Apollo and His Oracle

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS: POETIC REPRESENTATIONS, POLITICS, AND IDEOLOGY* Lucia Athanassaki University of Crete
ll ka n Delfow profthw mllvn kleein tn nen khrssei kay mran: Pndarow mousopoiw partv prw t depnon t ye. (Vita Ambrosiana, 1416)
i. INTRODUCTION Later tradition envisaged the Delphic priest inviting Pindar to dine with Apollo every day at the closing of the temple. The point of the anecdote, namely the poets exclusive privilege to enjoy the gods company, admirably captures a distinctive feature of Pindars representations of human communication with Apollo. In sharp contrast to other depictions, which reveal a similar fascination with Apollo, especially characteristic of fifth-century literature and iconography, but point up the problematic aspects of communication with the god of prophecy, Pindar uses Apolline prophecy to paint a totally different picture.1 His epinician odes display a clear tendency either to bring out the harmony of human communication with Apollo or, at the very least, to dissociate Apolline discourse either completely or as much as possible from the intellectual challenge that ordinarily leads mortals to misguided action, failure, or transgression.2 In the paeans and other fragments Pindar makes occasional references to seers, but prophecy proper of Apolline or other origin is remarkably rare.3 The reason possibly lies in the paucity of the paeans and other non-epinician genres and the
Warmest thanks to Ewen Bowie, David Fearn, Elizabeth Irwin, Richard Martin, and John Miller for reading and commenting on this version. 1 For Apollos violent and ambiguous sides see especially Detienne. For the gods centrality in fifth-century literature see Wilamowitz 1896: 24656 and Defradas 1972 (both scholars trace the beginnings of Apollos dominance to the seventh and sixth centuries); in iconography see Moret and for Athens in particular Shapiro. 2 Athanassaki 1990. For Pindars representation of Apollo see also Duchemin 105 14 and passim; and Stfos comprehensive study. 3 For references to seers and prophecies in the paeans see Rutherford 17374.
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fragmentary state in which they have come down to us. The lack of adequate comparative material is regrettable, but in the present state of the evidence comparison of the epinicians with the extant odes in other genres shows that harmonious human communication with Apollo is a distinctive epinician characteristic. Harmonious communication between gods and mortals through prophecy and the dissociation of divine discourse from human sufferings characterize not only Pindars representation of Apolline prophecy, but of all prophecy. The celebratory character of the epinician genre is a possible reason for the unusually smooth communication between mortals and immortals. Such an explanation, however, requires the total absence of sinister tales, which is certainly not the case. Stories of human transgression and divine punishment are not absent from Pindars mythical epinician narratives. Pindar does not refrain from telling the stories of offenders such as Tantalus, Ixion, and Coronis. Unlike tragic, Herodotean and even Homeric prophecies, however, Pindaric prophecy does not function as the catalyst in transitions from fortune to misfortune.4 Neither Tantalus, nor Ixion, nor Coronis are warned through prophecy as to the proper course of action. Pindaric gods punish the evildoers after committing a crime, but send them no warning.5 It is remarkable that in Pindars poetry it is not divine speech, but divine silence that bodes disaster.6 Apollos pattern of speech and silence in the story of Coronis and Asclepius in the Third Pythian is a characteristic example. Neither Apollo nor any other god warns Coronis against sleeping with another man before her marriage or of her imminent death after her transgression (840). When Apollo speaks it is to announce his decision to save his son Asclepius (4046). In a comprehensive study of Pindaric mantic diction I have suggested that a major consideration underlying the dissociation of prophecy from semantic obscurity and human suffering is its fundamental role in the construction of the poets authoritative persona.7 I have argued that prophecy is abundant in Pindars mythological narratives, but predictably absent from the encomiastic hic et nunc, where Pindar restricts himself to prayers or wishes for the future success and prosperity of his patrons; that the projection of prophecy onto the remote past is a
The prophecy of Calchas in the Iliad, for instance, marks the beginning of Achilles hostility towards Agamemnon and his withdrawal (1.84214). Hermes warning to Aegisthus in the Odyssey is the first signal of his eventual downfall; for Aegisthus see below section ii.3. 5 For Apollos interaction with his adversaries see Stfos 8698. 6 See Athanassaki 1990: 6174. 7 Athanassaki 1990.
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strategy whereby the poet constructs mantic discourse as a mirror image of his poetry. Through the various mantic personages the poet avails himself of alternative authoritative masks, thereby enhancing his persona of the poetprophet. The paradigmatic function of the mythical narratives enables the poet to draw the parallel between past and present/future without jeopardizing his authority by venturing into the realm of foreknowledge where, as he repeatedly stresses, no mortal can have access. In what follows I examine the function of Apolline prophecy in Pindars epinicians as an encomiastic device that takes account of the contemporary sociopolitical context and as a vehicle for shaping elite ideology.8 I will survey both auspicious and inauspicious stories, focusing on the nature and the degree of Apollos involvement in the consulting process, on the identity of Apollos addressees, and on their relationship with the laudandus of each ode.9 Earlier or contemporary variant accounts will serve as comparative material in order to examine the political and ideological significance of Pindaric representations of Apollo and his oracle in a cultural context where communication with the oracular god of Delphi was depicted as increasingly problematic or adversarial. I will suggest that, whereas Aeschylus and Herodotus resort to Apolline prophecy to showcase the ramifications of ancestral guilt, Pindar uses it to illustrate ancestral excellence. Specifically, I will argue that Pindars representations of ancestral glory in Apollos company are innovative accounts that serve as instantiations of elite privilege and wisdom which have been passed on from generation to generation (ii.2); that in cases where Apolline hostility was too strong a tradition to obliterate, the poetic strategy is to distance Apollo and foreground all-powerful Moira (ii.1). I will discuss separately Pindars dissociation of Apollo from Orestes matricide in the Eleventh Pythian, for Apollos role in this case does not raise the issue of human and divine
For extensive discussions of Pindars ideology see in particular Donlan 7711; Rose 14184; Kurke 1991. 9 For a full account of Apollo in Pindar see the study of Stfos. My own focus here will be on oracular Apollo, i.e. instances in which Apollo is represented as participant in verbal communicative acts and cases in which his role was already part of the tradition, but Pindar suppresses it or plays it down. In this sense the two Pindaric versions of Neoptolemus and Apollo constitute an anomalous case, because in neither version are the god and the hero represented in an act of verbal communication, nor do we know of any such earlier tradition. My reasons for including them is that (a) in the Sixth Paean Neoptolemus is represented as defying well-known ethico-religious precepts that need not be communicated to him in the form of an oracular statement and (b) the Seventh Nemean displays a pattern of suppression similar to that of the Second Olympian.
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antagonism, but the question of Apolline justice. Taking into account the absence of any ancestral link between Orestes and the honorand in this instance and the fact that the ode was composed for performance at a festival in honor of Apollo Ismenios, I will argue that Pindar capitalizes on the double encomiastic program in order to reinstate Apollo as a god of peace, justice and eunomia. I will also suggest that in the ideological register of this ode the Oresteia constitutes a distorted elite model that serves as a foil for the definition and public promotion of a positive aristocratic civic lifestyle consistent with Apolline values (ii.3). ii.1 THE WORKINGS OF MOIRA Theron of Acragas, whose chariot victory in 476 the Second Olympian celebrates, claimed descent from Thersander, son of Polyneices. The commemoration of Therons ancestry may have been suggested to the poet by the Sicilian tyrant or his entourage, but it is equally possible that Therons claim to this ancient and noble lineage exercised an irresistible appeal to the poet for whom phya was of paramount importance. Yet Labdacid descent was not only associated with ancestral glory, but with divine wrath and punishment originating with Laius disobedience of Apollos oracle. Whether the thematic choice belonged to the poet or to the patron, Pindar repeatedly asserts Therons ancestral nobility and smooths away the successive mistaken choices of the Labdacids by attributing their misfortunes to Moira. Thus he sidesteps the fundamental issue of human responsibility that lies at the heart of tragic representations of the Theban cycle, but is already evident in the surviving account of Stesichorus. The commemoration of Therons glorious lineage begins immediately after the initial praise of the victor in the form of a much admired priamel and covers roughly the first half of the ode (748). The account falls into three parts: first, Pindar praises Therons immediate ancestors who settled happily in Acragas after much suffering (722); the story of the sufferings and rewards of Cadmus daughters (2234), which immediately follows, serves as an exemplum of the change of fortunes and forms the link in the transition from Therons immediate ancestors to the remote ones, the Labdacids (3548). Variations on the theme of the supreme power of Moira preface all three parts and link them together. The first reference to moira is made in connection with the course of life alloted to Therons ancestors (an . . . mrsimow,10) that brought them wealth and grace after much suffering (711). After a brief prayer to Zeus to preserve the ancestral land for future generations, a gnomic reflection on the inability even of Time to undo whatever has been done either justly or unjustly follows and leads to the reiteration of the theme of moira. With good fortune (ptm sn edamoni, 18) forgetfulness may come, for pain dies whenever divine Moira
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raises happiness high (tan yeo Mora pmp / nekw lbon chln,2122). Pindar proceeds to illustrate the power of Moira by the great suffering and subsequent happiness of Semele and Ino and concludes by yet another restatement of the changeability of human fortunes (3135). This latest reformulation of the theme of alternation of pleasure and pain leads to a further reflection on the power of Moira, which is slightly modified this time so as to make explicit its relevance to Therons family. Through the modified repetition of the supreme power of Moira, who is said to bestow more often happiness than suffering in the case of Therons family, Pindar makes a leap in time and illustrates the workings of Fate in the lives of the honorands remote ancestors (3547):10 otv d Mor, te patrion tnd xei tn efrona ptmon, yert sn lb palintrpelon ll xrn: j oper kteine Lon mrimow uw sunantmenow, n d Puyni xrhsyn palafaton tlessen.
dosa d je Erinw pefn o sn llalofon& gnow rion: lefyh d Yrsandrow ripnti Polunekei, noiw n yloiw n mxaiw te polmou timmenow, Adrastidn ylow rvgn dmoiw: yen sprmatow xonta =zan prpei tn Anhsidmou gkvmvn te melvn lurn te tugxanmen. Thus Fate, who controls the kindly fortune of these men that is ancestral, sends them, together with their heaven-sent happiness, some suffering as well, reversible at another time, from the time when the fated son met and killed Laius and fulfilled the prophecy spoken in ancient times at Pytho.
