''Nat. D.'' 1.107]]}} attests) that Orpheus had never existed. {{#lemma: Sextus Empiricus | [[Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors of Liberal Arts 1.203 | Sext. Emp. ''Math.'' 1.203]]}} and {{#lemma: Josephus | [[Josephus, Αgainst Apion 1.12 | Joseph. ''Ap.'' 1.12]]}} asserted that there were no written works before Homer. {{#lemma: Some | [[Scholion to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23 | Schol. Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23]]}} thought that there were two or more Orpheuses. The {{#lemma: ''Suda'' | [[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}} lists seven. {{#lemma: Popular opinion | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]]}}, fortified and/or created by the political clout of Eleusis, apparently judged him a historical figure.

== Orpheus and the Underworld ==

By the early classical period, Orpheus’ power to lead rocks, trees and animals with his music is a {{#lemma: well-established tradition | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]] [[Simonides, fragment 62 (PMG 567 Page) | Simon. fr. 62]][[Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1629-1632 | Aesch. ''Ag.'' 1629-32]] [[Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 1211-1215 | Eur. ''IA'' 1211-15]] [[Euripides, Bacchae 560-64 | Eur. ''Bacch.'' 560-4]] [[Euripides, Alcestis 357-62 | Eur. ''Alc.'' 357-62]]}}. This is no ordinary music-making, but ''psychagogia'', which extends to the souls of the dead. A remarkable papyrus found in the 1960s at Derveni in Thessaloniki offers an allegorical interpretation of an Orphic poem in conjunction with a ritual to appease the dead (see Most and Obbink 1999, Betegh 2004, Kouremenos, Parássoglou, and Tsantsanoglou 2006). Orpheus’ conquest of the Sirens already points in this direction; ''katabasis'' poetry in his name was probably circulating by the early classical period (see West 1983: 12-13, Herrero 2011). Virgil (''G.'' 453-558) and Ovid (''Met.'' 10.1-85) immortalized {{#lemma: the story, first attested in Euripides, that Orpheus descended to Hades to fetch his wife | [[Apollodorus Library 1.3.2 | [Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2]] [[Damagetus Palatine Anthology 7.9 | Damag. ''Anth.Pal.'' 7.9]] [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1 | Diod. Sic. 4.25.1]] [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]] [[Euripides, Alcestis 357-62 | Eur. ''Alc.'' 357-62]] [[Isocrates, Busiris 10.8 Mathieu-Bremond | Isoc. ''Bus.'' 10.8]] [[Plato, Symposium 179d | Pl. ''Symp.'' 179d]] [[Conon Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 26 F1, 45 | Conon, ''Narr.'' 45]]}}. But no extant version is unequivocal about the success of Orpheus’ mission (see Heath 1994, Sansone 1985). On {{#lemma: Polygnotus’ painting | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.30.6 | Paus. 10.30.6]]}} of the underworld (ca. 460 BCE), Orpheus was shown without his wife; his earliest associations are with male groups (Graf 1987, Bremmer 1991). A fragment of the Hellenistic poet {{#lemma: Phanocles | [[Phanocles, fragment 1 Powell | Phanocl. fr. 1]]}} describes how Orpheus was decapitated by Thracian women because he introduced homosexuality to Thrace. Orpheus’ death at their hands is the most popular story about him in fifth-century iconography (see Lissarrague 1994); of the available explanations, sexual jealousy fits best with the images.

== Orpheus’ Talking Head ==

The famous story that Orpheus’ head travelled to Lesbos, still singing, after his death is first attested in {{#lemma: Phanocles | [[Phanocles, fragment 1 Powell | Phanocl. fr. 1]]}}, where it serves as an ''aition'' for the musicality of Lesbos. {{#lemma: Lucian | [[Lucian, Against the Unlettered Bibliomaniac 11-12 | Luc. ''Ind.'' 11-12]]}} connects Orpheus with a Lesbian shrine of Bacchos; {{#lemma: Philostratus | [[Philostratus, Heroikos 28.8-11 | Philostr. ''Her.'' 28.8-11]] [[Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.14 | Philostr. ''VA'' 4.14]]}}, with a Lesbian oracle. But {{#lemma: Orpheus’ burial | [[Apollodorus Library 1.3.2 | [Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2]] [[Damagetus Palatine Anthology 7.9 | Damag. ''Anth.Pal.'' 7.9]] [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]] [[Conon Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 26 F1, 45 | Conon, ''Narr.'' 45]] [[Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24 | [Eratosth.] ''Cat.'' 24]]}} is usually located in Pieria or Thrace and another story existed, in which the head remained on the mainland, dictating oracles and poetry to his pupil (or son), Musaeus. A late-fifth-century cup illustrates the process. {{#lemma: Euripides’ ''Alcestis'' | [[Euripides, Alcestis 962-72 | Eur. ''Alc.'' 962-72]]}} (438 BCE) contains a remarkable reference to charms on Thracian writing tablets which ‘the voice of Orpheus wrote down’. Almost exactly contemporary is a beautiful hydria, now in Basel, showing a naked man consulting the head in the presence of six Muses. The scene may be inspired by Aeschylus’ ''Bassarides'', in which, as we know from a summary in {{#lemma: Ps.-Eratosthenes | [[Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24 | [Eratosth.] ''Cat.'' 24]]}}, Orpheus was dismembered by Thracian followers of Dionysus because of his exclusive allegiance to Apollo. Following his death, his limbs were gathered up by the Muses. It is likely that they (and perhaps also Apollo) predicted the head’s future as an oracle. (See Burges Watson 2013. On the ''Bassarides'', see West 1990, Di Marco 1993, Seaford 2005, Burges Watson 2015).

== Mysteries ==

Di Marco has argued plausibly that the tragedy served as an aetiology for Orpheus’ connection with Bacchic mysteries. This probably begins with his supposed authorship of poetry used in Orphic/Bacchic rites, which {{#lemma: Herodotus | [[Herodotus, Histories 2.81 | Hdt. 2.81]]}} considers Egyptian and Pythagorean (on Orpheus’ connection with Bacchic rites and Pythagoreans see especially Burkert 1977, 1982, 2006). The name Dionysus appears on bone tablets from Olbia in the Black Sea in conjunction with a reference to ‘Orphics’ and juxtapositions equating the soul with truth and the body with falsehood (see Orph. 463-5 Bernabé, West 1982, Zhmud’ 1992). The only story about the god with which Orpheus was connected in the classical period is the myth of Dionysus Zagreus, son of Zeus and Persephone, who was dismembered and eaten by the Titans, man’s ancestors (see Bernabé 2002, Henrichs 2011). Man is imprisoned in the body in punishment for this crime. {{#lemma: Pausanias | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.5 | Paus. 8.37.5]]}} ascribed the myth to Onomacritus, who edited the Homeric poems in the Peisistratid era and was accused of forging oracles of Musaeus. Gold leaves with instructions for the afterlife, some of which seem to refer to the myth, have been found in tombs across the Mediterranean. (See Graf and Johnston 2007, Bernabé and San Cristóbal 2008, Edmonds 2011.) In Plato’s {{#lemma: ''Meno'' | [[Plato, Meno 81a-c | Pl. ''Men.'' 81a-c]]}}, Socrates says that the myth is interpreted by wise priests and priestesses as an allegory about reincarnation. In the ''Cratylus'' (400c), he attributes to ‘followers of Orpheus’ the doctrine that the soul is imprisoned in the body as a punishment for certain crimes. The ''Phaedo''’s dualism draws on the same mystical environment (61e-62c, 69c-d with Xenocrates fr. 21 Isnardi Parente=Orph. 38. On Plato and Orpheus, see Bernabé 1998, 2011).

== Orpheus in Late Antiquity ==

Reincarnation is a doctrine associated principally with Pythagoras; it is unlikely that it was ever taught at Eleusis, where Orpheus seems to have been known as the author of eschatological poems (Graf 1974). As early as Herodotus, the Greeks equated the stories of Demeter and Dionysus with those of Isis and Osiris; hence Herodotus’ assertion that Orphic rites are really Egyptian. {{#lemma: Diodorus | [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1 | Diod. Sic. 4.25.1]]}}, following Hecataeus of Abdera, says that Orpheus brought the mysteries from Egypt. Hellenistic Jews such as {{#lemma: Artapanus | [[Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 9.27.3 | Euseb. ''Praep. evang.'' 9.27.3]]}} said that he had been taught by Moses (= Musaeus—the previous teacher-student roles are reversed) and composed an Orphic poem proclaiming monotheism. Christian apologists embrace both this Egyptian tradition and Orpheus’ Argonautic credentials, making him the fount of all pagan wisdom whose positive elements thereby acquire a Biblical source. More frequently, however, apologists portray Orpheus as the quintessential theologian of polytheistic falsehoods. His music is almost never mentioned: in a rare reference, {{#lemma: Clement of Alexandria | [[Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 1.3.1 | Clem. Al. ''Protr.'' 1.31.1]]}} makes him the singer of deceitful mysteries. (On Christian attitudes to Orpheus, see Herrero 2010). Late Neoplatonists, on the other hand, adopt Orpheus as the champion of Greek religion, who provides divine authorization for their own teachings, elicited through allegorical interpretation of his poetry. {{#lemma: Proclus | [[Proclus, In Theologian Platonis I 5 | Procl. ''Theol. Plat.'' I 5]]}} states that all Greek theology is based on Orphic teachings, drawing a direct line from Orpheus, via Pythagoras, to Plato. It is through the Neoplatonist tradition that Orpheus is adopted in Renaissance Florence as the symbol of music’s centrality in the cosmos. He becomes a figurehead for the Florentine Camerata, who assure him a key place in the burgeoning genre of opera.

----

== Bibliography ==

<div id="bibliography">
* Bernabé, A. 1998. ‘Platone e l’Orfismo.’ In G. Sfameni Gasparro (ed.), ''Destino e salvezza: tra culti pagani e gnosi cristiana. Itinerari storico-religiosi sulle orme di Ugo Bianchi.'' Cosenza: 33-93.
** 2002. ‘La toile de Pénélope.’ ''RHR'' 219: 401-33.
** 2004/2005. ''Poetae epici Graeci, testimonia et fragmenta.'' Pars II, fasc. 1-2: ''Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta.'' Munich.
** 2011. ''Platón y el orfismo.'' Madrid.
* Bernabé, A. and Jiménez San Cristóbal, A. 2008. ''Instructions for the Netherworld: the Orphic Gold Tablets.'' Trans. M. Chase. Leiden.
* Bernabé, A. and Casadesús, F. (eds.) 2009. ''Orfeo y la tradición órfica: un reencuentro.'' Madrid.
* Betegh, G. 2004. ''The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation.'' Cambridge.
* Bremmer, J. 1991. ‘From Guru to Gay.’ In P. Bourgeaud (ed.) 1991, ''Orphisme et Orphée: en l’honneur de Jean Rudhardt.'' Geneva: 13-30.
* Burges Watson, S. 2013. ‘Muses of Lesbos or (Aeschylean) Muses of Pieria? Orpheus’ Head on a Fifth-century Hydria.’ ''GRBS'' 53.3: 441-60.
** 2015. ‘''Mousikê'' and Mysteries: A Nietzschean Reading of Aeschylus’ ''Bassarides''.’ Forthcoming, ''CQ''.
* Burkert, W. 1977. ‘Orphism and Bacchic Mysteries: New Evidence and Old Problems of Interpretation.’ In W. Wuellner (ed.) 1977, ''Protocol of the 28th Colloquy of the Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture''. Berkeley: 37-46.
** 1982. ‘Craft versus Sect: the Problem of the Orphics and Pythagoreans.’ In B. Meyer and E. P. Sanders (eds.) 1982, ''Jewish and Christian Self-Definition: Volume Three - Self-Definition in the Greco-Roman World''. London: 1-22 and 183-89.
** 2006. ‘Mysterien der Ägypter in griechische Sicht: Projektionen im Kulturkontakt.’ In F. Graf (ed.) ''Kleine Schriften III: Mystica, Orphica, Pythagorica.'' Göttingen: 152-72.
* Di Marco, M. 1993. ‘Dioniso ed Orfeo nelle Bassaridi di Eschilo.’ In A. Masaracchia (ed.) 1993, ''Orfeo e l’orfismo. Atti del seminario nazionale.'' Rome: 101-53.
* Edmonds, R. (ed.) 2011. ''The ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets and Greek Religion: Further Along the Path.'' Cambridge.
* Graf, F. 1974. ''Eleusis und die orphische Dichtung Athens in vorhellenistischer Zeit.'' Berlin.
** 1987. ‘Orpheus: a Poet among Men.’ In J. Bremmer (ed.) 1987, ''Interpretations of Greek Mythology.'' London: 80-106.
* Graf, F. and Johnston, S. I. 2007. ''Ritual Texts for the Afterlife.'' London.
* Guthrie. W. 1935. ''Orpheus and Greek Religion: a Study of the Orphic Movement.'' London.
* Heath, J. 1994. ‘The Failure of Orpheus.’ ''TAPA'' 124: 163-96.
* Henrichs, A. 2010. ‘Mystika, Orphika, Dionysiaka: Esoterische Gruppenbildungen, Glaubensinhalte und Verhaltensweisen in der griechischen Religion.’ In A. Bierl and W. Braungart (eds.) 2010, ''Gewalt und Opfer. Im Dialog mit Walter Burkert. MythosEikonPoiesis'' 2. Berlin: 87-114.
** 2011. ‘Dionysus Dismembered and Restored to Life: the Earliest Evidence (''OF'' 59 I-II).’ In M. Herrero de Jáuregui, A. Jiménez, E. Luján ''et. al.'' (eds.) 2011, ''Tracing Orpheus: Studies on Orphic Fragments in Honour of Alberto Bernabé.'' Berlin: 61-68.
* Herrero de Jáuregui, M. 2010. ''Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity.'' Berlin.
** 2011. ‘Priam’s ''Catabasis'': Traces of the Epic Journey to Hades in ''Iliad'' 24.’ ''TAPA'' 141.1: 37-68.
* Kouremenos, T., Parássoglou G. and Tsantsanoglou K. (eds.) 2006. ''The Derveni Papyrus. Edited with Introduction and Commentary.'' Florence.
* Laks, A. and Most G. (eds.) 1997. ''Studies on the Derveni Papyrus.'' Oxford.
* Linforth, I. 1941. ''The Arts of Orpheus.'' London.
* Lissarrague, F. 1994. ‘Orphée mis à mort.’ ''Musica e storia'' 2: 269-307.
* Sansone, D. 1985. ‘Orpheus and Eurydice in the Fifth Century.’ ''CM'' 36: 53-64.
* Seaford, R. 2005. ‘Mystic Light in Aeschylus’ ''Bassarai''.’ ''CQ'' 55: 602-6.
* Segal, C. 1989. ''Orpheus: the Myth of the Poet.'' Baltimore.
* West, M. L. 1982. ‘The Orphics of Olbia.’ ''ZPE'' 45: 17-29.
** 1983. ''The Orphic Poems.'' Oxford.
** 1990. ‘The Lycurgus Trilogy.’ In M. L. West (ed.) 1990, ''Studies in Aeschylus.'' Stuttgart: 26-50.
** 2005. ‘''Odyssey'' and ''Argonautica''.’ ''CQ'' 55: 39-64.
* Zhmud, L. 1992. ‘Orphism and Graffiti from Olbia.’ ''Hermes'' 120: 159-68.
</div>

