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Pindar's Olympian 14 : the prophetic and subversive power of poetry

2021 - Morcelliana

P. 249-256

  • Almost the entirety of Pindar's Fourteenth Olympian ode is devoted to an invocation of the Charites and to acelebration of their capacities and attributes, because they are the deities who will fulfill the poet's wish. This literarydevice does not subtract from the honor of the Olympic victor; on the contrary, it solidifies and increases it. Bytransferring the news of Asophichus' victory to Hades Echo, who serves as the instrument of the Charites, who – intheir turn – derive their power from Zeus himself, will momentarily abolish the boundaries between two antitheticalstates by somehow giving life to the dead father.
  • This is especially true if we take into consideration that through anallusion to the myth of Oenomaus and Pelops the message which Echo is incited to convey to Asopichus'dead fathercontains also the suggestion that through his athletic victory the young boy will later on secure a propitious marriage, amarriage that might contribute to the elevation of his political status in his native city. [Publisher's text]

Is part of

Maia : rivista di letterature classiche : LXXIII, 2, 2021