All Pindaric citations of the epinician odes are taken from SnellMaehlers edition and of the paeans from Maehlers edition.
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L. ATHANASSAKI But a sharp-eyed Erinys saw it and killed his warlike offspring at each others hands; Thersander, however, survived the fallen Polyneices and was honored in youthful contests and in war battles, a succouring offspring to the house of Adrastus line. It is fitting that the son of Aenesidamus, who has his roots in that seed, should be praised by victory songs and lyres.
Pindars highly selective and cursory treatment certainly exemplifies the power of destiny, but falls short of showing the predominance of kindly fortune. Even in the story he chooses to tell, the only piece of good fortune is the survival of Thersander to whom Theron traced his origin.11 Thersanders greatest claim to fame was his Labdacid origin and on this sensitive path the poet had to tread. In keeping with the persistent attribution of human fortunes and misfortunes to Moira in this ode, Oedipus is represented as the person whom fate appointed to fulfill an ancient prophecy spoken in Pytho. Neither the source nor the recipient of the prophecy is specified.12 The mention of Pytho evokes, of course, Apollo, but it also shows how much Pindar mediates his involvement, especially when compared with his active role in the auspicious stories. Remarkable is also the brevity of the account of the consequences of Oedipus crime on his progeny. The agent of retribution in their case is Erinyes.13 The diction is cursory and thus it remains unclear for which acts the Erinyes punished Oedipus sons. Pindars choice to focus on the consequences of human acts and not on the acts themselves and their causes is not, of course, accidental. Focus on the acts and their causes would bring to the surface the issue of human responsibility and thus weaken the foundation of the argument based on the unconquerable power of Moira. Explicit mention of the circumstances of
Segal 1986: 11617: When Pindar relates this myth in Olympian 2, he turns its better face outward and goes on at once to the survival of the royal line in the only descendant, Thersander, to whom Theron, the victor celebrated in this ode, traces his ancestry (4347). But, as in Pythian 4, the bright side of seasonal aternation cannot be thought of without its death and darkness too. 12 Pindar constructs the unpropitious Delphic oracle to Pelias in the Fourth Pythian (7378) in a similar way. As Segal 1986: 45 observes, Though this chill prophecy is spoken at the navel of the well-treed mother (earth) at Delphi (74), no voice or messenger is mentioned, in contrast to the Pythia at 5963 and Pindars praise of the good messenger in 27779. Nor is there a prayer for divine aid. Instead the prophecy (manteuma a rather neutral word) merely came (elthen). 13 In Odyssey 11.27180, the oldest identifiable version of the Oedipus legend, there is no mention of Oedipus progeny; the Erinyes acting on behalf of Epicaste bring upon Oedipus many sufferings. See Heubeck 93 ad 27180 in HeubeckHoekstra.
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Apollos oracle would necessitate mention of Laius disobedience and would therefore detract from the heavy emphasis on Moira by bringing to the surface his own responsibility. In this hypothetical scenario, any attempt to play down Laius responsibility would inevitably transfer the problem to Apollo in particular and prophecy in general. Distancing Apollo and bringing into the picture all-powerful Moira, to whose will not only mortals but even Zeus succumbs, is a much more effective strategy. According to an ancient scholion Pindar mentioned the oracle given to Laius in a paean (fr. 68). The paean has not survived and the scholiast does not provide enough information to allow comparison between the epinician and the paeanic version. All we can infer from the scholion is that in the paean Laius was specified as the recipient of the prophecy, the content and, possibly, circumstances of which were not as brief and vague as in the Second Olympian. In light of the different encomiastic intentions of the two genres, it is reasonable to assume that in the paean Apollos role was more prominent than in the epinician. The differences in the portrayal of Apollo in the Sixth Paean and the Seventh Nemean, which will be discussed later, argue in favor of this hypothesis, but certainty is impossible. Nor do the very few fragments of the Labdacid epic cycle allow us either to assess how much Pindars treatment in the Second Olympian owes to the epic tradition. In contrast, Stesichorus account of the fate of the Labdacids that the Lille papyrus has brought to light, fragmentary as it may be, provides a reliable measure of comparison. Unlike the Pindaric account, in the surviving part of Jocastas speech Stesichorus lays equal emphasis on Moira and Apollo and, in addition, shows clearly the human effort to avert misfortune or, at the very least, the wish to push it as far into the future as possible.14 Specifically, Jocasta points out that the gods did not establish either permanent strife or permanent friendship among mortals, but in one day they can make mortals change their minds (204 208). She then expresses the wish that Apollo may not fulfill all of Teiresias prophecies (mantosnaw d tew naj kergow Apllvn / m psaw tlessai,20910).15This wishful thought is followed by her wish to die, if the Fates have spun for her the destiny to see her sons die in mutual slaughter (a d me padaw dsyai p lllois<i> damntaw / mrsimn stin, peklsan d Mora[i], / atka moi yantou tlow stugero[o] gn[oito, 21113). Having expressed her wish to die, Jocasta repeats once more how painful it would be to
Stesichorus is the earliest witness for Apollos role; see the discussion in Burnett 1988: 150. 15 Citations of the Lille papyrus are taken from Campbells edition.
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see either her sons dying in the palace or the city captured. At this point she turns and addresses her sons. She advises that one of them stay and rule and that the other depart with all the flocks and gold of his father, respecting whichever lot the Fates allocated to each (21824). Jocasta concludes with two important remarks: the solution she proposes might be their release from the evil fortune prophesied by the divine seer (toto gr n dokv lutrion mmi kako gnoito ptmo[u / mntiow fradasi yeou, 22526); such a release would be possible, if the son of Cronus is willing to preserve the family and the city of Cadmus by postponing for a long time the evil that is the fate of the family (mbllvn kaktata poln xrnon [ basileai / pprvtai gen[y]lai, 230 31). In Jocastas speech, Stesichorus puts in a nutshell the themes that will become the core of tragic representations, namely the inevitability of destiny, the catalytic role of Apolline prophecy, and the desperate human effort to prevent its fulfillment.16 Aeschylus Seven against Thebes was performed nine years after the composition of the Second Olympian. In view of Pindars ties with Athens and the Sicilian connections of the two poets, the possibility of Aeschylus knowledge of Pindars epinician for Theron cannot be excluded.17 Yet whether Aeschylus knew the Pindaric ode or not, it is remarkable how much closer his representation of Apollos involvement is to Stesichorus than to Pindar.18 Specifically, the chorus of the play reveals that Apollo had prophesied three times at Pytho (trw epntow, 746) that Laius should die without offspring in order to save his city (74257). A little later, the messenger reports to the chorus that Apollo took upon himself the disaster at the Seventh Gate, fulfilling thus his prophecy to Laius (tw d' bdmaw semnw . . . naj Apllvn elet' Odpou gnei kranvn palaiw Laou dusboulaw, 800802). Right before the confrontation, Eteocles tells the chorus that Apollo hates all the race of Laius (Fob stughyn pn t Laou gnow,691). Erinyes are not absent either, but their role is clearly secondary to that of Apollo (88687). Aeschylus treatment, poles apart from the Pindaric version, is emblematic of the catalytic role that Apollo and his oracle would continue to play on the Athenian tragic stage. If we were to imagine the same audience present at the performance of the Second Olympian in Acragas
Burnett 1988: 129 characterizes the Stesichorean song as proto-tragical; see 11029 for a detailed discussion of the tragic elements of the poem. 17 For the acquaintance of the two poets see Finley 3. For the possibility of Aeschylus familiarity with some Pindaric odes see Winnington-Ingram 1213 and Hubbard 1987: 1213, and most recently Finglass 2007: 1516. 18 For the gap separating Aeschylus from Pindar see Finley 244.