</div>
<div id="notes"></div>

[[Category:Guides by Sarah Burges Watson]]

Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources

2016-07-22T12:20:24Z

Nick White:

{{GuideHighlightBox}}
'''''Sarah Burges Watson'''''
{{#howtoquote:}}
<div id="guide">{{GuideTextsBy|Sarah Burges Watson}}
Orpheus is the archetypal musician of Greek myth, whose singing enchants all of nature and even the realm of the dead. His mother is Calliope, Muse of epic. His {{#lemma: father | [[Pindar, fragment 128c 11-12 Snell-Maehler | Pind. fr. 128c 11-12]] [[Pindar, Pythian 4.176-7 | Pind. ''Pyth.'' 4.176-7]] [[Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a | Schol. Pind. ''Pyth.'' 4, 313a]]}} is sometimes Apollo, but usually the Thracian Oeagrus—a river god, according to {{#lemma: Servius | [[Servius, Commentary to the Aeneid 6.645 | Serv. ''in Aen.'' 6.645]]}}. By the classical period, Orpheus is known as the author of mystical hexameter poetry and {{#lemma: founder of mysteries | [[Apollodorus Library 1.3.2 | [Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2]] [[Damagetus Palatine Anthology 7.9 | Damag. ''Anth.Pal.'' 7.9]] [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 5.64.4 | Diod. Sic. 5.64.4]] [[Aristophanes, Frogs 1030-6 | Ar. ''Ran.'' 1030-6]] [[Euripides Rhesus 941-7 | [Eur.] ''Rhes.'' 941-7]] [[Demosthenes 25.11 Against Aristogeiton 1 | [Dem.] 25.11]] [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1 | Diod. Sic. 4.25.1]]}}, most importantly at Eleusis (Graf 1974). Accounting for the relationship between his mythical, mystical and authorial identities proves a challenge for the many interested parties.

== The Antiquity of Orpheus ==

Our earliest evidence for the ‘kitharode’ (lyre-singer) is a fragmentary relief from Delphi, dated to ca. 575 BCE, on which he appears beside the Argo. A {{#lemma: scholion to Apollonius | [[Scholion to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23 | Schol. Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23]]}} says that it was a matter of scholarly dispute why Orpheus, who lacked strength, had sailed with the heroes. {{#lemma: Apollonius | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]]}} gives him first position in the catalogue of Argonauts, accepting the tradition, probably recounted in early epic (West 2005), that Orpheus accompanied the Argonauts to ensure them safe passage past the Sirens. Orpheus’ Argonautic status gives him indisputable priority over Homer, since the Argonauts belonged to the generation before the Trojan War. {{#lemma: An apparently canonical sequence — Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, Homer | [[Hippias of Elis, 86 B6 Diels-Kranz | Hippias of Elis 86 B6 D-K]] [[Aristophanes, Frogs 1030-6 | Ar. ''Ran.'' 1030-6]] [[Plato, Apology 41a | Pl. ''Ap.'' 41a]]}} — is attested in several authors from the classical period onwards, but already in the classical period doubts were expressed about authorship of Orphic poems, {{#lemma: some of which were thought to have been written by Pythagoreans | [[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies) 1.21.131 | Clem. Al. ''Strom.'' 1.21.131]] [[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}}. {{#lemma: Aristotle | [[Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals 2.1, 734a 16 | Arist. ''Gen. an.'' 2.1, 734a16]] [[Aristotle, On the Soul 1.5, 410b27 | Arist. ''De an.'' 1.5, 410b27]] [[Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on De Anima 1.5, 410b27 | Phlp. ''in De an.'' 1.5, 410b27]]}}, who speaks of the ‘so-called’ Orphic poems, probably believed (as {{#lemma: Cicero | [[Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 1. 107 | Cic. ''Nat. D.'' 1.107]]}} attests) that Orpheus had never existed. {{#lemma: Sextus Empiricus | [[Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors of Liberal Arts 1.203 | Sext. Emp. ''Math.'' 1.203]]}} and {{#lemma: Josephus | [[Josephus, Αgainst Apion 1.12 | Joseph. ''Ap.'' 1.12]]}} asserted that there were no written works before Homer. {{#lemma: Some | [[Scholion to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23 | Schol. Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23]]}} thought that there were two or more Orpheuses. The {{#lemma: ''Suda'' | [[Suda s.v. Orpheus | ''Suda'' s.v. Orpheus]]}} lists seven. {{#lemma: Popular opinion | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]]}}, fortified and/or created by the political clout of Eleusis, apparently judged him a historical figure.

== Orpheus and the Underworld ==

By the early classical period, Orpheus’ power to lead rocks, trees and animals with his music is a {{#lemma: well-established tradition | [[Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34 | Ap. Rhod. ''Arg.'' 1.23-34]] [[Simonides, fragment 62 (PMG 567 Page) | Simon. fr. 62]][[Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1629-1632 | Aesch. ''Ag.'' 1629-32]] [[Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 1211-1215 | Eur. ''IA'' 1211-15]] [[Euripides, Bacchae 560-64 | Eur. ''Bacch.'' 560-4]] [[Euripides, Alcestis 357-62 | Eur. ''Alc.'' 357-62]]}}. This is no ordinary music-making, but ''psychagogia'', which extends to the souls of the dead. A remarkable papyrus found in the 1960s at Derveni in Thessaloniki offers an allegorical interpretation of an Orphic poem in conjunction with a ritual to appease the dead (see Most and Obbink 1999, Betegh 2004, Kouremenos, Parássoglou, and Tsantsanoglou 2006). Orpheus’ conquest of the Sirens already points in this direction; ''katabasis'' poetry in his name was probably circulating by the early classical period (see West 1983: 12-13, Herrero 2011). Virgil (''G.'' 453-558) and Ovid (''Met.'' 10.1-85) immortalized {{#lemma: the story, first attested in Euripides, that Orpheus descended to Hades to fetch his wife | [[Apollodorus Library 1.3.2 | [Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2]] [[Damagetus Palatine Anthology 7.9 | Damag. ''Anth.Pal.'' 7.9]] [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1 | Diod. Sic. 4.25.1]] [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]] [[Euripides, Alcestis 357-62 | Eur. ''Alc.'' 357-62]] [[Isocrates, Busiris 10.8 Mathieu-Bremond | Isoc. ''Bus.'' 10.8]] [[Plato, Symposium 179d | Pl. ''Symp.'' 179d]] [[Conon Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 26 F1, 45 | Conon, ''Narr.'' 45]]}}. But no extant version is unequivocal about the success of Orpheus’ mission (see Heath 1994, Sansone 1985). On {{#lemma: Polygnotus’ painting | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.30.6 | Paus. 10.30.6]]}} of the underworld (ca. 460 BCE), Orpheus was shown without his wife; his earliest associations are with male groups (Graf 1987, Bremmer 1991). A fragment of the Hellenistic poet {{#lemma: Phanocles | [[Phanocles, fragment 1 Powell | Phanocl. fr. 1]]}} describes how Orpheus was decapitated by Thracian women because he introduced homosexuality to Thrace. Orpheus’ death at their hands is the most popular story about him in fifth-century iconography (see Lissarrague 1994); of the available explanations, sexual jealousy fits best with the images.

== Orpheus’ Talking Head ==

The famous story that Orpheus’ head travelled to Lesbos, still singing, after his death is first attested in {{#lemma: Phanocles | [[Phanocles, fragment 1 Powell | Phanocl. fr. 1]]}}, where it serves as an ''aition'' for the musicality of Lesbos. {{#lemma: Lucian | [[Lucian, Against the Unlettered Bibliomaniac 11-12 | Luc. ''Ind.'' 11-12]]}} connects Orpheus with a Lesbian shrine of Bacchos; {{#lemma: Philostratus | [[Philostratus, Heroikos 28.8-11 | Philostr. ''Her.'' 28.8-11]] [[Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.14 | Philostr. ''VA'' 4.14]]}}, with a Lesbian oracle. But {{#lemma: Orpheus’ burial | [[Apollodorus Library 1.3.2 | [Apollod.] ''Bibl.'' 1.3.2]] [[Damagetus Palatine Anthology 7.9 | Damag. ''Anth.Pal.'' 7.9]] [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12 | Paus. 9.30.4-12]] [[Conon Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 26 F1, 45 | Conon, ''Narr.'' 45]] [[Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24 | [Eratosth.] ''Cat.'' 24]]}} is usually located in Pieria or Thrace and another story existed, in which the head remained on the mainland, dictating oracles and poetry to his pupil (or son), Musaeus. A late-fifth-century cup illustrates the process. {{#lemma: Euripides’ ''Alcestis'' | [[Euripides, Alcestis 962-72 | Eur. ''Alc.'' 962-72]]}} (438 BCE) contains a remarkable reference to charms on Thracian writing tablets which ‘the voice of Orpheus wrote down’. Almost exactly contemporary is a beautiful hydria, now in Basel, showing a naked man consulting the head in the presence of six Muses. The scene may be inspired by Aeschylus’ ''Bassarides'', in which, as we know from a summary in {{#lemma: Ps.-Eratosthenes | [[Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24 | [Eratosth.] ''Cat.'' 24]]}}, Orpheus was dismembered by Thracian followers of Dionysus because of his exclusive allegiance to Apollo. Following his death, his limbs were gathered up by the Muses. It is likely that they (and perhaps also Apollo) predicted the head’s future as an oracle. (See Burges Watson 2013. On the ''Bassarides'', see West 1990, Di Marco 1993, Seaford 2005, Burges Watson 2015).

== Mysteries ==

Di Marco has argued plausibly that the tragedy served as an aetiology for Orpheus’ connection with Bacchic mysteries. This probably begins with his supposed authorship of poetry used in Orphic/Bacchic rites, which {{#lemma: Herodotus | [[Herodotus, Histories 2.81 | Hdt. 2.81]]}} considers Egyptian and Pythagorean (on Orpheus’ connection with Bacchic rites and Pythagoreans see especially Burkert 1977, 1982, 2006). The name Dionysus appears on bone tablets from Olbia in the Black Sea in conjunction with a reference to ‘Orphics’ and juxtapositions equating the soul with truth and the body with falsehood (see Orph. 463-5 Bernabé, West 1982, Zhmud’ 1992). The only story about the god with which Orpheus was connected in the classical period is the myth of Dionysus Zagreus, son of Zeus and Persephone, who was dismembered and eaten by the Titans, man’s ancestors (see Bernabé 2002, Henrichs 2011). Man is imprisoned in the body in punishment for this crime. {{#lemma: Pausanias | [[Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.5 | Paus. 8.37.5]]}} ascribed the myth to Onomacritus, who edited the Homeric poems in the Peisistratid era and was accused of forging oracles of Musaeus. Gold leaves with instructions for the afterlife, some of which seem to refer to the myth, have been found in tombs across the Mediterranean. (See Graf and Johnston 2007, Bernabé and San Cristóbal 2008, Edmonds 2011.) In Plato’s {{#lemma: ''Meno'' | [[Plato, Meno 81a-c | Pl. ''Men.'' 81a-c]]}}, Socrates says that the myth is interpreted by wise priests and priestesses as an allegory about reincarnation. In the ''Cratylus'' (400c), he attributes to ‘followers of Orpheus’ the doctrine that the soul is imprisoned in the body as a punishment for certain crimes. The ''Phaedo''’s dualism draws on the same mystical environment (61e-62c, 69c-d with Xenocrates fr. 21 Isnardi Parente=Orph. 38. On Plato and Orpheus, see Bernabé 1998, 2011).

== Orpheus in Late Antiquity ==

Reincarnation is a doctrine associated principally with Pythagoras; it is unlikely that it was ever taught at Eleusis, where Orpheus seems to have been known as the author of eschatological poems (Graf 1974). As early as Herodotus, the Greeks equated the stories of Demeter and Dionysus with those of Isis and Osiris; hence Herodotus’ assertion that Orphic rites are really Egyptian. {{#lemma: Diodorus | [[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1 | Diod. Sic. 4.25.1]]}}, following Hecataeus of Abdera, says that Orpheus brought the mysteries from Egypt. Hellenistic Jews such as {{#lemma: Artapanus | [[Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 9.27.3 | Euseb. ''Praep. evang.'' 9.27.3]]}} said that he had been taught by Moses (= Musaeus—the previous teacher-student roles are reversed) and composed an Orphic poem proclaiming monotheism. Christian apologists embrace both this Egyptian tradition and Orpheus’ Argonautic credentials, making him the fount of all pagan wisdom whose positive elements thereby acquire a Biblical source. More frequently, however, apologists portray Orpheus as the quintessential theologian of polytheistic falsehoods. His music is almost never mentioned: in a rare reference, {{#lemma: Clement of Alexandria | [[Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 1.3.1 | Clem. Al. ''Protr.'' 1.31.1]]}} makes him the singer of deceitful mysteries. (On Christian attitudes to Orpheus, see Herrero 2010). Late Neoplatonists, on the other hand, adopt Orpheus as the champion of Greek religion, who provides divine authorization for their own teachings, elicited through allegorical interpretation of his poetry. {{#lemma: Proclus | [[Proclus, In Theologian Platonis I 5 | Procl. ''Theol. Plat.'' I 5]]}} states that all Greek theology is based on Orphic teachings, drawing a direct line from Orpheus, via Pythagoras, to Plato. It is through the Neoplatonist tradition that Orpheus is adopted in Renaissance Florence as the symbol of music’s centrality in the cosmos. He becomes a figurehead for the Florentine Camerata, who assure him a key place in the burgeoning genre of opera.

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== Bibliography ==

<div id="bibliography">
* Bernabé, A. 1998. ‘Platone e l’Orfismo.’ In G. Sfameni Gasparro (ed.), ''Destino e salvezza: tra culti pagani e gnosi cristiana. Itinerari storico-religiosi sulle orme di Ugo Bianchi.'' Cosenza: 33-93.
** 2002. ‘La toile de Pénélope.’ ''RHR'' 219: 401-33.
** 2004/2005. ''Poetae epici Graeci, testimonia et fragmenta.'' Pars II, fasc. 1-2: ''Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta.'' Munich.
** 2011. ''Platón y el orfismo.'' Madrid.
* Bernabé, A. and Jiménez San Cristóbal, A. 2008. ''Instructions for the Netherworld: the Orphic Gold Tablets.'' Trans. M. Chase. Leiden.
* Bernabé, A. and Casadesús, F. (eds.) 2009. ''Orfeo y la tradición órfica: un reencuentro.'' Madrid.
* Betegh, G. 2004. ''The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation.'' Cambridge.
* Bremmer, J. 1991. ‘From Guru to Gay.’ In P. Bourgeaud (ed.) 1991, ''Orphisme et Orphée: en l’honneur de Jean Rudhardt.'' Geneva: 13-30.
* Burges Watson, S. 2013. ‘Muses of Lesbos or (Aeschylean) Muses of Pieria? Orpheus’ Head on a Fifth-century Hydria.’ ''GRBS'' 53.3: 441-60.
** 2015. ‘''Mousikê'' and Mysteries: A Nietzschean Reading of Aeschylus’ ''Bassarides''.’ Forthcoming, ''CQ''.
* Burkert, W. 1977. ‘Orphism and Bacchic Mysteries: New Evidence and Old Problems of Interpretation.’ In W. Wuellner (ed.) 1977, ''Protocol of the 28th Colloquy of the Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture''. Berkeley: 37-46.
** 1982. ‘Craft versus Sect: the Problem of the Orphics and Pythagoreans.’ In B. Meyer and E. P. Sanders (eds.) 1982, ''Jewish and Christian Self-Definition: Volume Three - Self-Definition in the Greco-Roman World''. London: 1-22 and 183-89.
** 2006. ‘Mysterien der Ägypter in griechische Sicht: Projektionen im Kulturkontakt.’ In F. Graf (ed.) ''Kleine Schriften III: Mystica, Orphica, Pythagorica.'' Göttingen: 152-72.
* Di Marco, M. 1993. ‘Dioniso ed Orfeo nelle Bassaridi di Eschilo.’ In A. Masaracchia (ed.) 1993, ''Orfeo e l’orfismo. Atti del seminario nazionale.'' Rome: 101-53.
* Edmonds, R. (ed.) 2011. ''The ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets and Greek Religion: Further Along the Path.'' Cambridge.
* Graf, F. 1974. ''Eleusis und die orphische Dichtung Athens in vorhellenistischer Zeit.'' Berlin.
** 1987. ‘Orpheus: a Poet among Men.’ In J. Bremmer (ed.) 1987, ''Interpretations of Greek Mythology.'' London: 80-106.
* Graf, F. and Johnston, S. I. 2007. ''Ritual Texts for the Afterlife.'' London.
* Guthrie. W. 1935. ''Orpheus and Greek Religion: a Study of the Orphic Movement.'' London.
* Heath, J. 1994. ‘The Failure of Orpheus.’ ''TAPA'' 124: 163-96.
* Henrichs, A. 2010. ‘Mystika, Orphika, Dionysiaka: Esoterische Gruppenbildungen, Glaubensinhalte und Verhaltensweisen in der griechischen Religion.’ In A. Bierl and W. Braungart (eds.) 2010, ''Gewalt und Opfer. Im Dialog mit Walter Burkert. MythosEikonPoiesis'' 2. Berlin: 87-114.
** 2011. ‘Dionysus Dismembered and Restored to Life: the Earliest Evidence (''OF'' 59 I-II).’ In M. Herrero de Jáuregui, A. Jiménez, E. Luján, R. Martín, M. Santamaría, and S. Torallas (eds.) 2011, ''Tracing Orpheus: Studies on Orphic Fragments in Honour of Alberto Bernabé.'' Berlin: 61-68.
* Herrero de Jáuregui, M. 2010. ''Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity.'' Berlin.
** 2011. ‘Priam’s ''Catabasis'': Traces of the Epic Journey to Hades in ''Iliad'' 24.’ ''TAPA'' 141.1: 37-68.
* Kouremenos, T., Parássoglou G. and Tsantsanoglou K. (eds.) 2006. ''The Derveni Papyrus. Edited with Introduction and Commentary.'' Florence.
* Laks, A. and Most G. (eds.) 1997. ''Studies on the Derveni Papyrus.'' Oxford.
* Linforth, I. 1941. ''The Arts of Orpheus.'' London.
* Lissarrague, F. 1994. ‘Orphée mis à mort.’ ''Musica e storia'' 2: 269-307.
* Sansone, D. 1985. ‘Orpheus and Eurydice in the Fifth Century.’ ''CM'' 36: 53-64.
* Seaford, R. 2005. ‘Mystic Light in Aeschylus’ ''Bassarai''.’ ''CQ'' 55: 602-6.
* Segal, C. 1989. ''Orpheus: the Myth of the Poet.'' Baltimore.
* West, M. L. 1982. ‘The Orphics of Olbia.’ ''ZPE'' 45: 17-29.
** 1983. ''The Orphic Poems.'' Oxford.
** 1990. ‘The Lycurgus Trilogy.’ In M. L. West (ed.) 1990, ''Studies in Aeschylus.'' Stuttgart: 26-50.
** 2005. ‘''Odyssey'' and ''Argonautica''.’ ''CQ'' 55: 39-64.
* Zhmud, L. 1992. ‘Orphism and Graffiti from Olbia.’ ''Hermes'' 120: 159-68.
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[[Category:Guides by Sarah Burges Watson]]

Vit. Thom.

2016-07-22T11:40:22Z

Nick White:

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Πίνδαρος τὸ μὲν γένος Θηβαῖος, υἱὸς Δαϊφάντου κατὰ τοὺς ἀληθεστέρους· οἱ δὲ Σκοπελίνου· οἱ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν Σκοπελίνου φασίν. οἱ δὲ Παγώνδα καὶ Μυρτοῦς, ἀπὸ κώμης Κυνοκεφάλων. ἡ δὲ Μυρτὼ ἐγαμήθη Σκοπελίνωι τῶι αὐλητῆι, ὃς τὴν αὐλητικὴν διδάσκων τὸν Πίνδαρον, ἐπεὶ εἶδε μείζονος ἕξεως ὄντα, παρέδωκε Λάσῶι τῶι Ἑρμιονεῖ μελοποιῶι, παρ’ ὧι τὴν λυρικὴν ἐπαιδεύθη. γέγονε δὲ κατὰ [τοὺς] χρόνους Αἰσχύλου, καὶ συγγεγένηται, καὶ τέθνηκεν ὅτε καὶ τὰ Περσικὰ ἤκμαζον. ἔσχε δὲ θυγατέρας δύο, Εὔμητιν καὶ Πρωτομάχην. κατώικει δὲ τὰς Θήβας, πλησίον τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν τὴν οἰκίαν ἔχων. ἐτίμα δὲ τὴν θεὸν σφόδρα, ὢν εὐσεβέστατος, καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα, καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, εἰς ὃν καὶ πλεῖστα γέγραφε. νεώτερος δὲ ἦν Σιμωνίδου, πρεσβύτερος δὲ Βακχυλίδου. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ξέρξου κατάβασιν ἤκμαζε τῆι ἡλικίαι. ἐτιμήθη δὲ σφόδρα ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος φιλεῖσθαι οὕτως, ὡς καὶ μερίδα λαμβάνειν ἀπὸ τῶν προσφερομένων τῶι θεῶι, καὶ τὸν ἱερέα βοᾶν ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις· Πίνδαρον ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον τοῦ θεοῦ. λόγος καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα εὑρῆσαί ποτε ἄιδοντα περὶ τοῦ Πέλοπος· λόγος δὲ ὅτι ποτὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Βοιωτοὺς ἐμπρήσαντες καὶ Θήβας ἀπέσχοντο μόνης τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ, θεασάμενοι ἐπιγεγραμμένον τὸν στίχον τοῦτον· Πινδάρου τοῦ μουσοποιοῦ τὴν στέγην μὴ καίετε. ὅπερ καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον μετὰ ταῦτά φασι πεποιηκέναι· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος ἐμπρήσας τὰς Θήβας μόνης ἐκείνης ἐφείσατο. ἐχθρωδῶς δὲ διακειμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους, ἐπεὶ εἶπεν ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασιν· ὦ ταὶ λιπαραὶ καὶ μεγαλοπόλιες Ἀθᾶναι, ἐζημίωσαν αὐτὸν χρήμασι Θηβαῖοι, ἅπερ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἔτισαν Ἀθηναῖοι. γέγραπται δὲ αὐτῶι ἑπτακαίδεκα βιβλία, ὧν τέσσαρα ἡ λεγομένη περίοδος λέγει τάδε· Ὀλυμπιονίκας Πυθιονίκας Ἰσθμιονίκας Νεμεονίκας. [Ἔστι δὲ τὰ Ὀλύμπια ἀγὼν εἰς τὸν Δία, τὰ Πύθια ἀγὼν εἰς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, τὰ Νέμεα ἀγὼν καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς Δία, τὰ δὲ Ἴσθμια ἀγὼν εἰς Ποσειδῶνα. τὰ δὲ ἔπαθλα τούτων ἐλαία, δάφνη, σέλινον ξηρόν τε καὶ χλωρόν.] ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τὰ ἐπιβάλλοντα τούτοις ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν· νῦν δὲ περὶ τῆς θέσεως τῶν Ὀλυμπιονικῶν λεκτέον. τινὲς μὲν οὖν ταύτην εἰς τὰ περὶ Οἰνομάου καὶ Πέλοπος τοῖς χρόνοις ἀναφέρουσιν· ἄλλοι δέ φασιν ὡς οὕτως αἰσχρὰν οὖσαν τὴν θέσιν οὐκ ἂν διεφύλαξαν· ἄλλοι δὲ Ἡρακλεῖ ἀνατιθέασιν, ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος, ἐνδοξοτέροις κοσμῶν τὸν ἀγῶνα. ἐπεὶ γὰρ τὴν Αὐγείου κόπρον καθῆρε καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων οὐκ ἔτυχε, συναγαγὼν στρατόπεδον τόν τε Αὐγείαν φονεύει καὶ τὴν Ἦλιν παρίσταται, καὶ πολλὰ λάφυρα περιποιησάμενος ἀγῶνα τίθησι τοῖς μετ’ αὐτοῦ πολεμήσασιν· ὅθεν καὶ τὸ ἔθος διαμεῖναι. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ αὕτη ἔμεινεν ἡ θέσις, ἐπεὶ τῆς συμβάσης αὐτοῖς δυσχερείας ὑπόμνησις ἦν. ἀλλ’ Ἴφιτός τις καὶ Εὐρύλοχος τοὺς Κιρραίους πολεμήσαντες (οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ τὴν πάραλον τῆς Φωκίδος ληισταὶ κατέχοντες) καὶ πολλὰ λάφυρα συναγαγόντες, ὁ μὲν Ἴφιτος τὰ Ὀλύμπια κατέβαλεν, ὁ δὲ τὰ Πύθια· καὶ ταύτην ἐπιμεῖναι τὴν θέσιν συνέβη.

Τέθνηκε δὲ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἓξ καὶ ἑξήκοντα ἐτῶν γεγονὼς ἐπὶ Ἀβίωνος ἄρχοντος κατὰ τὴν ἕκτην καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπίαδα. ἤκουσε δὲ Σιμωνίδου.

ὁ δὲ ἐπινίκιος οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, προτέτακται ὑπὸ Ἀριστοφάνους τοῦ συντάξαντος τὰ Πινδαρικὰ διὰ τὸ περιέχειν τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἐγκώμιον καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Πέλοπος, ὃς πρῶτος ἐν Ἤλιδι ἠγωνίσατο. γέγραπται δὲ Ἱέρωνι βασιλεῖ Συρακουσίων· αἱ δὲ Συράκουσαι πόλις τῆς Σικελίας· ὃς καὶ κτίστης ἐγένετο Αἴτνης πόλεως, ἀπὸ ὄρους αὐτῆς οὕτως αὐτὴν ὀνομάσας. ἀποστείλας δὲ οὗτος ἵππους εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν ἐνίκησε κέλητι. Τὸ μέτρον τούτου ὑπάρχει τριάς· τριὰς δέ ἐστι ποίημα ἐν ὧι στροφὴ, ἀντίστροφος, ἐπωιδός.
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Pindar was a Theban by descent, the son of Daïphantus according to the more trustworthy authorities. But some claim that Pindar was the son of Scopelinus; others say Daïphantus himself was the son of Scopelinus. Others say Pindar was the son of Pagondas and Myrto, from the village of Cynocephalae. And Myrto was married to Scopelinus the pipes player, who taught Pindar the art of playing the pipes. And when he saw Pindar had greater talent than him, Scopelinus entrusted him to the melic poet Lasus of Hermione, under whom he was taught the art of playing the lyre. Pindar reached his peak during the time of Aeschylus and was his contemporary, and he died when the Persian wars were at their height. Pindar had two daughters, Eymetis and Protomache. He dwelled in Thebes and had a house close to the shrine of the mother of the gods Cybele. Pindar honored the goddess greatly and was extremely pious, and he honored Pan as well, and Apollo, for whom he also wrote most of his poems. Pindar was younger than Simonides, but older than Bacchylides. By the time of the invasion of Xerxes Pindar was at the height of his career in his old age. Pindar was greatly honored by all the Greeks because he was so loved by Apollo that he received a portion of the sacrifices people brought to the god, and the priest called during the sacrifices “Pindar, come to the feast of the god.” There is a story he once found Pan singing the ode about Pelops. There is also a story that once when the Lacedaemonians razed Boeotia and Thebes with fire they held off from burning his house alone because they saw the following line written on it: “Don’t burn the home of the poet Pindar.” And they say Alexander after these events also did the same: when he razed Thebes he spared only Pindar’s house. During the time the Athenians were hostile to the Thebans, when Pindar said in a verse: “Oh the gleaming and magnificent city of Athens…” the Thebans fined him money, which the Athenians paid on his behalf. There are seventeen books written by Pindar. The circuit of athletic games called the periodos provides the title for four of these: the Olympians, Pythians, Isthmians, and Nemeans. [The Olympics are a contest for Zeus, the Pythians a contest for Apollo, the Nemeans are also a contest for Zeus, and the Isthmians a contest for Poseidon. The prize crowns for these games are respectively olive, laurel, dried celery, and fresh celery.] But we will speak later about the other books and the additions to these. But now the foundation of the Olympian games should be discussed. Some men ascribe it to the events during the time of Oenomaus and Pelops, but others claim this establishment of the games was too ill-suited to be continually observed. But others ascribe it to Hercules, as Pindar does, adorning the contest with even more glory. For after he cleaned out the excrement from the Augean Stables and did not receive what was promised, Hercules gathered an army and killed Augeas and occupied Elis, and with the spoils he obtained he established the games for the men who fought with him. And this is how the custom still persists. But the establishment of the games itself did not last since it served as a reminder of the animosity that occurred between them. But when one Iphitus and Eurylochus waged war against the Cirrhaians (these were pirates who controlled the coast of Phocis) and assembled a great deal of loot, Iphitus founded the Olympian and Eurylochus the Pythian games. And this establishment of the games turned out to last.