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and of the Seven in Athens, there is little doubt that this audience would be struck by the contrasting roles of Apollo. The performances of the Oresteia in Athens and of the Eleventh Pythian in Thebes, which will be discussed in the last section, would also be another good occasion for such a hypothetical audience to marvel at the safe distance of Pindars Apollo. To return to the Second Olympian, Stesichorus account shows that the interplay of destiny, prophecy, and personal responsibility was already part of the lyric tradition, and a part which Pindar chose not to follow. After the briefest possible account of the misfortunes of the Labdacids over three generations, the poet introduces the theme of the change of fortunes in the person of Polyneices son Thersander whom he describes as honored both in youthful contests and in war. Immediately after the mention of Thersanders good fortune, Pindar mentions the ancestral link between the fortunate hero and Theron and swiftly brings the genealogical account to an end by resuming his praise of the honorand. Pindar employs the same strategy in his epinician version of the fortunes of Neoptolemus in the Seventh Nemean. In this ode too he attributes the death of Neoptolemus in Delphi to Moira and dissociates Apollo from the incident.19 Conversely, in the Sixth Paean it is Apollo himself who kills Neoptolemus in order to avenge the death of Priam who, although a suppliant, fell into the hands of the young hero. The epinician and the paeanic versions of the story of Neoptolemus display other important differences as well and already in antiquity scholars considered the Seventh Nemean a kind of palinode aiming at appeasing the Aeginetans who were offended by Pindars unfavorable treatment of Neoptolemus in the paean. In the heyday of New Criticism this interpretation was discredited, but Ian Rutherford has recently adduced a new piece of evidence that reopens the question.20 The problem of the relation of the two odes bears to some extent on the issue of the different representation of Apollo and I will address it in the course of my discussion. The Seventh Nemean celebrates the victory in the pentathlon of the Aeginetan Sogenes. The ode opens with an invocation of Eileithyia and continues in the typical epinician manner, namely with praise of the victor and his homeland (710) and with gnomic reflections on great deeds as a source of poetic inspiration and on the power of poetry to preserve their memory (1116).
On Pindars reticence about Apollo see also Segal 1967: 450. The apology hypothesis was challenged by Bundy 4 and was followed by a number of scholars. In favor of the apology hypothesis see Lloyd-Jones 1973: 12728 with a survey of scholarly opinion before and after Bundy and more recently DAlessio and Rutherford 298338. Against the apology hypothesis see the more recent discussions in Burnett 1998 and Burnett 2005: 179202; Currie 296343.
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By means of an enigmatic comment on wise mens knowledge of the uncertainty of the future and their immunity to greed, which leads to the observation that death is inevitable for rich and poor alike (1720), the first mythical narrative is introduced. The fortunes of two Aeacids are the subject of the odes two mythical narratives: the account of Neoptolemus Delphic visit and death is preceded by a corrective account of Ajaxs true valor. Interestingly, both narratives are introduced by and connected with variant formulations of the inevitability of death. The account of Ajax first. There are clearly two strands in Pindars account. The narrative begins with an explanation for Odysseus fame and retrogresses to highlight the reasons that led to Ajaxs suicide. According to Pindar, Odysseus fame has been greater than he deserved thanks to the sweet verses of Homer (2021). The corrective account continues with the concession that there is some majesty in Homers lies and winged resourcefulness and ends with the more general observation that poetry deceives by misleading tales (22 23).21 The comment on poetrys power to deceive leads to the statement that most people are blind (24), which Pindar instantiates by the example of Ajax. Pindars argument runs as follows: if Ajaxs contemporaries could have seen the truth, Ajax would not have committed suicide in anger over their wrong judgement over the arms.22 The praise of Ajaxs valor concludes with the assertion that he was second only to Achilles among the warriors that went to Troy to bring back Helen to Menelaus (2730). Reflections on the inevitability of death and on the honor that god can bestow on the dead frame the account of Ajax and lead to the story of Neoptolemus. After a statement that has caused much perplexity (3233), Pindar introduces the story of Neoptolemus by the mention of the heros tomb in Delphi (3435) and ends it in ring form with a more elaborate variant formulation (44 47).23 According to the epinician version, Neoptolemus sacked Troy, missed Scyros on his way back, and settled in Ephyra. There he ruled for a short time and then set out to visit Apollo, taking to him the finest spoils from Troy (38
See however Khnken 5560, who suggested that the reference is not to poetry, but to Odysseus cleverness and lies. 22 Khnken 58: Mit Vers 24 (gr) beginnt der eigentliche mythische Bericht, der zugleich ein konkreter Beleg fr die Lgen des Odysseus und ihre Folgen ist: das griechische Heervolk lie sich durch Odysseus verfhren, ihn ber Aias zu stellen und mit den Waffen Achills zu ehren. 23 The main problem of ll. 3233 is the subject of boayvn: scholars have argued in favor of Apollo, or the epinician speaker, or Neoptolemus. For a review of the various proposed renderings see Most.
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41). In Delphi, in a quarrel over sacrificial meats, a man stabbed him with a knife. This incident, however, which gave the Delphians much grief according to this version, was not accidental, but the fulfillment of fate (4347): brunyen d periss Delfo jenagtai. ll t mrsimon pdvken: xrn d tin ndon lsei palaitt Aakidn krentvn t loipn mmenai yeo par eteixa dmon, roaiw d pompaw yemiskpon oken nta poluytoiw. His Delphian hosts were exceedingly grieved. But he had paid the debt to fate; for it was ordained that one of the royal Aeacids should remain for the rest of time within the most ancient grove, beside the gods well-built temple, to dwell there as a rightful overseer of processions, rich in sacrifices, in honor of heroes. It is now time to compare the epinician with the paean version.24 The struggle for the recovery of Helen is the common theme of the two mythical narratives, but in the Sixth Paean Pindars focus is on the protagonists of the sack of Troy, Achilles and Neoptolemus, and on the citys defender, Apollo.25 The power of moira is another theme that the two odes share, but the perspective is clearly different. In the paean the poet dwells on the fate of Troy, not of the Aeacids. The first indication of the power of fate comes at 78 ff., where Pindar says that Apollo postponed the capture of Troy by killing Achilles (Ilou d yken far/ citran lvsin,8182). After a brief mention of the conflict of Apollo with Hera and Athena over the fate of Troy, Pindar reiterates Apollos protection of the city: Achilles would have sacked Troy, if Apollo had not been on guard (e m flassen Ap[l]l[v]n,91). Immediately after the twice-stated effort of Apollo to preserve the city, Pindar introduces the theme of the supreme power of Moira by means of a description of Zeus that is strongly reminiscent of the Iliadic scene (16.43338) where he weighs the fate of Sarpedon (9298): nfessi d n xrusoiw OlmpoiFor a detailed comparison of the paean and the epinician see in particular Tugenhadt who argued in favor of the apology hypothesis and Khnkenwho rejected it. 25 For Apollo as defender of Troy see Tugenhadt 390 and Burnett 1998: 51213.
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L. ATHANASSAKI o ka korufa[si]n zvn mrsim na[l]en Zew yen skopw o tlma: per d cikm [E]ln& xrn ra Prgamon er[n] istsai slaw ayomnou purw: <. . .> But Zeus, the watcher of gods, sitting in golden clouds on the peaks of Olympus, did not dare undo what was fated. On account of high-haired Helen it was ordained that the blaze of burning fire should destroy broad Pergamum.
It is remarkable that Pindar uses identical diction (mrsima/mrsimonxrn/ xrn) to describe the fate of Pergamum in the paean and the fate of Neoptolemus in the Seventh Nemean. In the paean version, however, fate does not appear to play a role in the fortunes of Neoptolemus, unless something was said in the missing part of the second strophe (6278). Such possibility seems unlikely, however, in view of the narratives unmistakable emphasis on Neoptolemus acts and their consequences. Immediately after the disclosure of the destiny of Troy, the paeans narrative shifts to Neoptolemus and his fortunes (98120): pe d lkimon nkun []n t[f] polustn ynto Phledan, lw p kma bntew []lyon ggelo[i] psv Skuryen Ne[o]ptlemo[n eruban gontew, w dipersen Ilou pl[in: ll ote matr peita kednn den ote patrvaiw n ro[raiw ppouw Murmidnvn, xalkokoru[st]n milon ge[r]vn. sxedn d[ To]mrou Molossda gaan jket od []nmouw [l]a[y]en od tn [e]rufartran kablon:
APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS [mo]se [gr y]ew, g[ron]y [ti] Pramon p[r]w rkeon nare bvmn [pen]yornta, m nin efron w o[k]on mt p graw jmen bou: mfiploiw d k]urin per timn dhri]azmenon ktnen <n> tem]ne fl gw par mfaln ern.
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And after they had placed the brave corpse of Peleus son in the muchlamented grave, messengers crossed the wave of the sea and came back bringing mighty Neoptolemus from Scyros, who sacked the city of Ilium. But afterwards he saw neither his dear mother again, nor the horses of the Myrmidons in his ancestral fields, arousing the bronze-helmeted host to battle. Near Tomaros he reached the Molossian land and did not escape the winds, nor the Far-shooter with the broad quiver; for the god had sworn, that because he had killed the old Priam as he leapt towards the altar of Zeus Herkeios, he would not come back to his kindly home, nor would he reach old age in life; as he was quarreling with the attendants over the appointed honors, Apollo slew him in his own sanctuary by the broad navel of the earth. The quarrel over due honors and the death of Neoptolemus in Apollos sanctuary are the themes common to the paean and the epinician. Beyond these similarities, however, the two narratives display totally different perspective and motivation.26 The paean celebrates Apollos crucial role in the protection of Troy. As a defender of the city, Apollo succeeds in deferring the capture of the city, but like Zeus he must eventually yield to the supremacy of Moira. As is evident from his decision to punish Neoptolemus, Apollos care for the doomed city does not cease with its capture. In the paean the reason for the punishment of Neoptolemus is unequivocal. The god punishes the young hero for killing a
For differences due to genre and occasion see Lloyd-Jones 1973: 132; Rutherford 322; Burnett 1998: 507509.
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suppliant.27 The fact that it is Apollo himself who slays Neoptolemus for his impious act is in keeping with the emphasis on the gods role as a guardian of Troy in the second triad. The ancient scholiasts attributed to Aristarchus and his pupil Aristodemus the view that the Aeginetans were offended by Pindars treatment of the death of Neoptolemus in the paean and that the more favorable version of the Seventh Nemean constituted Pindars apology.28 The view attributed to Aristarchus is general enough (xrin to Neoptolmou, 70) and does not specify the reason of the offense. The more detailed explanation attributed to Aristodemus (150a), however, namely that the Aeginetans criticized Pindar for saying that Neoptolemus went to Delphi with sacrilegious intentions, is not an accurate account of Pindars treatment in the Sixth Paean. In the paean it is clear that Apollo was determined to punish Neoptolemus for the impious act of killing the suppliant Priam before his visit to Delphi, but there is nothing to suggest that the quarrel in which Neoptolemus got involved came as a result of his attempt to rob the temple. I agree with Ian Rutherford that if Pindars treatment offended the Aeginetans, the reason must have been the sacrilege of killing a suppliant and the continuing antagonism between Apollo and Neoptolemus.29 Whether the Aeginetans really took offense at Pindars treatment or the apology hypothesis originated with Aristarchus is a question than can find no conclusive answer. A major obstacle is the uncertainty concerning the chronological relation of the two odes. Beyond this insoluble problem, however, scholarly opinion is divided concerning the interpretation of the concluding epode of the Seventh Nemean (103105), which some scholars have considered apologetic and therefore referring to the paean, while others have interpreted it as an assertion of Neoptolemus proper praise in this ode with no reference to the paean.30 Whether the Seventh Nemean was meant as an apology or not, however, it remains true that it downplays the antagonism between Apollo and Neoptolemus, which means that Pindar considered this version more suitable for an Aeginetan audience. Moreover, Rutherfords discovery of a marginal subtitle that designates the last triad of the Sixth Paean as a prosodion for the Aeginetans in
Tugenhadt 390: Die fr den Vergleich mit dem Epinikion allein wichtige zweite Epode bleibt in das Gesamtmotiv Apollon als Schtzer von Ilion eingebettet und wird zugleich modifiziert zu Apollon als Rcher der Gottlosigkeit. 28 For a challenge to the reliability of the ancient scholia in this case see Smith. 29 Rutherford 323. For a similar argument see Lloyd-Jones 1973: 12737. 30 For ll. 103105 as an assertion of a proper encomium see the recent discussions in Burnett 2005: 199201 with a review of previous scholarship and Currie 33043; contra DAlessio 13239.
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honor of Aeacus has revived Farnells apology theory and has opened the way to other interpretations as well. Farnell advanced the view that the third triad of the paean, which is dedicated to the praise of Aegina, is an apologetic postscript, added by Pindar himself, and welded to the fabric of the paean, to soothe the feelings of the Aeginetans.31 Rutherford has reevaluated the merits of Farnells hypothesis in light of his discovery and, in addition, has put forward an alternative scenario to explain the double transmission of the triad as part of the paean and as an independent ode. According to this alternative scenario the paean was originally composed for performance by two choruses: a Delphic chorus would dance the first two triads at the altar and an Aeginetan chorus would perform the third triad in procession towards the altar. After the original performance, the third triad could have been performed separately as a prosodion in Aegina.32 Rutherford credits Farnells postscript hypothesis with the advantage of economy, but leaves the matter open. If the last triad of the paean was a postscript, as Farnell suggested, the apology hypothesis gains ground. Whatever the actual situation may have been, it is undeniable that the epinician version, silent on Neoptolemus sacrilege, emphasizes instead his piety and the grief of the Delphians on account of his death. The question can thus be reversed. Instead of asking how much offense a tale could cause, we can ask how favorable a reception it could find. In light of the vested interest which the Aeginetans had in their Aeacid past, as is manifest in the literature and monuments of the period, there is no question that the epinician version would be far more suitable for an Aeginetan performance. In the first half of the fifth century poetry and monumental structures work in tandem to forge and commemorate the close ties of the island with the glorious offspring of Aeacus. By 480 a new set of pediments was carved for the temple of Aphaea and replaced the earlier pediments that represented an abduction and an Amazonomachy. The first sack of Troy was depicted in the new east pediment, the second sack in the west.33 Since the Aeacids had a leading role in both expeditions, the pedimental sculptures clearly indicate the wish of the Aeginetans to monopolize these heroes. In view of the hostility between Athens and Aegina and of the Athenian counter-effort to appropriate Telamon and Ajax,
Farnell 1932: 408. Rutherford 33738. For an interpretation taking as its starting point Rutherfords alternative scenario see Kurke 2005. 33 Ohly 4766; Burnett 2005: 2944.
32
31
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Robin Osborne has suggested that the motivation behind the expensive new sculptural program launched by the Aeginetans must have been political.34 The poetry that the Aeginetans commissioned shows a similar tendency. Two of the fourteen extant epinicians of Bacchylides celebrate Aeginetan victors. Of these ode 12 is too fragmentary. The mythical narrative of ode 13, however, commemorates Ajaxs aristeia in defending the Achaean ships at the time of Achilles withdrawal and traces the origin of the two foremost warriors to Aeacus. One fourth of Pindars epinicians are composed for Aeginetans and all commemorate their Aeacid ancestry.35 With the exception of the Eighth Pythian, all contain mythical narratives that explore, with varying degree of elaboration, different glorious achievements of the four generations of Aeacids.36 Comparison of the exclusive thematic focus of Pindar and Bacchylides on the Aeacids with the variety of mythological narratives that they choose, for instance in the Hieron odes, shows that their choice must have been affected by the wishes of their patrons. Whether the Aeginetans expressed their wish openly, or the poets sensed it and played along, is impossible to know.37 The exclusive poetic focus on the Aeacids, however, is remarkable and evokes the visual representations of the Aphaea temple and other monuments.38 The individual and communal care that was devoted to the lavish public display of the Aeginetans Aeacid ancestry through monumental structures and choral performances indicates that a sacrilegious Aeacid would not be a congenial topic for an Aeginetan celebration. Pindars strategy in the Seventh Nemean points in the same direction. If the Sixth Paean predated the Seventh Nemean, the epinician version need not be an apology, but a meditation on the variety of poetic versions on a Panhellenic scale.39 Interestingly, Pindar does not sing of Achilles and Neoptolemus in the Seventh Nemean, but of Ajax and
Osborne 1998: 12427. On the importance of genealogies and myth-manipulation for inter-state rivalries see the recent contribution of David Fearn taking Bacchylides c. 9 as a test-case (Fearn 2003). 35 For Pindars odes for Aeginetans see Hornblower 2007. 36 Olympian 8; Nemeans 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Isthmians 5, 6, 8. 37 Cf. Burnett 2005: 212 who suggests that Pindars Law of Aiakid Praise, as she calls it, was self-imposed. 38 Pindars Nemea 8.712 evokes the entrance relief to the shrine of Aeacus, which is described by Pausanias 2.29.7; see Farnell 1961: 304 ad 912. 39 For the Panhellenic character of the mythical narrative of the Sixth Paean see Kowalzigs interesting discussion.
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Neoptolemus, both controversial figures for different reasons.40 Pindars repeatedly expressed view of Ajax is consistent: as a warrior Ajax was second only to Achilles. In the Fourth Isthmian (3739), composed for the Theban Melissos, Pindar praises Homers divine verses for doing justice to Ajaxs valor. The Seventh Nemean, however, shows the flipside of the coin. We have seen that the poets clever use of the Homeric example implies that Ajax was overshadowed by Odysseus in posterity as he was in his lifetime, because following the views of Ajaxs contemporaries Homer exaggerated Odysseus true merit. The poetic error that Pindar attributes to Homer is therefore a matter of perspective and emphasis. Pindars criticism of Homer could thus be a meditation on his own different perspective in the paean and a signal for his shift of perspective in the epinician version; as we have seen, in the Seventh Nemean the poet explores the issue of the destiny of the protagonists of the Trojan war from the viewpoint of the Aeacids. The choice of the Homeric example is all the more successful, because Homer was the Panhellenic poet par excellence and the impact of his poetry on the ever-changing audiences was beyond control.41 Of course, Pindar does not make the point explicitly, but it is an inference that his audience could easily draw. The example of Homers erroneous emphasis and perspective sets a precedent for similar poetic choices and puts the impact of competing poetic accounts on their audiences in a far broader perspective. Celebration of the honorands Aeacid ancestry and emphasis on the importance of inherited excellence are characteristics that all Pindaric Aeginetan epinician odes share.42 Sogenes is no exception. In the opening triad Sogenes home is described as the songloving city of the spear-clashing Aeacids who show great concern for his agonistic spirit (plin gr filmolpon oke doriktpvn / Aakidn: mla d ylonti smpeiron gvn& yumn mfpein, 910). In the concluding triad the poet prays to Heracles to help Sogenes live happily in the well-built sacred street of his ancestors, showing tender concern for his father (etuxw naein patr Svgnhw taln mfpvn yumn
40
For the significance of Pindars choice of these two heroes see also Khnken 42
60.