Pindar died during the archonship of Abion in the 86th Olympiad after living for sixty-six years. He was a pupil of Simonides.

The epinician, the beginning of which is “Best is water…”, was placed first in the collection by Aristophanes of Byzantium when he arranged the Pindaric corpus because it contains an encomium to the games as well as the story of Pelops, who first competed at Elis. It was written for Hiero king of Syracuse (Syracuse is a city in Sicily), who was also the founder of the city of Aetna and named it this way from the mountain it resides on. Hiero sent a team of horses to Olympia and won in the horse-race. The stanzas of this poem are a triad: a triad is a poem in which there is a strophe, antistrophe, and an epode.
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Vit. Metr.

2016-07-22T11:39:52Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Vita Metrica''}}
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Πίνδαρον ὑψαγόρην Καδμηίδος οὔδεϊ Θήβης<br />
Κλειδίκη εὐνηθεῖσα μενεπτολέμωι Δαϊφάντωι<br />
γείνατο ναιετάουσα Κυνὸς κεφαλῆς παρὰ χώρωι,<br />
οὐκ οἶον· ἅμα τῶι καὶ Ἐρίτιμον εἰδότα θήρην,<br />
εἰδότα πυγμαχίην τε παλαισμοσύνην τ’ ἀλεγεινήν.{{#linenum: 5}}<br />
τὸν μὲν ὅτε κνώσσοντα ποτὶ χθόνα κάτθετο μήτηρ<br />
εἰσέτι παιδνὸν ἐόντα, μέλισσά τις ὡς ἐπὶ σίμβλωι<br />
χείλεσι νηπιάχοισι τιθαιβώσσουσα ποτᾶτο.<br />
τῶι δὲ λιγυφθόγγων ἐπέων μελέων θ’ ὑποθήμων<br />
ἔπλετο δῖα Κόριννα· θεμείλια δ’ ὤπασε μύθων{{#linenum: 10}}<br />
τὸ πρῶτον· μετὰ τὴν δ’ Ἀγαθοκλέος ἔμμορεν αὐδῆς,<br />
ὅς τέ ῥά οἱ {{#lemma: κατέδειξεν|κατέδειξεν m: κατέλεξεν m}} ὁδὸν καὶ μέτρον ἀοιδῆς.<br />
εὖτε δ’ Ἀλεξάνδροιο Φιλιππιάδαο μενοινῆι<br />
Καδμείων ἀφίκοντο Μακηδόνες ἄστεα πέρσαι,<br />
Πινδαρέων μεγάρων οὐχ ἥψατο θεσπιδαὲς πῦρ.{{#linenum: 15}}<br />
ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν μετόπισθεν. ἔτι ζώοντι δ’ ἀοιδῶι<br />
Φοῖβος ἄναξ ἐκέλευσε πολυχρύσου παρὰ Πυθοῦς<br />
ἤια καὶ μέθυ λαρὸν ἀεὶ Θήβηνδε κομίζειν.<br />
καὶ μέλος, ὡς ἐνέπουσιν, ἐν οὔρεσιν ἠυκέρως Πάν<br />
Πινδάρου αἰὲν ἄειδε, καὶ οὐκ ἐμέγηρεν ἀείδων.{{#linenum: 20}}<br />
ἦμος δ’ ἐν Μαραθῶνι καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι παρέσταν<br />
αἰναρέται Πέρσαι μετὰ Δάτιδος ἀγριοφώνου,<br />
τῆμος ἔτι ζώεσκεν, ὅτ’ Αἰσχύλος ἦν ἐν Ἀθήναις.<br />
τῶι δὲ Τιμοξείνη παρελέξατο δῖα γυναικῶν,<br />
ἣ τέκεν Εὔμητιν, μεγαλήτορα καὶ Δαΐφαντον,{{#linenum: 25}}<br />
Πρωτομάχην δ’ ἐπὶ τοῖσιν. ἔμελψε δὲ κῦδος ἀγώνων<br />
τῶν πισύρων, μακάρων παιήονας {{#lemma: ἐνδεδεγμένους|ἐνδεδεγμένους m: ἀναδεδεγμένος Eustathius: ἀνδράσι θρήνους m: ἐν δέ τε θρήνους Schneidewin: ἐν δ’ ἐλεγειους Tafel: ἐν δέ θρονισμούς Bergk}},<br />
καὶ μέλος ὀρχηθμοῖο, θεῶν τ’ ἐρικυδέας ὕμνους,<br />
ἠδὲ μελιφθόγγων μελεδήματα παρθενικάων.<br />
τοῖος ἐὼν καὶ {{#lemma: τόσσα παθὼν|τόσσα παθὼν Eustathius: τοῖα παρὼν m: τοῖα πορὼν m}} καὶ τόσσα τελέσσας{{#linenum: 30}}<br />
κάτθανεν ὀγδώκοντα τελειομένων ἐνιαυτῶν.<br />

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<div id="translation">
Cleidice gave birth to the braggart Pindar at the doorstep of Cadmean Thebes, after sleeping with the steadfast in battle Daïphantus while she dwelt in the countryside of Dog’s Head. And not just him alone: along with Pindar she gave birth to Eritimos who understood hunting, understood boxing and painful wrestling that gives men pain. [5] When his mother put him down on the ground while he slept, when he was still a child, a bee landed and brought honey to his childish lips as if it was a beehive. And Pindar had instruction for clear-voiced words and songs through Corinna; she first provided a foundation for his stories. [10] After her he took a share of Agathocleus’ voice, who showed the path and measure of song to him. When the Macedonians came to raze the city of Cadmus’ descendents because of the desire of Alexander the son of Philip, the divinely stoked fire did not touch the halls of Pindar. [15] But these events happened later. While Pindar was still alive lord Apollo at Pytho with much gold bid the singer to always bring food and sweet wine back to Thebes. And a song of Pindar’s, as they say, Pan of the fine horns always sings in the hills, and he does not begrudge singing it. [20] When the fiercely brave Persians made a stand at Marathon and Salamis along with Dates wild in slaughter, Pindar was still alive, and Aeschylus was in Athens. And Timoxeine was the one amongst women to take his bed, and she gave birth to Eymetis, and great-hearted Daïphantus, [25] as well as Protomache in addition to these two. And Pindar sang and danced the glory of the four contests, paeans accepted by the blessed ones, the song of the dance, glorious hymns to the gods and the cares of honey-voiced maidens. This is what Pindar was like, and this is what happened to him and what he accomplished. [30] He died when he had finished eighty years.
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Vit. Ambr.

2016-07-22T11:39:42Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ambrosian Life''}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">
<div id="maintext">
βίος Πινδάρου

Πίνδαρος ὁ ποιητὴς θηβαῖος ἦν ἐκ Κυνοκεφάλων· κώμη δέ ἐστι θηβαϊκή· υἱὸς δὲ Δαϊφάντου, κατὰ δ’ἐνίους Παγώνδα. ἔνιοι δὲ Σκοπελίνου αὐτὸν γενεαλογοῦσι, τινὲς δὲ τὸν Σκοπελῖνον πατρωὸν αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι καὶ αὐλητὴν ὄντα τὴν τέχνην διδάξαι. μητρὸς δὲ Κλεοδίκης· οἱ δὲ Κληδίκης γράφουσι. παῖς δὲ ὢν ὁ Πίνδαρος, ὡς Χαμαιλέων καὶ Ἴστρος φασὶ, περὶ τὸν Ἑλικῶνα θηρῶντα αὐτὸν ὑπὸ πολλοῦ καμάτου εἰς ὕπνον κατενεχθῆναι, κοιμωμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ μέλισσαν τῶι στόματι προσκαθίσασαν κηρία ποιῆσαι. οἱ δέ φασιν ὅτι ὄναρ εἶδεν ὡς μέλιτος καὶ κηροῦ πλῆρες εἶναι αὐτοῦ τὸ στόμα, καὶ ἐπὶ ποιητικὴν ἐτράπη. διδάσκαλον δὲ αὐτοῦ Ἀθήνησιν οἱ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλέα, οἱ δὲ Ἀπολλόδωρον λέγουσιν, ὃν καὶ προϊστάμενον κυκλίων χορῶν ἀποδημοῦντα πιστεῦσαι τὴν διδασκαλίαν τῶι Πινδάρῶι παιδὶ ὄντι, τὸν δὲ εὖ διακοσμήσαντα διαβόητον γενέσθαι. ἔρεισμα δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰπὼν Ἀθήνας ἐζημιώθη ὑπὸ θηβαίων χιλίαις δραχμαῖς ἃς ἐξέτισαν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ Ἀθηναῖοι. ἦν δὲ οὐ μόνον εὐφυὴς ποιητὴς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνθρωπος θεοφιλής. ὁ γοῦν Πὰν ὁ θεὸς ὤφθη μεταξὺ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος καὶ τοῦ Ἑλικῶνος ἄιδων παιᾶνα Πινδάρου· διὸ καὶ ἆισμα ἐποίησεν εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐν ὧι χάριν ὁμολογεῖ τῆς τιμῆς αὐτῶι, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· ὦ Πὰν Πὰν Ἀρκαδίας μεδέων καὶ σεμνῶν ἀδύτων φύλαξ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ Δημήτηρ ὄναρ ἐπιστᾶσα αὐτῶι ἐπέμψατο, ὅτι μόνην τῶν θεῶν οὐχ ὕμνησεν· ὁ δὲ εἰς αὐτὴν ἐποίησε ποίημα οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· Πότνια θεσμοφόρε χρυσάνιον. ἀλλὰ καὶ βωμὸν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν θεῶν πρὸ τῆς οἰκίας τῆς ἰδίας ἱδρύσατο. Παυσανίου δὲ τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως ἐμπιπρῶντος τὰς Θήβας ἐπέγραψέ τις τῆι οἰκίαι· Πινδάρου τοῦ μουσοποιοῦ τὴν στέγην μὴ καίετε· καὶ οὕτως μόνη ἀπόρθητος ἔμεινεν, καὶ ἔστι τὸ νῦν ἐν Θήβαις πρυτανεῖον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖς ὁ προφήτης μέλλων κλείειν τὸν νεὼν κηρύσσει καθ’ ἡμέραν· Πίνδαρος ὁ μουσοποιὸς παρίτω πρὸς τὸ δεῖπνον τῶι θεῶι. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῆι τῶν Πυθίων ἑορτῆι ἐγεννήθη, ὡς αὐτός φησι· Πενταετηρὶς ἑορτὰ βουπομπὸς, ἐν ἇι πρῶτον εὐνάσθην ἀγαπατὸς ὑπὸ σπαργάνοις. λέγεται δὲ θεωροὺς ἀπιόντας εἰς Ἄμμωνος αἰτῆσαι Πινδάρωι τὸ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἄριστον, καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἐν ἐκείνωι τῶι ἐνιαυτῶι. ἐπέβαλλε δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις Σιμωνίδηι ἧι νεώτερος πρεσβυτέρωι· τῶν γοῦν αὐτῶν μέμνηται ἀμφότεροι πράξεων. καὶ γὰρ Σιμωνίδης τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίαν γέγραφε καὶ Πίνδαρος μέμνηται τῆς Κάδμου βασιλείας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀμφότεροι παρὰ Ἱέρωνι τῶι Συρακοσίων τυράννωι γεγένηται. γήμας δὲ Μεγάκλειαν τὴν Λυσιθέου καὶ Καλλίνης ἔσχεν υἱὸν Δαΐφαντον, ὧι καὶ δαφνηφορικὸν ἆισμα ἔγραψεν· καὶ θυγατέρας δύο, Πρωτομάχην καὶ Εὔμητιν. γέγραφε δὲ βιβλία ἑπτακαίδεκα· ὕμνους, παια̂νας, διθυράμβων β’, προσοδίων β’· παρθενίων β’, φέρεται δὲ καὶ γ’ ὃ ἐπιγράφεται κεχωρισμένων παρθενίων· ὑπορχημάτων β’, ἐγκώμια, θρήνους, ἐπινίκων δ’. φέρεται δὲ ἐπίγραμμα ἐπὶ τῆι τελευτῆι αὐτοῦ τόδε·
<blockquote>
Ἦ μάλα Πρωτομάχα σε καὶ Εὔμητις λιγύφωνοι<br>
ἔκλαυσαν πινυταὶ, Πίνδαρε, θυγατέρες,<br>
Ἀργόθεν ἦμος ἵκοντο κομίζουσ’ ἔνδοθι κρωσσοῦ<br>
λείψαν’ ἀπὸ ξείνης ἀθρόα πυρκαϊῆς.<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div id="translation">
The life of Pindar.

Pindar the Theban poet was from Cynocephalae – Cynocephalae is a Theban village. He was the son of Daïphantus, according to some of Pagondas. Some make him a descendant of Scopelinus, others say that Scopelinus was his uncle and was a flute-player, who taught Pindar his craft. His mother was Cleodice, but some spell it Cledice.

When Pindar was a child, as Chamaeleon and Ister say, he was hunting around Helicon and fell asleep from sheer tiredness; as he slept, a bee landed on his mouth and made a honeycomb. Others say that in a dream he saw that his mouth was full of honey and wax, and he turned to poetry.

Some say that Agathocles was his teacher at Athens. Others say that it was Apollodorus, and they also say that Apollodorus, who headed circular choruses, once when he was away from town entrusted their training to Pindar, although he was still a child; Pindar directed the choir well and became famous abroad.

When he said that Athens was the pillar of Greece, he was fined a thousand drachmas by the Thebans, which the Athenians paid for him.

He was not only a naturally talented poet, but also a man dear to the gods. The god Pan was seen between Cithaeron and Helicon singing a paean of Pindar. Because of this, Pindar composed a song to the god, in which he returns gratitude for the honour paid to him; the beginning of the song is “O Pan, Pan ruler of Arcadia and guardian of the holy sanctuaries.” And also Demeter stood next to Pindar in a dream and complained because he had not made a hymn to her only out of the gods. So he made her a poem, which begins: “Law-giving queen with golden reins.” And he also built an altar to both gods in front of his own house.

When Pausanias the Spartan king razed Thebes with fire, someone wrote on Pindar’s house: “Don’t burn the house of Pindar the poet.” Therefore only Pindar’s house stood unburnt, and it is the prytaneion in Thebes still today.

And also when the priest at Delphi is about to shut the door of the temple, he proclaims each day: “May Pindar the poet come to the meal for the god.” For in fact Pindar was born during the Pythian festival, as he himself says: “Quadriennial festival celebrated with a procession of oxen, in which for the first time I slept, well loved, under the protection of swaddling bands.”

It is said that envoys went to Ammon and asked on behalf of Pindar what was the best thing for men, and he died before the year was over.

He lived at the same time of Simonides (Simonides was older, Pindar younger); in fact, they both mention the same events. For Simonides wrote about the naval battle at Salamis, and Pindar mentioned the kingship of Cadmus. And also, both of them stayed with Hiero tyrant of Syracuse.

He married Megacleia, the daughter of Lysitheus and Calline, and had a son, Daïphantus, for whom he also wrote a song for the Daphnephoria; he also had two daughters, Protomache and Eymetis.

He wrote seventeen books: hymns, paeans, two books of dithyrambs, two of prosodia, two of partheneia, and, it is said, also another three books which he entitled “Separated partheneia;” two books of hyporchemes, encomia, laments, four of epinician odes.

This epigram about his death is passed down:
<blockquote>
“Clear-voiced Protomache and Eymetis mourned very much for you, Pindar, your wise daughters, when from Argos they came, bringing home in the cinerary urn the remnants of your body, all assembled, from a foreign funeral pyre.”
</blockquote>
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|guides=[[Pindar: A Guide to Selected Sources|Pindar]]
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{{#set:Short title=''Ambrosian Life''}}

[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Valerius Maximus 9.12.(ext.)7

2016-07-22T11:39:22Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Valerius Maximus 9.12.(ext.)7}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">
<div id="maintext">
At Pindarus, cum in gymnasio super gremium pueri, quo unice delectabatur, capite posito quieti se dedisset, non prius decessisse cognitus est quam gymnasiarcho claudere iam eum locum uolente nequiquam excitaretur. cui quidem crediderim eadem benignitate deorum et tantum poeticae facundiae et tam placidum uitae finem attributum.
</div>
<div id="translation">
But Pindar, when he fell asleep in the gymnasium with his head placed above the lap of the boy in whom he alone took delight, no one noticed his passing until he couldn’t be awakened by the master of the gym who wanted to close up. I certainly would believe both such poetic eloquence and so calm an end to life were given to him because of the same benevolence of the gods.
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Thoman Life

2016-07-22T11:31:09Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Thoman Life''}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">
<div id="maintext">
Πίνδαρος τὸ μὲν γένος Θηβαῖος, υἱὸς Δαϊφάντου κατὰ τοὺς ἀληθεστέρους· οἱ δὲ Σκοπελίνου· {{#lemma: οἱ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν Σκοπελίνου φασίν|οἱ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν Σκοπελίνου φασίν M: οἱ δὲ θετὸν αὐτὸν Σκοπελίνου φασίν m}}. οἱ δὲ Παγώνδα καὶ Μυρτοῦς, ἀπὸ κώμης Κυνοκεφάλων. ἡ δὲ Μυρτὼ ἐγαμήθη Σκοπελίνωι τῶι αὐλητῆι, ὃς τὴν αὐλητικὴν διδάσκων τὸν Πίνδαρον, ἐπεὶ εἶδε μείζονος ἕξεως ὄντα, {{#lemma: παρέδωκε Λάσῶι|παρέδωκε Λάσῶι m: σημείωσαι Λάσος ὁ πρῶτος τῶν διθυραμβοποιῶν post παρέδωκε Λάσῶι add. m in marg.}} τῶι Ἑρμιονεῖ μελοποιῶι, παρ’ ὧι τὴν λυρικὴν ἐπαιδεύθη. γέγονε δὲ κατὰ {{#lemma: [τοὺς]|τοὺς om. M}} χρόνους Αἰσχύλου, καὶ συγγεγένηται, καὶ τέθνηκεν ὅτε καὶ τὰ Περσικὰ ἤκμαζον. ἔσχε δὲ θυγατέρας δύο, Εὔμητιν καὶ Πρωτομάχην. κατώικει δὲ τὰς Θήβας, πλησίον τοῦ ἱεροῦ {{#lemma: τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν τὴν οἰκίαν ἔχων|τῆς Ῥέας post θεῶν add. m, post ἔχων m}}. ἐτίμα δὲ τὴν θεὸν σφόδρα, ὢν εὐσεβέστατος, καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα, καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, εἰς ὃν καὶ πλεῖστα γέγραφε. νεώτερος δὲ ἦν Σιμωνίδου, πρεσβύτερος δὲ Βακχυλίδου. κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ξέρξου κατάβασιν ἤκμαζε τῆι ἡλικίαι. ἐτιμήθη δὲ σφόδρα ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος φιλεῖσθαι οὕτως, ὡς καὶ μερίδα λαμβάνειν ἀπὸ τῶν προσφερομένων τῶι θεῶι, καὶ τὸν ἱερέα βοᾶν ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις· Πίνδαρον ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον τοῦ θεοῦ. λόγος καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα εὑρῆσαί ποτε ἄιδοντα περὶ τοῦ {{#lemma: Πέλοπος|Πέλοπος m: ὀρχήσασθαί ποτε τὸν αὐτοῦ παιᾶνα καὶ χαίρειν ἄιδοντα τοῦτον ἀεὶ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι m}}· λόγος δὲ ὅτι ποτὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Βοιωτοὺς ἐμπρήσαντες καὶ Θήβας ἀπέσχοντο μόνης τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ, θεασάμενοι ἐπιγεγραμμένον τὸν στίχον τοῦτον· Πινδάρου τοῦ μουσοποιοῦ τὴν στέγην μὴ καίετε. ὅπερ καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον μετὰ ταῦτά φασι πεποιηκέναι· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος ἐμπρήσας τὰς Θήβας μόνης ἐκείνης ἐφείσατο. ἐχθρωδῶς δὲ διακειμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων πρὸς τοὺς Θηβαίους, ἐπεὶ εἶπεν ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασιν· {{#lemma: ὦ ταὶ λιπαραὶ καὶ μεγαλοπόλιες Ἀθᾶναι|ὦ ταὶ λιπαραὶ καὶ m, Eustathius: ὦ ταλαίπωροι καὶ m: ὦ ταλαίπωροι Θῆβαι καὶ m}}, ἐζημίωσαν αὐτὸν χρήμασι Θηβαῖοι, ἅπερ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦopencv ἔτισαν Ἀθηναῖοι. γέγραπται δὲ αὐτῶι ἑπτακαίδεκα βιβλία, ὧν τέσσαρα ἡ λεγομένη περίοδος λέγει τάδε· Ὀλυμπιονίκας Πυθιονίκας Ἰσθμιονίκας Νεμεονίκας. {{#lemma: [Ἔστι δὲ τὰ Ὀλύμπια ἀγὼν εἰς τὸν Δία, τὰ Πύθια ἀγὼν εἰς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, τὰ Νέμεα ἀγὼν καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς Δία, τὰ δὲ Ἴσθμια ἀγὼν εἰς Ποσειδῶνα. τὰ δὲ ἔπαθλα τούτων ἐλαία, δάφνη, σέλινον ξηρόν τε καὶ χλωρόν.]|[Ἔστι δὲ … χλωρόν] Drachmann}} ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τὰ ἐπιβάλλοντα τούτοις ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν· νῦν δὲ περὶ τῆς θέσεως τῶν Ὀλυμπιονικῶν λεκτέον. τινὲς μὲν οὖν ταύτην εἰς τὰ περὶ Οἰνομάου καὶ Πέλοπος τοῖς χρόνοις ἀναφέρουσιν· ἄλλοι δέ φασιν ὡς οὕτως αἰσχρὰν οὖσαν τὴν θέσιν οὐκ ἂν διεφύλαξαν· ἄλλοι δὲ Ἡρακλεῖ ἀνατιθέασιν, ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος, ἐνδοξοτέροις κοσμῶν τὸν ἀγῶνα. ἐπεὶ γὰρ τὴν Αὐγείου κόπρον καθῆρε καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων οὐκ ἔτυχε, συναγαγὼν στρατόπεδον τόν τε Αὐγείαν φονεύει καὶ τὴν Ἦλιν παρίσταται, καὶ πολλὰ λάφυρα περιποιησάμενος ἀγῶνα τίθησι τοῖς μετ’ αὐτοῦ πολεμήσασιν· ὅθεν καὶ τὸ ἔθος διαμεῖναι. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ αὕτη ἔμεινεν ἡ θέσις, ἐπεὶ τῆς συμβάσης αὐτοῖς δυσχερείας ὑπόμνησις ἦν. ἀλλ’ Ἴφιτός τις καὶ Εὐρύλοχος τοὺς Κιρραίους πολεμήσαντες (οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ τὴν πάραλον τῆς Φωκίδος ληισταὶ κατέχοντες) καὶ πολλὰ λάφυρα συναγαγόντες, ὁ μὲν Ἴφιτος τὰ Ὀλύμπια κατέβαλεν, ὁ δὲ τὰ Πύθια· καὶ ταύτην ἐπιμεῖναι τὴν θέσιν συνέβη.

Τέθνηκε δὲ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἓξ καὶ ἑξήκοντα ἐτῶν {{#lemma: γεγονὼς|γεγονώς m: ἢ ὥς τινες ὀγδοήκοντα post γεγονώς add. Eustathius}} ἐπὶ {{#lemma: Ἀβίωνος|Ἀβίωνος m: Ἅβρωνος Wilamowitz}} ἄρχοντος κατὰ τὴν ἕκτην καὶ {{#lemma: ὀγδοηκοστὴν|ὀγδοηκοστήν m: εἰκοστὴν m}} Ὀλυμπίαδα. ἤκουσε δὲ Σιμωνίδου.

ὁ δὲ ἐπινίκιος οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· {{#lemma: Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ|Pind. ''Ol.'' 1.1}}, προτέτακται ὑπὸ Ἀριστοφάνους τοῦ συντάξαντος τὰ Πινδαρικὰ διὰ τὸ περιέχειν τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἐγκώμιον καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Πέλοπος, ὃς πρῶτος ἐν Ἤλιδι ἠγωνίσατο. γέγραπται δὲ Ἱέρωνι βασιλεῖ Συρακουσίων· αἱ δὲ Συράκουσαι πόλις τῆς Σικελίας· ὃς καὶ κτίστης ἐγένετο Αἴτνης πόλεως, ἀπὸ ὄρους αὐτῆς οὕτως αὐτὴν ὀνομάσας. ἀποστείλας δὲ οὗτος ἵππους εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν ἐνίκησε κέλητι. Τὸ μέτρον τούτου ὑπάρχει τριάς· τριὰς δέ ἐστι ποίημα ἐν ὧι στροφὴ, ἀντίστροφος, ἐπωιδός.
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Pindar was a Theban by descent, the son of Daïphantus according to the more trustworthy authorities. But some claim that Pindar was the son of Scopelinus; others say Daïphantus himself was the son of Scopelinus. Others say Pindar was the son of Pagondas and Myrto, from the village of Cynocephalae. And Myrto was married to Scopelinus the pipes player, who taught Pindar the art of playing the pipes. And when he saw Pindar had greater talent than him, Scopelinus entrusted him to the melic poet Lasus of Hermione, under whom he was taught the art of playing the lyre. Pindar reached his peak during the time of Aeschylus and was his contemporary, and he died when the Persian wars were at their height. Pindar had two daughters, Eymetis and Protomache. He dwelled in Thebes and had a house close to the shrine of the mother of the gods Cybele. Pindar honored the goddess greatly and was extremely pious, and he honored Pan as well, and Apollo, for whom he also wrote most of his poems. Pindar was younger than Simonides, but older than Bacchylides. By the time of the invasion of Xerxes Pindar was at the height of his career in his old age. Pindar was greatly honored by all the Greeks because he was so loved by Apollo that he received a portion of the sacrifices people brought to the god, and the priest called during the sacrifices “Pindar, come to the feast of the god.” There is a story he once found Pan singing the ode about Pelops. There is also a story that once when the Lacedaemonians razed Boeotia and Thebes with fire they held off from burning his house alone because they saw the following line written on it: “Don’t burn the home of the poet Pindar.” And they say Alexander after these events also did the same: when he razed Thebes he spared only Pindar’s house. During the time the Athenians were hostile to the Thebans, when Pindar said in a verse: “Oh the gleaming and magnificent city of Athens…” the Thebans fined him money, which the Athenians paid on his behalf. There are seventeen books written by Pindar. The circuit of athletic games called the periodos provides the title for four of these: the Olympians, Pythians, Isthmians, and Nemeans. [The Olympics are a contest for Zeus, the Pythians a contest for Apollo, the Nemeans are also a contest for Zeus, and the Isthmians a contest for Poseidon. The prize crowns for these games are respectively olive, laurel, dried celery, and fresh celery.] But we will speak later about the other books and the additions to these. But now the foundation of the Olympian games should be discussed. Some men ascribe it to the events during the time of Oenomaus and Pelops, but others claim this establishment of the games was too ill-suited to be continually observed. But others ascribe it to Hercules, as Pindar does, adorning the contest with even more glory. For after he cleaned out the excrement from the Augean Stables and did not receive what was promised, Hercules gathered an army and killed Augeas and occupied Elis, and with the spoils he obtained he established the games for the men who fought with him. And this is how the custom still persists. But the establishment of the games itself did not last since it served as a reminder of the animosity that occurred between them. But when one Iphitus and Eurylochus waged war against the Cirrhaians (these were pirates who controlled the coast of Phocis) and assembled a great deal of loot, Iphitus founded the Olympian and Eurylochus the Pythian games. And this establishment of the games turned out to last.

Pindar died during the archonship of Abion in the 86th Olympiad after living for sixty-six years. He was a pupil of Simonides.