For a similar view see Khnken 55: Die Dichtung Homers ist bezaubernd schn (21 duepw)und ihr Einflu reicht sehr weit (22 potanw).Pindar was certainly not the first to enter into dialogue with Homer. According to a papyrus commentary (193 P.) Stesichorus blamed Homer and Hesiod in his palinodes. 42 For the importance of the Aeacids for Aeginetan self-definition see Burnett 2005: 1328, 238250 and passim.
41
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prognvn uktmona zayan guian, 9092).43 The use of identical diction (mfpein yumn) to describe a sons feelings for his father is an unmistakable echo of the feelings of the Aeacids for Sogenes and an effective strategy to bring close together immediate family and remote ancestors. The attempt to bridge the gap between Sogenes family and the Aeacids is also obvious in the transition from the story of Neoptolemus to the praise of Sogenes and his father Thearion. The transition is effected by the mention of the splendid achievements of Zeus and Aeginas offspring (5052), the significance of phya (5455), and the role of Moira as the dispenser of happiness which is followed by the assertion that she has given Thearion a fair share of prosperity (5659). Clearly, in the case of Sogenes and the Aeacids Pindar handles the sensitive issue of ancestral misfortune and its eventual reversal in exactly the same way as he did with Theron and the Labdacids. In each instance the honorands enjoy happiness and prosperity that is ancestral, whereas a pair of ancestors exemplify the exception by suffering the blows that the all-powerful Moira occasionally deals. In both cases Apollo is conspicuously distant from the events that lead to disaster. Comparative evidence sheds light on the advantages of foregrounding Moira and distancing Apollo. The Stesichorean fragment is an early witness to the belief that wise behavior can postpone misfortune, a view that Herodotus voices much later through the Pythias response to Croesus (1.91). Unlike Moira, prophecy occasionally leaves room for personal choice. Precisely for this reason oracles function not only as catalysts, but as touchstones for the ethos of the recipients. The Lille text is too fragmentary to allow glimpses into the Stesichorean representation of the ethos of Polyneices and Eteocles. We have seen, however, that the Aeschylean Laius does not heed Apollos repeated warning and his failure to comply with the divine command causes the gods relentless wrath. Similarly, Aegisthus does not heed the warning of Hermes in the Odyssey and pays for his defiance with his life. In the Iliad Agamemnon, who finally obeys the Apolline command, shows his irascible and despotic temper in his confrontation with Calchas (1.10520). The Herodotean Croesus does not recognize the ambiguity of Apollos prophecy and the Pythia exposes his lack of good judgement (1.91). The case of Neoptolemus in the Sixth Paean is somewhat different, for in his case Apollos antagonism is not due to his attitude to a specific oracle, but to his defiance of established and well-known religious ethics
Segal 1967: 473 also noted the parallelism between these two passages, but interpreted its effect differently.
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that prescribe respect for suppliants. Neoptolemus decision to overlook this principle constitutes in effect defiance of divine command in a broader sense. Defiance of divine precepts or lack of wisdom are faults that would definitely detract from the ancestral excellence that Pindars epinicians celebrate and would cast a shadow on the merits of descendants as well.44 Pindars portrayal of Diagoras ancestor Tlepolemus, which will be discussed in the following section, shows an unmistakable effort to affirm ancestral wisdom and to attribute murder to an unfortunate momentary lapse. The problem with the claim to inherited qualities is the danger of inheriting negative qualities as well as guilt, an issue that found its most magnificent expression on the Athenian stage. In this respect, Polyneices reminder of Apollos hatred of Laius and its fatal consequences for his race in the Seven sheds light upon the advantages of attributing misfortunes to moira. Unlike prophecy, moira precludes choice and offers therefore the easiest way out of notorious cruces. ii.2 APOLLINE PAS DE DEUX If in the Seventh Nemean Pindar frees Neoptolemus from sacrilege by attributing his death to moira and downplays the antagonism between Apollo and the Aeacids, in the Eighth Olympian he eliminates it. In this instance, the poet casts Apollo, the epic and paeanic defender of Troy, in the role of the prophet of the doomed citys fall. Apollos addressee is Aeacus, the progenitor of the Aeacids (3152): tn paw Latow erumdvn te Poseidn, Il mllontew p stfanon tejai, kalsanto sunergn texeow, n ti nin peprvmnon rnumnvn polmvn ptolipryoiw n mxaiw lbron mpnesai kapnn. glauko d drkontew, pe ktsyh non, prgon sallmenoi trew, o do mn kpeton, ayi d tuzmenoi cuxw blon, ew d nrouse bosaiw. nnepe d nton rmanvn traw eyw Apllvn: Prgamow mf teaw, rvw, xerw rgasaiw lsketai:
44
For the importance of phya for Pindaric ideology see in particular Rose 16063.
424
L. ATHANASSAKI w mo fsma lgei Kronda pemfyn barugdopou Diw: ok ter padvn syen, ll ma prtoiw rjetai ka terttoiw. w ra yew sfa epaiw Jnyon peigen ka Amaznaw eppouw ka w Istron lanvn. Orsotraina d p Isym pont& rma yon tnuen, popmpvn Aakn der n ppoiw xrusaiw ka Kornyou deird pocmenow daitiklutn. whom [sc. Aeacus] the son of Leto and wide-ruling Poseidon, who were about to crown Ilium with battlements, invited to help them build the wall, because it was her destiny at the outbreak of wars in city-destroying battles to breathe out ravening smoke. When the wall was newly built, however, three grey-eyed snakes leapt into the tower; the two fell down and, in a state of terror, lost at once their lives, but one jumped in with a shout. Apollo pondered over the adverse omen and immediately said: Pergamum will be captured, hero, at the place of your handiworkso tells me the vision sent by loud-thundering Zeus, son of Cronusnot without your children; but it will begin with the first and also with the fourth. So the god spoke, clearly, and sped his horses to Xanthus, to the Amazons of the fine horses, and Ister. The Wielder of the Trident, on the other hand, steered his swift chariot to the Isthmus on the sea bringing back to this place Aeacus on golden horses on his way to look upon the ridge of Corinth famous for its festivals.
The ode was composed for the Olympic victory of the Aeginetan boy Alcimedon, probably in 460. A substantial part is dedicated to the praise of the boys trainer Melesias (5466). Some scholars have seen a parallelism between Apollo and Aeacus on the mythical level and the trainer Melesias and Alcimedon in the hic et nunc. Kevin Crotty, for instance, suggested: In 60, too, the use of promayen seems intended to present athletic training as a form of prophecy inasmuch as it provides some foreknowledge of the outcome, enabling athletes to
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be confident of their skills and strength.45 Yet Pindars emphasis is not on Melesias predictions but rather on his knowledge and expertise which he imparts to his trainees. Melesias is first and foremost a good teacher because he knows his job (5960). His trainees show good judgement too, because they recognize the importance of learning in advance (6061). Melesias is by far the most qualified to tell what deeds and ways will help the contestants win in the games (6264). What precisely are the deeds (rga) and the ways (trpon) that Melesias advised is left unclear, but the reference is presumably to the whole athletic preparation before the games. Like musical education, athletic training did not contradict the belief in phya, but brought out native ability.46 The celebrated example of Chiron shows that for all their claims to the importance of phya, aristocrats did not deny the value of education.47 The important point of comparison between Apollo and Melesias is therefore not prediction per se, but knowledge which the god and human trainer impart to their associates ahead of time. If we are to see a close parallelism between Apollo and Melesias, it follows that Aeacus stands for Alcimedon. Such a neat parallel, however, does not do justice to the rich texture of this ode, for the point of the mythical exemplum is not simply the value of prediction or communication of knowledge, but the divine favor Aeacus enjoyed. In his prophecy to Aeacus, puzzling though it may be, Apollo mentions four generations. The diction is obscure, as is the relation between the portent and the gods elucidation, and various solutions have been offered. One way out of the difficulty is the solution proposed by Crotty: all that the portent tells Apollo is that Troy will be taken at the place where Aeacus had worked (4244); the reference to the four generations of Aeacids (4546) is the gods own addition.48 If we dissociate the Aeacids from the snakes, the agents of the fall of Troy will be Aeacus in the first generation, who is unintentionally responsible for the weak spot, and Neoptolemus for the second sack in the fourth.49 Whatever interpretation we give to Apollos prophecy, however, it is clear that there is no hostility towards the Aeacids on the gods part. Apollo prophesies in a matter-offact manner the central role of Aeacus and his offspring in the fall of Troy. The
Crotty 25; see also Burnett 2005: 21719 and Nicholson 13645. For the potential tension between learning and phya see Nicholson 13945. 47 The paradigm of Chiron as teacher of heroes in Nemean 3.4053 offers a good example of the role of education in bringing out native ability; on this point see Robbins 1986a: 32021. 48 Crotty 26 with note 42. 49 For this interpretation see Robbins 1986a with a discussion of ancient and modern views on the significance of the portent; similarly Athanassaki 1990: 4449.