The epinician, the beginning of which is “Best is water…”, was placed first in the collection by Aristophanes of Byzantium when he arranged the Pindaric corpus because it contains an encomium to the games as well as the story of Pelops, who first competed at Elis. It was written for Hiero king of Syracuse (Syracuse is a city in Sicily), who was also the founder of the city of Aetna and named it this way from the mountain it resides on. Hiero sent a team of horses to Olympia and won in the horse-race. The stanzas of this poem are a triad: a triad is a poem in which there is a strophe, antistrophe, and an epode.
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Suda s.v. 'Pindar'

2016-07-22T11:30:58Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Suda s.v. ‘Pindar’ = π 1617 Adler}}
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Πίνδαρος, Θηβῶν, Σκοπελίνου υἱός, κατὰ δέ τινας Δαϊφάντου· ὃ καὶ μᾶλλον ἀληθές· ὁ γὰρ Σκοπελίνου ἐστὶν ἀφανέστερος καὶ προσγενὴς Πινδάρου. τινὲς δὲ καὶ Παγωνίδου ἱστόρησαν αὐτόν. μαθητὴς δὲ Μυρτίδος γυναικός, γεγονὼς κατὰ τὴν ξε’ ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ κατὰ τὴν Ξέρξου στρατείαν ὢν ἐτῶν μ’. καὶ ἀδελφὸς μὲν ἦν αὐτῶι ὄνομα Ἐρωτίων καὶ υἱὸς Διόφαντος, θυγατέρες δὲ Εὔμητις καὶ Πρωτομάχη. καὶ συνέβη αὐτῶι τοῦ βίου τελευτὴ κατ’ εὐχάς· αἰτήσαντι γὰρ τὸ κάλλιστον αὐτῶι δοθῆναι τῶν ἐν τῶι βίωι ἀθρόον αὐτὸν ἀποθανεῖν ἐν θεάτρωι, ἀνακεκλιμένον εἰς τὰ τοῦ ἐρωμένου Θεοξένου αὐτοῦ γόνατα, ἐτῶν νε’. ἔγραψε δὲ ἐν βιβλίοις ιζ’ Δωρίδι διαλέκτωι ταῦτα· Ὀλυμπιονίκας, Πυθιονίκας, Προσόδια, Παρθένια, Ἐνθρονισμούς, Βακχικά, Δαφνηφορικά, Παιᾶνας, Ὑπορχήματα, Ὕμνους, Διθυράμβους, Σκολιά, Ἐγκώμια, Θρήνους, δράματα τραγικὰ ιζ’, ἐπιγράμματα ἐπικὰ καὶ καταλογάδην παραινέσεις τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ ἄλλα πλεῖστα.
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<div id="translation">
Pindar: from Thebes, son of Scopelinus, according to others Daïphantus. The latter is more probable, for the son of Scopelinus is more obscure and a kinsman of Pindar. Some also related that Pindar was the son of Pagonides. He was student of the woman Myrtis, born in the 65th Olympiad and he was forty years old at the time of the expedition of Xerxes. He also had a brother named Erotion, a son Diophantus, and two daughters, Eymetis and Protomache. And the end of life came about for him according to his prayers. For when he asked for the finest thing in life to be given to him, he died in the theatre on the spot, reclining on the knees of his beloved Theoxenus. He was then fifty-five. He wrote these seventeen books in the Doric dialect as follows: Olympians, Pythians, prosodia, parthenia, enthroning songs, bacchic songs, songs for the Daphnephoria, paeans, hyporchemes, hymns, dithyrambs, drinking songs, encomia, laments, seventeen tragic dramas, epigrams in epic meter and praises in prose for the Greeks, and many other books.
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Suda s.v. Pindar

2016-07-22T11:29:43Z

Nick White:

Scholium to Pindar, Pythian Ode 3.77-8

2016-07-22T11:28:39Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Scholium to Pindar, ''Pythian Ode'' 3.77-8 = 137b Drachmann}}
{{#howtoquote:}}{{#togglenotes:}}
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ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεύξασθαι μὲν ἐγὼν ἐθέλω ματρί· Ἀριστόδημός φησιν Ὀλυμπίχου αὐλητοῦ διδασκομένου ὑπὸ Πινδάρου γενέσθαι κατὰ τὸ ὄρος, ὅπου τὴν μελέτην συνετίθει, καὶ ψόφον ἱκανὸν καὶ {{#lemma: φλογὸς|φλογὸς M: πυρὸς m}} καταφοράν· τὸν δὲ Πίνδαρον ἐπαισθόμενον συνιδεῖν Μητρὸς θεῶν ἄγαλμα λίθινον τοῖς ποσὶν ἐπερχόμενον, ὅθεν αὐτὸν συνιδρύσασθαι πρὸς τῆι οἰκίαι Μητρὸς θεῶν καὶ Πανὸς ἄγαλμα. τοὺς δὲ πολίτας πέμψαντας εἰς θεοῦ πυνθάνεσθαι περὶ τῶν ἐκβησομένων· τὸν δὲ ἀνειπεῖν, ἱερὸν Μητρὸς θεῶν ἱδρύσασθαι. τοὺς δὲ ἐκπλαγέντας τὸν Πίνδαρον διὰ τὸ προειληφέναι τὸν χρησμὸν, ὁμοίως τῷι Πινδάρωι ἐκεῖσε τιμᾶν τὴν θεὸν τελεταῖς.
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“But I want to pray to the Mother”: Aristodemus says that when Olympichus the pipes player was being taught by Pindar there were a big noise and a flame from the sky on the mountain where the practice was taking place. Pindar became aware of and saw a stone statue of the Mother of the Gods approaching him on its feet. And because of this, he set up near his house a statue of the Mother of the Gods and of Pan. The citizens sent an embassy to the god of Delphi to ask about what had happened, and Apollo said to build a sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods. They were amazed at Pindar who had anticipated the oracular response and honoured there the goddess with rituals, as Pindar had done.
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Scholium to Pindar, Olympian Ode 2.87

2016-07-22T11:28:31Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Scholium to Pindar, ''Olympian Ode'' 2.87 = 157a Drachmann}}
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κόρακες: οἷον, ὡς κόρακες πρὸς ἀετὸν ἀντιβοῶντες, οὕτως οἱ μαθόντες πρὸς τὸν φύσει σοφόν. αἰνίττεται Βακχυλίδην καὶ Σιμωνίδην, ἑαυτὸν λέγων ἀετὸν, κόρακας δὲ τοὺς ἀντιτέχνους.
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<div id="translation">
“Crows”: i.e. as crows caw in answer to an eagle, so do men who need to be taught at one who is naturally wise. He is referring metaphorically to Bacchylides and Simonides, calling himself the eagle, and his rivals the crows.
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Scholium to Pindar, Nemean Ode 3.82

2016-07-22T11:27:54Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Scholium to Pindar, ''Nemean Ode'' 3.82 = 143 Drachmann}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
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κραγέται δὲ κολοιοὶ ταπεινὰ νέμονται: οἱ δὲ ἀντίτεχνοί μου κολοιοῖς ἐοίκασι, κραυγάζοντες μόνον καὶ ταπεινὰ νεμόμενοι, οὐ δύνανται δὲ διαίρεσθαι εἰς ὕψος. δοκεῖ δὲ ταῦτα τείνειν εἰς Βακχυλίδην· ἦν γὰρ ὑφόρασις αὐτοῖς πρὸς ἀλλήλους. παραβάλλει δὲ αὑτὸν μὲν ἀετῶι, κολοιῶι δὲ Βακχυλίδην.
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<div id="translation">
“While the chattering jackdaws keep below”: Pindar’s rivals are likened to jackdaws, who only chatter and keep below, unable to soar to a great height. It’s likely that these words are aimed at Bacchylides – for indeed there was suspicion between the two poets for each other. But Pindar compares himself to the eagle, Bacchylides to the jackdaw.
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Scholium to Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.1

2016-07-22T11:27:37Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Scholium to Pindar, ''Isthmian Ode'' 1.1 = 1a Drachmann}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
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Μᾶτερ ἐμά· παρόσον καὶ ὁ Πίνδαρος Θηβαῖος.
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“My mother”: meaning that Pindar is from Thebes.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Schol. Pind. Pyth. 3.77-8

2016-07-22T11:27:09Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Scholium to Pindar, ''Pythian Ode'' 3.77-8 = 137b Drachmann}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
<div class="textwithtranslation">
<div id="maintext">
ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεύξασθαι μὲν ἐγὼν ἐθέλω ματρί· Ἀριστόδημός φησιν Ὀλυμπίχου αὐλητοῦ διδασκομένου ὑπὸ Πινδάρου γενέσθαι κατὰ τὸ ὄρος, ὅπου τὴν μελέτην συνετίθει, καὶ ψόφον ἱκανὸν καὶ φλογὸς καταφοράν· τὸν δὲ Πίνδαρον ἐπαισθόμενον συνιδεῖν Μητρὸς θεῶν ἄγαλμα λίθινον τοῖς ποσὶν ἐπερχόμενον, ὅθεν αὐτὸν συνιδρύσασθαι πρὸς τῆι οἰκίαι Μητρὸς θεῶν καὶ Πανὸς ἄγαλμα. τοὺς δὲ πολίτας πέμψαντας εἰς θεοῦ πυνθάνεσθαι περὶ τῶν ἐκβησομένων· τὸν δὲ ἀνειπεῖν, ἱερὸν Μητρὸς θεῶν ἱδρύσασθαι. τοὺς δὲ ἐκπλαγέντας τὸν Πίνδαρον διὰ τὸ προειληφέναι τὸν χρησμὸν, ὁμοίως τῷι Πινδάρωι ἐκεῖσε τιμᾶν τὴν θεὸν τελεταῖς.
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<div id="translation">
“But I want to pray to the Mother”: Aristodemus says that when Olympichus the pipes player was being taught by Pindar there were a big noise and a flame from the sky on the mountain where the practice was taking place. Pindar became aware of and saw a stone statue of the Mother of the Gods approaching him on its feet. And because of this, he set up near his house a statue of the Mother of the Gods and of Pan. The citizens sent an embassy to the god of Delphi to ask about what had happened, and Apollo said to build a sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods. They were amazed at Pindar who had anticipated the oracular response and honoured there the goddess with rituals, as Pindar had done.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Schol. Pind. Ol. 2.87-8

2016-07-22T11:26:56Z

Nick White:

Schol. Pind. Nem. 7.102

2016-07-22T11:26:23Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Scholium to Pindar, ''Nemean Ode'' 7.102 = 150a Drachmann}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
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<div id="maintext">
τὸ δ’ ἐμὸν οὔ ποτε φάσει κέαρ: οὐκ ἀτρόπως φησὶν οὐδ’ ἀπεοικότως εἰς μνήμην ἐληλυθέναι τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου. ὁ μὲν οὖν Καλλίστρατος, ἐπεὶ ἔφησε τὸν Σωγένη γείτονα εἶναι τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, καὶ ὁ Νεοπτόλεμος δὲ γειτνιᾶι τῶι θεῶι τῶι ἐν Δελφοῖς, κατὰ τοῦτό φησιν οἰκείως μεμνῆσθαι τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου, διὰ τὴν ἀμφοτέρων γειτνίασιν· ὁ δὲ Ἀριστόδημος, ὅτι μεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ Αἰγινητῶν ἐπὶ τῶι δοκεῖν ἐν Παιᾶσιν εἰπεῖν τὸν Νεοπτόλεμον ἐπὶ ἱεροσυλίαι ἐληλυθέναι εἰς Δελφοὺς, νῦν ὥσπερ ὑπεραπολογεῖται εἰπὼν, ὅτι οὐχ ἱεροσυλῶν ἐτελεύτησεν, ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ κρεῶν φιλοτιμηθεὶς ἀνηιρέθη. διὸ καὶ ἐποίσει· ταὐτὰ δὲ τρὶς τετράκις τ’ ἀμπολεῖν ἀπορία τελέθει· οἷον ἀπολελόγημαι ἱκανῶς περὶ τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου· τί οὖν ἔτι μέλλω τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναπολεῖν; ἀπορεῖν γάρ ἐστι λόγων τὸ ἀναπολεῖν τὰ αὐτὰ ὥσπερ παισὶ νηπίοις [τοῖς τέκνοις]. τὸ δὲ ἑλκύσαι ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐνυβρίσαι φησίν· ἡ δὲ μεταφορὰ ἀπὸ τῶν κυνῶν τῶν ἑλκόντων τὰ σώματα.
</div>
<div id="translation">
“My heart will never say”: He means he did not arrive at the mention of Neoptolemus in an unseemly or inappropriate manner. According to Callistratus: since he said Sogene is the neighbor of Hercules, and Neoptolemus is in the precinct of the god at Delphi, according to this Pindar means that he mentioned Neoptolemus properly in regard to the respective precincts of both heroes. But according to Aristodemus, because he was criticized by the Aeginetans for appearing to say in his Paeans that Neoptolemus came to Delphi to plunder it. But now as a defense Pindar claims that Neoptolemus did not die trying to plunder Delphi, but was killed struggling over the sacrificial meat. Because of this he will add next in the poem, “But it’s pointlessness itself to plow the same fields three, four times” i.e. “I have sufficiently defended myself concerning Neoptolemus. Why would I plow the same things? It is pointless to plow the very same fields of words as young foolish children do.” Pindar also says “to tear, harm” rather than “to wrong.” The analogy is from wild dogs that tear bodies.
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{{#set:Short title=Scholium to Pindar, ''Nemean Ode'' 7.102}}

[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Schol. Pind. Ist. 1.1

2016-07-22T11:25:53Z

Nick White:

Plutarch, On the Fame of the Athenians 347f-348a

2016-07-22T11:23:37Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Plutarch, ''On the Fame of the Athenians'' 347f-348a}}
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ἡ δὲ Κόριννα τὸν Πίνδαρον, ὄντα νέον ἔτι καὶ τῆι λογιότητι σοβαρῶς χρώμενον, ἐνουθέτησεν ὡς ἄμουσον ὄντα [καὶ] μὴ ποιοῦντα μύθους, ὃ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἔργον εἶναι συμβέβηκε, γλώσσας δὲ καὶ καταχρήσεις καὶ {{#lemma: μεταφράσεις|μεταφράσεις M: μεταφοράς Michael}} καὶ μέλη καὶ ῥυθμοὺς ἡδύσματα τοῖς πράγμασιν ὑποτιθέντα. σφόδρ’ οὖν ὁ Πίνδαρος ἐπιστήσας τοῖς λεγομένοις ἐποίησεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ μέλος
<blockquote>
{{#lemma: Ἰσμηνὸν ἢ χρυσαλάκατον Μελίαν,<br>
ἢ Κάδμον ἢ Σπαρτῶν ἱερὸν γένος ἀνδρῶν,<br>
ἢ τὸ πάνυ σθένος Ἡρακλέους<br>
ἢ τὰν <Διωνύσου πολυγαθέα τιμάν>.|Fr. 29 Snell-Maehler}}<br>
</blockquote>
δειξαμένου δὲ τῆι Κορίννηι, γελάσασα ἐκείνη τῆι χειρὶ δεῖν ἔφη σπείρειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὅλωι τῶι θυλάκωι. τῶι γὰρ ὄντι συγκεράσας καὶ συμφορήσας πανσπερμίαν τινὰ μύθων ὁ Πίνδαρος εἰς τὸ μέλος ἐξέχεεν.
</div>
<div id="translation">
Corinna warned Pindar, who was still young and wielded his eloquence arrogantly, that he was being unsophisticated and not making stories, which is the function of poetry, but he propped up the subject matter with adornments such as rare words, analogies, paraphrases, songs, and rhythms. Pindar paid close attention to this advice and composed that famous ode:
<blockquote>
Ismeion or Melia with a golden distaff, or Cadmus or the holy tribe of the Sown men, or the very great strength of Hercules, or the honor of Dionysius that gives much delight…
</blockquote>
When he presented this to Corinna, she laughed and said you should sow seed with the hand, not the entire sack. For in fact Pindar had heaped and jumbled up an entire panoply of stories and poured it into his song.
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{{#set:Short title=Plutarch, ''On the Fame of the Athenians'' 347f-348a}}