46 45
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glorious deeds of the ancestor find a parallel in the achievements of the descendants. Pindar mentions at least three generations of Blepsiads: Alcimedon and Timosthenes (1520), whom the ancient scholia identify as Alcimedons brother, but Christopher Carey has argued in favor of the grandfather who is later mentioned (7073).50 In the last epode Alcimedons dead father Iphion is said to hear the news of his sons victory from Angelia and pass on the good news to Callimachus, another dead relative (8184). Pindar links together living and dead members of the family by the observation that death does not hide the glory of kinsmen (7980). Noting the parallelism between Aeacid and Blepsiad achievements over the generations, Thomas Hubbard has pointed out that the theme of inter-generational reflection of glory with descendants deeds seen by ancestors and foreshadowed by the virtues and deeds of these ancestors, was very much on Pindars mind when writing Ol. 8.51 The parallelism between the Aeacids and the Blepsiads is reinforced by the theme of prophecy in the mythical exemplum and the encomium. The ode opens with the mention of oracular consultation at Olympia before the contests, when seers examine burnt offerings in order to test Zeus plan as to the outcome of the contests (na mntiew . . . / mproiw parapeirntai Diw rgikeranou, 23). The testing of Zeus will before the games parallels Apollos prophecy to Aeacus, which has as its starting point the omen Zeus sends (fsma lgei Kronda / pemfyn barugdopou Diw, 4445).52 An ancient scholion reports that Didymus considered the collaboration of Aeacus Pindars innovation (par oden d presbutr Pindrou stora, 41a). According to Didymus Pindar introduced Aeacus as a collaborator in order to show that Troy was conquerable through the part that Aeacus built (na di totou to mrouw <to> p Aako okodomhyntow lsimow gnhtai Iliow, 41a). The two divergent accounts in the Iliad corroborate Didymus
The ancient scholia identify Timosthenes as Alcimedons brother (16), Iphion as the father, and Callimachus as an uncle or alternatively as mere relatives. For the identification of Timosthenes as Alcimedons grandfather see Carey 1989. Kurke 1991: 29398 raised objections to Careys identification and suggested that Alcimedon must have had the same name as his grandfather. Burnett 2005: 208 adopts Careys identification and suggests that it was Timosthenes who commissioned the ode. 51 Hubbard 1987: 21. Race 134 also remarks on the close parallelism between the Aeacids and the Blepsiads. 52 Crotty 26.
50
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view.53 In Book 7 Poseidon complains to Zeus about the new Achaean wall and voices the fear that the wall he and Apollo once built will be forgotten (45153). In Book 21 Poseidon reminds Apollo of their service to Laomedon, when he built the wall and Apollo tended Laomedons herds (44149). The divergence has been variously explained, but for our purposes it is more significant that neither version acknowledges the participation of Aeacus.54 In the second Iliadic passage, Poseidon claims that he built a wide and very strong wall so as to make the city unconquerable (er te ka mla kaln, n rrhktow pliw eh, 21.447). In Book 6, however, Andromache mentions a weak spot in the wall, where both city and wall can be overrun (mbatw sti pliw ka pdromon pleto texow,434). Andromache does not give reasons for the vulnerability of that part of the wall, but, as Farnell suggested, the Iliad may reflect here a tradition according to which the cause of the weak spot was the work of a mortal.55 Interesting too is Andromaches point that some of the Achaeans thrice tried this spot either out of their own initiative or because somebody skilled in prophecy told them (6.43539). The identity of the prophet is unclear, but Apollo is excluded, for as the defender of Troy in the Iliad, he could not have been the one to reveal to the Achaeans the weak spot. The two different Iliadic traditions clearly underlie Pindars version, but the addition of Aeacus to the building team and, more important, Apollos prophecy to him give the mythological narrative of the Eighth Olympian a totally different new turn.56 Viewed as an exemplum of divine favor to Aeacus, Apollos prophecy has a double function. Insofar as the Blepsiads are concerned, the prophecy foreshadows their achievements and points up their inherited excellence. Inasmuch as the Aeacids are concerned, the gods prediction, framed by the divine invitation to Aeacus to collaborate and by his departure in the company of Poseidon, is an effective poetic strategy to obliterate the antagonism between Apollo and the Aeacids. The contrast between the representation of the role of Apollo and moira in this ode and in the Second Olympian and Seventh Nemean could not have been sharper. Pindar mentions in passing the design of destiny (n . . . peprvmnon), but the centerpiece of the mythical narrative is unquestionably the divine favor to Aeacus and Apollos spontaneous prophecy. The balance is cleverly reversed. Apollos diction is carefully chosen so as not to leave out Neoptolemus and his crucial role in the fourth generation.
53 54
See also Hubbard 1987: 1722 who argues in favor of Pindaric innovation. For the divergence see Kirk 28889 and Richardson 8990. 55 Farnell 1930: 45. 56 For Apollos prophecy as Pindars innovation see Hubbard 1987: 21.
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In comparison to the representation of Apollos relationship with the Aeacids in the Sixth Paean, the Eighth Olympian is a tour de force. An intriguing question is whether the Eighth Olympian was composed for performance at Olympia or Aegina. The opening invocation of the personified Olympia, which is followed by an invocation of the grove of Pisa and a prayer to accept the komos, defines Olympia as the celebratory setting. In the second strophe, however, the reference to Aegina through the deictic expression tnd' lierka xran (25) signals a shift of the locus of performance from Olympia to Aegina. With regard to the locus of performance there is no scholarly consensus, but I find more persuasive Franco Ferraris solution, who suggested an original performance at Olympia after the victory that anticipates a future performance in Aegina.57 In this scenario, the political significance of Pindars innovative treatment of Apollos prophecy to Aeacus would be much more pointed, since the targeted audience of the first performance would be in all likelihood the Panhellenic audience of the games. Reperformance on Aegina, on the other hand, would evoke the performance at Olympia and would be a reminder of the Panhellenic display of Apollos favor to the Aeacids.58 We may now turn to the Sixth Olympian. Pindar is our earliest source for the myth of Iamus, the progenitor of the honorands family on his maternal side. Wilamowitz posited an Elean epic as Pindars source, but the ancient scholia provide no hint of any preexisting version.59 Whether and to what extent Pindar followed a local epic is, therefore, impossible to ascertain, but Apollos benevolence and munificence to the great ancestor of thehonorand is typical of Pindars representation of the gods attitude to a favored few. Wilamowitz was of
Ferrari 14647; similarly Athanassaki 2004: 337 and n. 42 (I came to the same view independently of Ferrari). In favor of performance at Olympia: see Gildersleeve 192; Farnell 1961: 59. Scholars who favor performance on Aegina explain the initial localization at Olympia differently. Wilamowitz 1922: 403, for intance, postulated an Aeginetan Olympieion. Burnett 2005: 208 n. 4 thought that the invocation to Olympia is equivalent to the wish to please a distant audience as in N. 4.46. Thummer 1.32. n. 11, criticizing Wilamowitzs view, suggested poetic fiction whereby poet and audience are vicariously transported to Olympia. 58 I discuss in detail the broader political significance of Pindars choices in Olympian 8 vis--vis a Panhellenic audience in a forthcoming paper; see Athanassaki forthcoming. 59 Wilamowitz 1886: 174.
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two minds as to whether Apollo was already part of local traditions, but thought that the scene between Apollo and Iamus had Pindars own touch.60 The ode was composed for the Olympic victory in the mule chariot, probably in 468, of Hagesias, a close associate of Hieron, whose family participated in the foundation of Syracuse and whose maternal side held a hereditary priesthood at Olympia. Pindar praises Hagesias for his athletic achievement and his political prominence, but not surprisingly his emphasis is on Hagesias Iamid ancestry. The extensive mythical narrative covers almost half of the ode and focuses on two scenes: the events surrounding the birth of Iamus (2857) and Apollos prompt response to his sons invocation and request for honor, when he reached adolescence (5770). In both scenes Apollos care for his son is manifest. Evadne, daughter of the nymph Pitane and Poseidon, was raised by king Aepytus; in due time she lies with Apollo, becomes pregnant with his child, and tries, unsuccessfuly, to hide her pregnancy. Aepytus discovers her secret, but suppresses his anger and goes to Delphi to inquire of the god. To Evadne, who meanwhile gives birth to the baby secretly, Apollo sends Eleithyia and the Fates; through divine design too two serpents feed the newborn with honey. The presence of the divinities and the nurturing snakes foreshadow Iamus extraordinary future, which is confirmed by Apollos response to Aepytus. Upon his return from Delphi Aepytus tries to find the still hidden newborn and declares publicly Iamus Apolline parentage (Fobou gr atn f gegkein patrw, 4950), his future extraordinary mantic authority among mortals (per ynatn d ssesyai mntin pixyonoiw joxon,5051), and the fact that his race will never end (od pot klecein genen,51). The narrative leaves open the outcome of Aepytus search. All we learn is that Evadne chooses the name Iamus for the baby because violets (a) cover his tender body in the thicket where he is hidden (5357). The qualification of the name as immortal (num ynaton, 57) at the conclusion of the first scene reinforces Apollos prophecy with respect to the continuity of the genos. With the assertion of the immortality of Iamus name, the scene shifts rapidly to the time when Iamus, now an adolescent, goes at night to Alpheus and invokes his grandfather Poseidon and his father Apollo requesting honors that will enable him to serve his people. Of the two gods it is Apollo who reaches out to him promptly and speaks clearly (ntefygjato d rtiepw patra ssa,
60
Wilamowitz 1886: 175. Defradas 1974: 39 interpreted Apollos prominence as an attempt to attribute to the god of Delphi patronage of Zeus oracle at Olympia. For Apollos prominence vis--vis Zeus see also Garner 48.
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metllasn t nin,6162). Apollos request to Iamus to follow his voice to the land which is shared by all is rendered in direct discourse (6263). After the short Apolline quotation the narrative shifts again to third person and Pindar describes their arrival at the hill of Cronus where Apollo bestows on Iamus exceptional privileges (6470): konto d chloo ptran lbaton Kronou nya o pase yhsaurn ddumon mantosnaw, tka mn fvnn koein ceudvn gnvton, et n d yrasumxanow lyn Hraklhw, semnn ylow Alkadn, patr ortn te kts pleistmbroton teymn te mgiston ylvn, Zhnw p krott bvm tt a xrhstrion ysyai kleusen. And they reached the steep rock of Cronus high hill, where he bestowed on him the twin treasure of prophecy, to hear at that time the voice that knows no falsehood, and thenwhen the bold in resource Heracles, the honored offspring of the Alcaids, should come and found for his father a festival crowded with people and the greatest institution of gameshe ordered him to establish his oracle at the highest altar of Zeus. The remote time of the event is remarkable. Apollo designates Iamus as an official seer at Olympia before the foundation of the Olympic games. The antiquity of the event is consistent with the cosmogonic character of the myth of Iamus that places the episode at a time when the world was taking shape, as Charles Segal has shown.61 The mythical narrative concludes with the scene of Apollos splendid gifts to Iamus and is followed by the reminder that the much renowned Iamids draw their origin to him (j o polkleiton kay Ellanaw gnow Iamidn, 72). Through a cluster of statements that point out their prosperity, their honorable deeds, their renown, and finally the danger of blame as a result of envy
Segal 1986: 94105 where, in addition to the Sixth Olympian, Segal discussed the three Cyrenean odes and the Seventh Olympian.
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for great achievements Pindar resumes the praise of Hagesias and his maternal genos and home, Stymphalos, where the performance is taking place (7391). The ode ends with the praise of Hieron, the anticipation of a future performance in Syracuse, and a prayer to Poseidon to secure a safe trip home for Hagesias and his friends and the flourishing of his own song (92105). The locus of the first performance may have suggested the choice of mythical subject matter. Eva Stehle has suggested that the poets choice and treatment of subject aims at making relevant the victory celebration to a community that was not the honorands own, but consisted of maternal relatives to whom Hagesias paid a visit on his way back to Syracuse.62 To this attractive suggestion I will add that the hereditary seerhood of the honorands maternal ancestors was for the poet a congenial topic in and of itself and one that gave him the opportunity to depict the Apolline parentage of Iamus and thus foreground the honorands ancestral privilege and wisdom. The explicit association of Hagesias with Amphiaraus in the opening triad highlights the honorands martial prowess and wisdom (1218). The story of Iamus adds that his wisdom is ancestral. As Simon Goldhill pointed out, Apollos two prophecies predict Iamos descendant, Hagesias.63 The similarities in the depiction of Apollos interaction with Aeacus and Iamus in the Eighth and Sixth Olympians respectively are noteworthy. Both episodes are projected into a very remote past when the worlds of mortals and immortals were not yet separated. Thus Apollo predicts the fall of Troy at the moment of its first fortification and the mantic priesthood of the Iamids before the institution of the Olympic games. It is also remarkable that whereas Poseidon is present in both stories, the scenes each feature only Apollo speaking to a mortal addressee of divine origin. The addressees are represented as the great ancestors of the honorands whose athletic achievements constitute a manifestation of excellence predicted in the very remote past. Finally, the clarity of the gods speech receives special mention in both instances (sfa epaiw, O. 8.46 / rtiepw patra ssa,O. 6.6162). Pindar offers a very similar picture in his representations of Apollos interaction with Tlepolemus in the Seventh Olympian and Battus the First in the Fourth and Fifth Pythians, respectively ancestors of the celebrated boxer Diagoras and of king Arcesilaus the Fourth. In the colonial narratives of Rhodes and Cyrene Apollos oracles interlock with much earlier prophecies which they are represented either as fulfilling or as complementing: Apollos oracle to Battus
62 63
Stehle 160. Goldhill 155; see also 149.
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in the Fourth Pythian is said to fulfill Medeas prophecy in the seventeenth generation, whereas the gods response to Tlepolemus represents the final stage in the foundation of Rhodes which began with Helios prediction of the emergence of the island from the sea, when the gods apportioned the earth.64 The colonization of Rhodes is already attested in the Catalogue of Ships, whereas Herodotus provides variant accounts of the colonization of Cyrene. Comparison of the Homeric and Herodotean accounts with the epinician representations of Apollos role in both colonizations shows once again Pindars own touch. The colonization of Rhodes first. In broad outline the Pindaric and the Homeric accounts tell essentially the same story, namely Tlepolemus murder of his maternal uncle Licymnius, his flight from home, the successful colonization of Rhodes and Zeus favor towards the island, which is instantiated by the wealth he poured over the Rhodians. The epinician version differs from the epic account on several points, but the major departure from the epic tradition is Tlepolemus visit to Delphi to consult Apollo (2737): ka gr Alkmnaw kasgnhton nyon skpt yenn sklhrw laaw ktanen Trunyi Likmnion lynt k yalmvn Midaw tsd pote xyonw okistr xolvyew. a d frenn taraxa parplagjan ka sofn. mantesato d w yen lyn. t mn xrusokmaw edeow j dtou nan plon epe Lernaaw p ktw eyn w mfiylasson nomn, nya pot brxe yen basilew mgaw xrusaiw nifdessi plin, nx Afastou txnaisin xalkelt pelkei patrow Ayanaa korufn kat kran norosais llajen permkei bo.
64
For the effect of the retrogressive interlocking prophecies see Athanassaki 2003.
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Thus once in Tiryns the founder of this land, filled with anger, struck with a staff of hard olive and killed Likymnios, Alcmenas bastard brother, when he came from the chambers of Midea. Disturbances of mind lead even a wise man astray. He went to the god to consult the oracle. From within his sweet-smelling sanctuary the Golden-haired spoke of a straightforward voyage from the shore of Lerna to a seagirt pasture land, where once the great king of gods drenched the city with a golden snowstorm, when by the skill of Hephaestus and with an axe forged of bronze Athena leapt up from the top of her fathers head with a tremendous shout. In addition to Apollo crucial role, the Pindaric version differs from the epic account on the following points: (a) whereas Pindar attributes Tlepolemus act to anger, the epic gives no motive; (b) Pindar does not mention fear as the reason for Tlepolemus departure; in contrast, fear of the other Heraclids provides the motivation in the Iliad (pelhsan gr o lloi / uew uvno te bhw Hraklehw, 665/6); (c) in the Seventh Olympian Apollo predicts a straightforward voyage to Rhodes, whereas the Iliadic voyage includes wandering and suffering (atr g w Rdon jen lmenow, lgea psxvn,667).65 Whether Tlepolemus visit to Delphi is Pindars innovation,as Wilamowitz and other scholars have suggested, or an already established post-Homeric tradition which the poet chose to follow is impossible to ascertain.66 The unmediated and smooth communication between Apollo and Tlepolemus in the Seventh Olympian, however, follows the pattern we have seen in the Eighth and Sixth Olympians and has therefore an unmistakable Pindaric ring. It is Apollo himself who responds to Tlepolemus and predicts a straightforward voyage to Rhodes (nan plon . . . eyn). Unlike the epic version, there is no mention of wandering and suffering. Apollos prophecy of the colonization of Rhodes merges into the earlier prophecy of Helios to his sons, which in turn leads to the sun gods still earlier prediction of the birth of Rhodes. The regressive narrative does not offer any further information concerning Tlepolemus colonial mission until its end, where the success of the enterprise becomes manifest through the mention of the periodic honors, which Tlepolemus receives as oecist after his death(77 80). Diagoras, one of the most celebrated athletes of his age, acquired with time a legendary status. According to the scholia, the Rhodians maintained that
For further differences between the two accounts see Young 8384. For Apollos prophecy as Pindars innovation see e.g. Wilamowitz 1922: 366; Young 83; Defradas 1974; Dougherty 12325.
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he was a son of Hermes; there had been no other instance of father and sons winning Olympic victories ever since Heracles founded the Olympic games; his daughter Callipateira was the only woman who gained entrance to the Olympic games when she said that she was the daughter, sister, mother, and aunt of Olympic victors (inscr. a). Cicero reports a charming story: a Spartan seeing Diagoras borne on the shoulders of his two victorious sons exclaimed: morere Diagora, non enim in caelum ascensurus es (Tusc. Disp. 1.46.111). According to Pausanias, Diagoras father Damagetus was a king in Ialysos (4.24.23). To judge from Pindars impressive catalog of victories Diagoras must have been already famous by 464, but this was probably too early for the legendary fame that later sources reflect. Comparison of his later fame with Pindars praise, however, shows that unlike later tradition, which focuses on the merits of Diagoras and his progeny, Pindars strategy is to sing of Diagoras achievements in the light of his illustrious ancestry.67 The close association of Diagoras with the Heracleid Tlepolemus is evident in the statements that preface and conclude the mythical narrative and link it to the encomiastic hic et nunc. The second triad opens with the declaration of the poetic intention to set forth for Diagoras and Damagetus, beginning with Tlepolemus, the history they share as members of Herakles mighty race, in William Races translation (yelsv tosin . . . p Tlapolmou / junn . . . diorysai lgon, / Hraklow erusyene gnna, 2023). The mention of the games in honor of Tlepolemus at the end of the long mythical narrative forms the link for the transition to the praise of Diagoras(7780). In the impressive list of Diagoras panhellenic and local victories that immediately follows, Pindar mentions first his two victories at the Tlepolemeia, thus linking closely the honorand and his remote ancestor (8081). The list of Diagoras victories is followed by a prayer to Zeus Atabyrios to honor the celebratory performance and grant the victor the respect of his fellow-citizens and xenoi, which concludes with an assertion of Diagoras inherited excellence (9092): pe briow xyrn dn eyupore, sfa daew te o patrvn rya frnew j gayn xreon.