[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pliny, Natural History 7.29.109

2016-07-22T11:23:00Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Pliny, ''Natural History'' 7.29.109}}
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{{#lemma: Idem|''idem'' m: ''item'' m}} Pindari vatis familiae penatibusque iussit parci, cum Thebas raperet.
</div>
<div id="translation">
The very same Alexander the Great ordered that the household and home of the poet Pindar be spared, when he sacked Thebes.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pindar, Nemean 5.1-3

2016-07-22T11:22:29Z

Nick White:

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Οὐκ ἀνδριαντοποιός εἰμ’, ὥστ’ {{#lemma: ἐλινύσοντα |ἐλινύσοντα M : ἐλινύσοντά μ’ Brubach}} ἐργαζεσθαι ἀγάλματ’ ἐπ’ αὐτᾶς βαθμιδος<br>
ἑσταότ’· ἀλλ’ ἐπι πάσας ὁλκάδος ἔν τ’ ἀκάτῳ, γλυκεῖ’ ἀοιδά,<br>
στεῖχ’ ἀπ’ Αἰγίνας…<br>
</div>

<div id="translation">
I am not a sculptor, not one to carve statues that stand motionless on their pedestals. Sweet song, go forth from Aigina on every ship and every skiff…
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{{#set:Short title=Pindar, ''Nemean'' 5.1-3}}

[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pind. Nem. 3.82

2016-07-22T11:22:02Z

Nick White:

Philostratus, Images 2.12.1

2016-07-22T11:21:48Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Philostratus ''Images'' 2.12.1}}
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τί οὖν οὐκ ἐν σίμβλοις αἱ σοφαί; τί δὲ ἐν ἄστει; κωμάζουσιν ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ Δαϊφάντου θύρας – γέγονε δὲ ἤδη Πίνδαρος, ὡς ὁρᾶις – πλάττειν κἀκ νηπίου αὐτόν, ἵν᾽ ἐμμελὴς ἤδη καὶ ἔμμουσος ἦι, καὶ ποιοῦσι ταῦτα.
</div>
<div id="translation">
Why, then, are not the wise creatures in the beehives? Why are they in the city? They go in a procession to the doors of Daïphantus – for Pindar has come to life, as you can see – and they mould him from when he is a child, so that already by this time he can be harmonious and skilled in music, and that’s what they are doing.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Phil. Im. 2.12

2016-07-22T11:21:17Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Philostratus, ''Images'' 2.12.1}}
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τί οὖν οὐκ ἐν σίμβλοις αἱ σοφαί; τί δὲ ἐν ἄστει; κωμάζουσιν ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ Δαϊφάντου θύρας – γέγονε δὲ ἤδη Πίνδαρος, ὡς ὁρᾶις – πλάττειν κἀκ νηπίου αὐτόν, ἵν᾽ ἐμμελὴς ἤδη καὶ ἔμμουσος ἦι, καὶ ποιοῦσι ταῦτα.
</div>
<div id="translation">
Why, then, are not the wise creatures in the beehives? Why are they in the city? They go in a procession to the doors of Daïphantus [Pindar's father] – for Pindar has come to life, as you can see – and they mould him from when he is a child, so that already by this time he can be harmonious and skilled in music, and that’s what they are doing.
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{{#set:Short title=Philostratus, ''Images'' 2.12.1}}

[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pausanias 9.23.3

2016-07-22T11:21:03Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Pausanias 9.23.3}}
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<div class="textwithtranslation">
<div id="maintext">
ἀρχὴ μὲν Πινδάρῶι ποιεῖν ἄισματα ἐγένετο τοιαύτη· εὐδοκιμοῦντα δὲ αὐτὸν ἤδη ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐς πλέον δόξης ἦρεν ἡ Πυθία ἀνειποῦσα Δελφοῖς, ὁπόσων ἀπήρχοντο τῶι Ἀπόλλωνι, μοῖραν καὶ Πινδάρωι τὴν ἴσην ἁπάντων νέμειν.
</div>
<div id="translation">
Such was the beginning for Pindar of making poetry: and when he was already famous throughout all of Greece, the Pythia raised him to even greater heights of fame by ordering the Delphians to give an equal part of all the sacrifices offered to Apollo also to Pindar.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pausanias 9.25.3

2016-07-22T11:20:33Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Pausanias 9.25.3}}
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<div class="textwithtranslation">
<div id="maintext">
διαβᾶσιν οὖν τὴν Δίρκην οἰκίας τε ἐρείπια τῆς Πινδάρου καὶ μητρὸς Δινδυμήνης ἱερόν, Πινδάρου μὲν ἀνάθημα, τέχνη δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα Ἀριστομήδους τε καὶ Σωκράτους Θηβαίων. μιᾶι δὲ ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστων ἐτῶν ἡμέραι καὶ οὐ πέρα τὸ ἱερὸν ἀνοίγειν νομίζουσιν· ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀφικέσθαι τε ἐξεγεγόνει τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα εἶδον λίθου τοῦ Πεντελῆσι καὶ αὐτὸ καὶ τὸν θρόνον.
</div>
<div id="translation">
Crossing the river Dirce then there are the ruins of the house of Pindar and a temple of the Mother Dindymene. The votive offering was set up by Pindar, but the crafting of the statue belongs to Aristomedes and Socrates from Thebes. One day alone each year and not any more they customarily open the temple. As it turns out I arrived on that day and I saw the statue of Pentelic marble and the throne too.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pausanias 9.23.2

2016-07-22T11:19:53Z

Nick White:

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<div id="maintext">
ὑπερβάντι δὲ τοῦ σταδίου τὰ ἐν δεξιᾶι δρόμος ἵππων καὶ ἐν αὐτῶι Πινδάρου μνῆμά ἐστι. Πίνδαρον δὲ ἡλικίαν ὄντα νεανίσκον καὶ ἰόντα ἐς Θεσπιὰς {{#lemma: [θέρους]|[θέρους] Spiro}} ὥραι καύματος περὶ μεσοῦσαν μάλιστα ἡμέραν κόπος καὶ ὕπνος ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ κατελάμβανεν· ὁ μὲν δὴ ὡς εἷχε κατακλίνεται βραχὺ ὑπὲρ τῆς ὁδοῦ, μέλισσαι δὲ αὐτῶι καθεύδοντι προσεπέτοντό τε καὶ ἔπλασσον πρὸς τὰ χείλη τοῦ κηροῦ.
</div>
<div id="translation">
The hippodrome is on the right passing by the race-course, and in there is Pindar’s tomb. When Pindar was a young man and was going to Thespiae in the hot time of summer, in the very middle of the day fatigue and sleepiness from the summer heat seized him. In this state for a short time he laid down on the street, and bees flew to him as he was sleeping and made a honeycomb on his lips.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Pausanias 9.22.3

2016-07-22T11:19:39Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Pausanias 9.22.3}}
{{#howtoquote:}}
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<div id="maintext">
Κορίννης δέ, ἣ μόνη δὴ ἐν Τανάγραι ἄισματα ἐποίησε, ταύτης ἔστι μὲν μνῆμα ἐν περιφανεῖ τῆς πόλεως, ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῶι γυμνασίωι γραφή, ταινίαι τὴν κεφαλὴν ἡ Κόριννα ἀναδουμένη τῆς νίκης ἕνεκα ἣν Πίνδαρον ἄισματι ἐνίκησεν ἐν Θήβαις. φαίνεται δέ μοι νικῆσαι τῆς διαλέκτου τε ἕνεκα, ὅτι ἦιδεν οὐ τῆι φωνῆι τῆι Δωρίδι ὥσπερ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἀλλὰ ὁποίαι συνήσειν ἔμελλον Αἰολεῖς, καὶ ὅτι ἦν γυναικῶν τότε δὴ καλλίστη τὸ εἶδος, εἴ τι τῆι εἰκόνι δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι.
</div>
<div id="translation">
And the tomb of Corinna, who was the only woman in Tanagra to compose songs, is in the conspicuous part of the city, and there is a painting on the wall of the gymnasium, with Corinna binding her head with a fillet because she won a victory over Pindar with a song in Thebes. In my opinion she seems to have won because of her dialect, because she sang not in Doric like Pindar but in a dialect only Aeolians would understand, and she won because she was the most beautiful woman of the time, if it’s at all possible to judge from her likeness in the painting.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Paus. 9.22.3

2016-07-22T11:19:06Z

Nick White:

Dio Chrysostom, Oration on Kingship 2.33

2016-07-22T11:18:40Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Dio Chrysostom, ''Oration on Kingship'' 2.33}}
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<div id="maintext">
τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ποιητῶν οὐ σφόδρα ἐφρόντιζε. Στησιχόρου δὲ καὶ Πινδάρου ἐπεμνήσθη, τοῦ μὲν ὅτι μιμητὴς Ὁμήρου γενέσθαι δοκεῖ καὶ τὴν ἅλωσιν οὐκ ἀναξίως ἐποίησε τῆς Τροίας, τοῦ δὲ Πινδάρου διά τε τὴν λαμπρότητα τῆς φύσεως καὶ ὅτι τὸν πρόγονον αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμώνυμον ἐπήινεσεν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν φιλέλληνα ἐπικληθέντα ποιήσας εἰς αὐτόν,
<blockquote>
{{#lemma: ὀλβίων ἐπώνυμε Δαρδανιδᾶν.|Fr. 120 Snell-Maehler.}}
</blockquote>
διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ Θήβας ὕστερον πορθῶν μόνην κατέλιπε τὴν οἰκίαν τὴν ἐκείνου κελεύσας ἐπιγράψαι,
<blockquote>
Πινδάρου τοῦ μουσοποιοῦ τὴν στέγην μὴ κάετε.
</blockquote>
ἦπου πολλὴν ἠπίστατο χάριν τοῖς αὑτὸν ἐγκωμιάζουσι μὴ φαύλως, οὕτως ἄγαν φιλότιμος ὤν.

</div>
<div id="translation">
Alexander the Great did not give much thought to the other poets, but he thought of Stesichorus and Pindar. Of the former, because he seemed to be an imitator of Homer and because he had not undeservedly composed a poem on the Sack of Troy; of the latter, because of the brilliancy of his nature and because he praised his ancestor who shared a name with him, called Alexander “the Philhellene”, and wrote the following for him:
<blockquote>
Bearer of the name of the blest sons of Dardanus.
</blockquote>
Because of this, in fact, when he destroyed Thebes later, he left untouched only the house of the poet, and ordered to write upon it:
<blockquote>
Do not burn the house of the poet Pindar.
</blockquote>
Surely he acknowledged a great sense of favour towards those who extolled him not poorly, since he was such a great lover of honour.

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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Arrian, Anabasis 1.9.9-10

2016-07-22T11:18:12Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Arrian, ''Anabasis'' 1.9.9-10}}
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<div id="maintext">
τοῖς δὲ μετασχοῦσι τοῦ ἔργου ξυμμάχοις, οἷς δὴ καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν Ἀλέξανδρος τὰ κατὰ τὰς Θήβας διαθεῖναι, τὴν μὲν Καδμείαν φρουρᾶι κατέχειν ἔδοξε, τὴν πόλιν δὲ κατασκάψαι ἐς ἔδαφος καὶ τὴν χώραν κατανεῖμαι τοῖς ξυμμάχοις, ὅση μὴ ἱερὰ αὐτῆς· παῖδας δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ ὅσοι ὑπελείποντο Θηβαίων, πλὴν τῶν ἱερέων τε καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ ὅσοι ξένοι Φιλίππου ἢ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἢ ὅσοι πρόξενοι Μακεδόνων ἐγένοντο, ἀνδραποδίσαι. καὶ τὴν Πινδάρου δὲ τοῦ ποιητοῦ οἰκίαν καὶ τοὺς ἀπογόνους τοῦ Πινδάρου λέγουσιν ὅτι διεφύλαξεν Ἀλέξανδρος αἰδοῖ τῆι Πινδάρου.
</div>
<div id="translation">
It seemed best to those allies taking part in the action, whom Alexander entrusted the arrangement of the Theban campaign, to seize the Cadmea with a garrison, but to raze utterly the city to the ground and to distribute to the allies the land around, except for its sacred areas. The children, women, and those who were left of the Thebans, except the priestesses and the priests, and the guest-friends of Philip or Alexander or those who were representatives of the Macedons, were to be enslaved. They say that Alexander spared the house of the poet and his descendants out of respect for Pindar.
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Ambrosian Life

2016-07-22T11:17:43Z

Nick White:

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βίος Πινδάρου

Πίνδαρος ὁ ποιητὴς θηβαῖος ἦν ἐκ Κυνοκεφάλων· κώμη δέ ἐστι θηβαϊκή· υἱὸς δὲ Δαϊφάντου, κατὰ δ’ἐνίους Παγώνδα. ἔνιοι δὲ Σκοπελίνου αὐτὸν γενεαλογοῦσι, τινὲς δὲ τὸν Σκοπελῖνον πατρωὸν αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι καὶ αὐλητὴν ὄντα τὴν τέχνην διδάξαι. μητρὸς δὲ Κλεοδίκης· οἱ δὲ Κληδίκης γράφουσι. παῖς δὲ ὢν ὁ Πίνδαρος, ὡς Χαμαιλέων καὶ Ἴστρος φασὶ, περὶ τὸν Ἑλικῶνα θηρῶντα αὐτὸν ὑπὸ πολλοῦ καμάτου εἰς ὕπνον κατενεχθῆναι, κοιμωμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ μέλισσαν τῶι στόματι προσκαθίσασαν κηρία ποιῆσαι. οἱ δέ φασιν ὅτι ὄναρ εἶδεν ὡς μέλιτος καὶ κηροῦ πλῆρες εἶναι αὐτοῦ τὸ στόμα, καὶ ἐπὶ ποιητικὴν ἐτράπη. διδάσκαλον δὲ αὐτοῦ Ἀθήνησιν οἱ μὲν Ἀγαθοκλέα, οἱ δὲ Ἀπολλόδωρον λέγουσιν, ὃν καὶ προϊστάμενον κυκλίων χορῶν ἀποδημοῦντα πιστεῦσαι τὴν διδασκαλίαν τῶι Πινδάρῶι παιδὶ ὄντι, τὸν δὲ εὖ διακοσμήσαντα διαβόητον γενέσθαι. {{#lemma: ἔρεισμα δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰπὼν Ἀθήνας|Fr. 76 Snell-Maehler}} ἐζημιώθη ὑπὸ θηβαίων χιλίαις δραχμαῖς ἃς ἐξέτισαν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ Ἀθηναῖοι. ἦν δὲ οὐ μόνον εὐφυὴς ποιητὴς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνθρωπος θεοφιλής. ὁ γοῦν Πὰν ὁ θεὸς ὤφθη μεταξὺ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος καὶ τοῦ Ἑλικῶνος ἄιδων παιᾶνα Πινδάρου· διὸ καὶ ἆισμα ἐποίησεν εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐν ὧι χάριν ὁμολογεῖ τῆς τιμῆς αὐτῶι, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· {{#lemma: ὦ Πὰν Πὰν Ἀρκαδίας μεδέων καὶ σεμνῶν ἀδύτων φύλαξ|Fr. 95 Snell-Maehler}}. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ Δημήτηρ ὄναρ ἐπιστᾶσα αὐτῶι ἐπέμψατο, ὅτι μόνην τῶν θεῶν οὐχ ὕμνησεν· ὁ δὲ εἰς αὐτὴν ἐποίησε ποίημα οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· {{#lemma: Πότνια θεσμοφόρε χρυσάνιον|Fr. 37 Snell-Maehler}}. ἀλλὰ καὶ βωμὸν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν θεῶν πρὸ τῆς οἰκίας τῆς ἰδίας ἱδρύσατο. Παυσανίου δὲ τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως ἐμπιπρῶντος τὰς Θήβας ἐπέγραψέ τις τῆι οἰκίαι· Πινδάρου τοῦ μουσοποιοῦ τὴν στέγην μὴ καίετε· καὶ οὕτως μόνη ἀπόρθητος ἔμεινεν, καὶ ἔστι τὸ νῦν ἐν Θήβαις πρυτανεῖον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖς ὁ προφήτης μέλλων κλείειν τὸν νεὼν κηρύσσει καθ’ ἡμέραν· Πίνδαρος ὁ μουσοποιὸς παρίτω πρὸς τὸ δεῖπνον τῶι θεῶι. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῆι τῶν Πυθίων ἑορτῆι ἐγεννήθη, {{#lemma: ὡς αὐτός φησι|Fr. 193 Snell-Maehler}}· Πενταετηρὶς ἑορτὰ βουπομπὸς, ἐν ἇι πρῶτον εὐνάσθην ἀγαπατὸς ὑπὸ σπαργάνοις. λέγεται δὲ θεωροὺς ἀπιόντας εἰς Ἄμμωνος αἰτῆσαι Πινδάρωι τὸ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἄριστον, καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἐν ἐκείνωι τῶι ἐνιαυτῶι. ἐπέβαλλε δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις Σιμωνίδηι ἧι νεώτερος πρεσβυτέρωι· τῶν γοῦν αὐτῶν μέμνηται ἀμφότεροι πράξεων. καὶ γὰρ Σιμωνίδης τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίαν γέγραφε καὶ {{#lemma: Πίνδαρος μέμνηται τῆς Κάδμου βασιλείας|Fr. 272 Snell-Maehler}}. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀμφότεροι παρὰ Ἱέρωνι τῶι Συρακοσίων τυράννωι γεγένηται. γήμας δὲ Μεγάκλειαν τὴν Λυσιθέου καὶ Καλλίνης ἔσχεν υἱὸν Δαΐφαντον, ὧι καὶ δαφνηφορικὸν ἆισμα ἔγραψεν· καὶ θυγατέρας δύο, Πρωτομάχην καὶ Εὔμητιν. γέγραφε δὲ βιβλία ἑπτακαίδεκα· ὕμνους, παια̂νας, διθυράμβων β’, προσοδίων β’· παρθενίων β’, φέρεται δὲ καὶ γ’ ὃ ἐπιγράφεται κεχωρισμένων παρθενίων· ὑπορχημάτων β’, ἐγκώμια, θρήνους, ἐπινίκων δ’. φέρεται δὲ ἐπίγραμμα ἐπὶ τῆι τελευτῆι αὐτοῦ τόδε·
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Ἦ μάλα Πρωτομάχα σε καὶ Εὔμητις λιγύφωνοι<br>
ἔκλαυσαν πινυταὶ, Πίνδαρε, θυγατέρες,<br>
Ἀργόθεν ἦμος ἵκοντο κομίζουσ’ ἔνδοθι κρωσσοῦ<br>
λείψαν’ ἀπὸ ξείνης ἀθρόα πυρκαϊῆς.<br>
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The life of Pindar.

Pindar the Theban poet was from Cynocephalae – Cynocephalae is a Theban village. He was the son of Daïphantus, according to some of Pagondas. Some make him a descendant of Scopelinus, others say that Scopelinus was his uncle and was a flute-player, who taught Pindar his craft. His mother was Cleodice, but some spell it Cledice.

When Pindar was a child, as Chamaeleon and Ister say, he was hunting around Helicon and fell asleep from sheer tiredness; as he slept, a bee landed on his mouth and made a honeycomb. Others say that in a dream he saw that his mouth was full of honey and wax, and he turned to poetry.

Some say that Agathocles was his teacher at Athens. Others say that it was Apollodorus, and they also say that Apollodorus, who headed circular choruses, once when he was away from town entrusted their training to Pindar, although he was still a child; Pindar directed the choir well and became famous abroad.

When he said that Athens was the pillar of Greece, he was fined a thousand drachmas by the Thebans, which the Athenians paid for him.

He was not only a naturally talented poet, but also a man dear to the gods. The god Pan was seen between Cithaeron and Helicon singing a paean of Pindar. Because of this, Pindar composed a song to the god, in which he returns gratitude for the honour paid to him; the beginning of the song is “O Pan, Pan ruler of Arcadia and guardian of the holy sanctuaries.” And also Demeter stood next to Pindar in a dream and complained because he had not made a hymn to her only out of the gods. So he made her a poem, which begins: “Law-giving queen with golden reins.” And he also built an altar to both gods in front of his own house.

When Pausanias the Spartan king razed Thebes with fire, someone wrote on Pindar’s house: “Don’t burn the house of Pindar the poet.” Therefore only Pindar’s house stood unburnt, and it is the prytaneion in Thebes still today.

And also when the priest at Delphi is about to shut the door of the temple, he proclaims each day: “May Pindar the poet come to the meal for the god.” For in fact Pindar was born during the Pythian festival, as he himself says: “Quadriennial festival celebrated with a procession of oxen, in which for the first time I slept, well loved, under the protection of swaddling bands.”

It is said that envoys went to Ammon and asked on behalf of Pindar what was the best thing for men, and he died before the year was over.

He lived at the same time of Simonides (Simonides was older, Pindar younger); in fact, they both mention the same events. For Simonides wrote about the naval battle at Salamis, and Pindar mentioned the kingship of Cadmus. And also, both of them stayed with Hiero tyrant of Syracuse.

He married Megacleia, the daughter of Lysitheus and Calline, and had a son, Daïphantus, for whom he also wrote a song for the Daphnephoria; he also had two daughters, Protomache and Eymetis.

He wrote seventeen books: hymns, paeans, two books of dithyrambs, two of prosodia, two of partheneia, and, it is said, also another three books which he entitled “Separated partheneia;” two books of hyporchemes, encomia, laments, four of epinician odes.

This epigram about his death is passed down:
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“Clear-voiced Protomache and Eymetis mourned very much for you, Pindar, your wise daughters, when from Argos they came, bringing home in the cinerary urn the remnants of your body, all assembled, from a foreign funeral pyre.”
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Aelian, Historical Miscellanies 13.7

2016-07-22T11:15:09Z

Nick White:

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ὅτε εἷλε τὴν Θηβαίων πόλιν Ἀλέξανδρος, ἀπέδοτο τοὺς ἐλευθέρους πάντας πλὴν ἱερέων. ἀφῆκε δὲ τῆς πράσεως καὶ τοὺς τοῦ πατρὸς ξένους (ὡμήρευσε γὰρ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ὁ Φίλιππος ἔτι παῖς ὢν) καὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς δὲ τούτων ἀφῆκεν. ἐτίμησε δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐγγόνους τοὺς τοῦ Πινδάρου, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ μόνην εἴασεν ἑστάναι.
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When Alexander took the city of the Thebans, he sold as slaves all the free-men except the priests. He also exempted from being sold the guest-friends of his father (for Philip as a child was taken as a hostage by them) and he set free their relatives. He also honoured the descendants of Pindar, and he allowed his house only to stand.
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Aelian, Historical Miscellanies 13.25

2016-07-22T10:58:40Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Aelian, ''Historical Miscellanies'' 13.25}}
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Πίνδαρος ὁ ποιητὴς ἀγωνιζόμενος ἐν Θήβαις ἀμαθέσι περιπεσὼν ἀκροαταῖς ἡττήθη Κορίννης πεντάκις. ἐλέγχων δὲ τὴν ἀμουσίαν αὐτῶν ὁ Πίνδαρος {{#lemma: σῦν ἐκάλει τὴν Κόρινναν|σῦν ἐκάλει τὴν Κόρινναν M: σῦς αἰκάλλει κορώνην Charitonides}}.
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Pindar the poet in a competition at Thebes happened upon an unsophisticated audience and lost to Corinna five times. Pindar insulted their lack of taste in music by calling Corinna ‘a pig’.
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Aelian, Historical Miscellanies 12.45

2016-07-22T10:58:10Z

Nick White:

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Aelian, ''Historical Miscellanies'' 12.45}}
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καὶ Πινδάρωι τῆς πατρώιας οἰκίας ἐκτεθέντι μέλιτται τροφοὶ ἐγένοντο, ὑπὲρ τοῦ γάλακτος παρατιθεῖσαι μέλι.
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When Pindar as a child was placed outside of his father's house, he had bees as nurses, who provided him honey instead of milk.
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[[Category:Pindar Collections]]

Scholium to Pindar, Nemean Ode 7.102

2016-07-22T10:53:54Z

Nick White:

Collections

2016-07-22T10:51:59Z

Nick White:

Representations of the ancient Greek and Roman poets are collected here. You can browse by poet or genre, as listed below, or use our [[Special:Search|search tool]]. The collections can also be accessed thematically by using our [[guides]]. They are work in progress: suggestions, contributions and corrections [[Contact Us|are welcome]].

All of the collections are in the [[Copyright|public domain]] and are freely available. This is how to [[Quoting guidelines|quote them]].

Ancient texts were digitised on the basis of out-of-copyright editions, using [https://www.dur.ac.uk/nick.white/grctraining optical character recognition (OCR)]. They were then corrected and compared with current editions: marginal annotations point out issues of editorial interest.

=== Greek Poets ===
* [[Collections/Aeschylus|Aeschylus]]
* [[Collections/Anacreon|Anacreon]]
* [[Collections/Archilochus|Archilochus]]
* [[Collections/Aristophanes|Aristophanes]]
* [[Collections/Euripides|Euripides]]
* [[Collections/Hesiod|Hesiod]]
* [[Collections/Homer|Homer]]
* [[Collections/Orpheus|Orpheus]]
* [[Collections/Pindar|Pindar]]
* [[Collections/Sophocles|Sophocles]]

=== Latin Poets ===
* [[Collections/Catullus|Catullus]]
* [[Collections/Gallus|Gallus]]
* [[Collections/Horace|Horace]]
* [[Collections/Lucan|Lucan]]
* [[Collections/Lucretius|Lucretius]]
* [[Collections/Ovid|Ovid]]
* [[Collections/Plautus|Plautus]]
* [[Collections/Virgil|Virgil]]

[[Category:HideModDate]]

Collections/Terence

2016-07-22T10:51:30Z

Nick White: Created page with "{{Template:Collections/Template}}"

Collections/Plautus

2016-07-22T10:49:57Z

Nick White: Created page with "{{Template:Collections/Template}}"

Living Poets - User contributions [en]

Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 9.27.3

Plato, Meno 81a-c

Eratosthenes Catasterisms 24

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30.4-12

Josephus, Îgainst Apion 1.12

Iohannes Philoponus, Commentary on De Anima 1.5, 410b27

Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.23-34

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 4.25.1

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 5.64.4

Apollodorus Library 1.3.2

Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a

Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a

Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources

Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources

Vit. Thom.

Vit. Metr.

Vit. Ambr.

Valerius Maximus 9.12.(ext.)7

Thoman Life

Suda s.v. 'Pindar'

Suda s.v. Pindar

Scholium to Pindar, Pythian Ode 3.77-8

Scholium to Pindar, Olympian Ode 2.87

Scholium to Pindar, Nemean Ode 3.82

Scholium to Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.1

Schol. Pind. Pyth. 3.77-8

Schol. Pind. Ol. 2.87-8

Schol. Pind. Nem. 7.102

Schol. Pind. Ist. 1.1

Plutarch, On the Fame of the Athenians 347f-348a

Pliny, Natural History 7.29.109

Pindar, Nemean 5.1-3

Pind. Nem. 3.82

Philostratus, Images 2.12.1

Phil. Im. 2.12

Pausanias 9.23.3

Pausanias 9.25.3

Pausanias 9.23.2

Pausanias 9.22.3

Paus. 9.22.3

Dio Chrysostom, Oration on Kingship 2.33

Arrian, Anabasis 1.9.9-10

Ambrosian Life

Aelian, Historical Miscellanies 13.7

Aelian, Historical Miscellanies 13.25

Aelian, Historical Miscellanies 12.45

Scholium to Pindar, Nemean Ode 7.102

Collections

Collections/Terence

Collections/Plautus

Josephus, Îgainst Apion 1.12