For the parallelism between Tlepolemus and Diagoras in terms of violence and risk, common to colonization and athletics, see Dougherty 12628.
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for he travels straight along a road that is hostile to hybris, having clearly learned what right wits inherited from his noble forefathers revealed to him. But who are Diagoras wise ancestors that Pindar is thinking of at the conclusion of the ode? On his mothers side Diagoras is an Amyntorid, but this is the only mention of his maternal ancestry (2324). Of the Heraclids the poet has already named three: his father Damagetus, who is said to please Dike (dnta Dk&, 18), a certain Kallianax (93), who may have been singled out for mention on account of his meaningful name, and his great ancestor Tlepolemus who atoned for murder by his consultation and obedience to Apollos oracle. It is possible, however, that at the conclusion of the ode the poet also enlists the glorious Heliadae. I have argued elsewhere that the Seventh Olympian shows a clear tendency to mask colonial disruption through the fusion of Doric and pre-Doric past on the narrative level.68 It is significant that the description of the honors, which Tlepolemus receives after his death, immediately follows the account of Helios progeny. If Pindar associates the Heliadae and Tlepolemus in linear catalog fashion, in the case of Diagoras he resorts to close parallelism through similar content and diction. Diagoras inherited wisdom clearly echoes the inherited wisdom of the Heliadae.69 The seven sons of Helios and Rhodes are said to have inherited the wisest counsels of all men (softata nomat p protrvn ndrn paradejamnouw, 72). We have seen that Diagoras has clearly learned what inherited wisdom has revealed to him (sfa daew te o patrvn rya frnew j gayn xreon,9192).Moreover, the choice of the verb xreon (92), which the scholiasts take in its oracular sense, i.e. xrhsmdoun, to denote the way Diagoras ancestors imparted their knowledge to their descendant, has a double effect: it echoes Helios prediction of the birth of Athena to his sons and his advice to honor their future debt to the goddess (tte . . . Uperiondaw mllon nteilen fuljasyai xrow paisn floiw, 3941) and, simultaneously, evokes Apollos oracular response to Tlepolemus to sail to Rhodes. In the Seventh Olympian ancestral wisdom is affirmed, despite the momentary more or less serious lapses which have, significantly, a divine paradigm, for even the gods forgot to allot Helios his share of land (5861).
Athanassaki 2003: 10813. Gildersleeve 191 ad 91 noting the parallelism obseves: This is poetry for hereditary good sense.
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Similarly, due to a momentary lapse of memory the Rhodians forget to bring fire for their sacrifice to Athena, but Zeus mends swiftly the situation by pouring down upon them golden rain (4550). Tlepolemus lapse is far more serious, but momentary and, for this reason, does not cancel out his wisdom. This is evident from the gnome that qualifies the description of his deed: disturbances of mind lead even a wise man astray (3031). It is remarkable that even in a situation of clear personal responsibility, Pindar does not represent Apollos oracle as the agent of retribution, but of reparation. In this ode momentary lapse and reparation is a repeated pattern in the mythical narrative. Apollos benevolent attitude to Tlepolemus closely parallels Zeus and Athenas benevolence to the Heliadae despite their forgetfulness, which in turn reflects Helios complacent attitude to the gods upon his return and realization of their omission. Zeus proposition to cast the lots again shows that the omission was not intentional. Likewise, the forgetfulness of the Heliadae was involuntary (4547): p mn banei ti ka lyaw tkmarta nfow, ka parlkei pragmtvn ryn dn jv frenn.
Yet some cloud of forgetfulness comes over people, without warning, and draws the right path of action out of their minds. The similarity between the description of the state of mind of the Heliadae and that of Tlepolemus is quite remarkable and argues in favor of the view that several details of the Pindaric version suggest that the murder was involuntary.70 Yet Tlepolemus responsibility, underplayed though it is, may be the underlying reason for Pindars decision to associate Diagoras ancestral wisdom with the wisdom of the Heliadae.71 We can now turn to the Fourth and Fifth Pythians, where Apollo and his oracle play a major role.72 Pindar and the Herodotus are our earliest sources for
Defradas 1974: 3943; Dougherty 12425. Kurke 1991: 201 suggests that in the treatment of the myth in this ode transforms all Rhodess children into a single symbolic oikos (6976). 72 I will not discuss the variant version in the Ninth Pythian, because in this ode Pindar reverses the roles and casts Chiron in the role of the prophet and Apollo in the role
71
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the colonization of Cyrene and they both attribute a major role to the Delphic oracle.73 Yet in terms of the nature of communication between the divine and the human archagete the epinician and the historical versions offer totally different pictures. According to Herodotus the unsuccessful attempts and delays are attributed to neglect and ignorance of the Apolline oracles and to the Pythias unwillingness to provide any further information beyond her repeated command for the colonization. In the Fourth and Fifth Pythians, on the other hand, ignorance does not come into play at all thanks to Apollos presence and strong support. Herodotus provides two variant versions of the consultation of the Delphic oracle. According to the Therans the Pythia commanded king Grinnus to send a colony to Libya and he tried to delegate the undertaking to Battus on account of his old age (4.150). Conversely the Cyreneans, in disagreement with the Therans with regard to the recipient of the oracle, maintained that the Pythia ordered Battus to colonize Libya on the occasion of his visit to Delphi to consult the god about his stammer(4.155): Btt, p fvnn lyew: naj d se Fobow Apllvn w Libhn pmpei mhlotrfon okistra, Battus, you have come for your voice; but the lord Phoebus Apollo sends you to Libya, nurse of flocks, to found a city.
Battus initial reaction is to point out to the Pythia his inability to undertake the mission and to convince her to give him another response, but in vain (ok peiye lla o xrn, 4.155). When the Pythia repeated the same command, Battus left for Thera. Back on Thera things did not go well for either Battus or the Therans. When they inquired of the god, the Pythia reiterated the command to colonize Libya. This time, the Therans sent Battus off to Libya with some men, but when they arrived they could not decide what to do and so they returned to Thera. The Therans, however, did not let them put in, but ordered them to go back. Forced to go back, they settled in Plataea, an island off the coast of Libya (4.156). They stayed on the island for two years, but did not prosper, so once again they went to Delphi for consultation saying that, despite their settlement in
of the addressee. See Dougherty 13656; Calame 2003: 6779; Athanassaki 2003: 96 101. 73 For a comparative discussion see Dougherty 104107; Calame 2003: 35113.
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Libya, their situation had not improved. Their claim prompted a rather ironic response from Apollo: a t me Libhn mhlotrfon odaw meinon, m lyn lyntow, gan gamai sofhn seu. if you know sheep-feeding Libya better than me, not having been there, whereas I have, I admire your wisdom very much. Once more Battus and his men sailed back, but this time they crossed to the mainland and founded a city at Aziris (4.56). From the Herodotean account it is clear that ignorance is the main cause for the several delays in the colonization.74 Apollos second oracle to Battus and his team underlines precisely their lack of good judgment and sets them at long last on the right course of action. In terms of content, Herodotus first oracle to Battus is identical with the oracle Pindar reports in the Fourth Pythian, but unlike Herodotus Pindar does not mention any unsuccessful attempts or their cause nor Apollos second oracle. The Fourth Pythian focuses on the scene of Battus first consultation in Delphi and rapidly shifts to the honor Apollo has bestowed on Arcesilaus, thus drawing a close parallel between the first and the eighth Battiad king (5967): mkar u Polumnstou, s d n tot lg xrhsmw ryvsen melssaw Delfdow atomt keld: se xarein strw adsaisa peprvmnon basil' mfanen Kurn&, dusyrou fvnw nakrinmenon poin tw stai prw yen. mla d met ka nn, te foinikanymou row km, pais totoiw gdoon yllei mrow Arkeslaw: t mn Apllvn te Puy kdow j
See the detailed discussion in Calame 2003: 8892 who pointed out that the knowledge that the Pythia imparts to the future colonists is from their point of view partial and must be supplemented by the knowledge of other men.
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Amfiktunvn75 poren ppodromaw. Blessed son of Polymnestus, it was you whom the oracle, in accordance with this prophecy, exalted through the spontaneous utterance of the Delphic Bee; she thrice greeted you rejoice, manifesting you as the destined king for Cyrene, while you were asking what remedy would come from the gods for your ill-sounding voice. Truly indeed afterwards and even at this moment, as at the height of spring with its red flowers, at the eighth generation of these descendants Arcesilaus flourishes. To him Apollo and Pytho granted renown from the chariot-race of the Amphictyons. This is the third and most detailed description of the scene in Delphi which Pindar outlined at the opening of the ode (48) and reiterated as part of Medeas prophecy (5356).76 At the opening the poet asserts that the priestess proclaimed Battus the founder of Cyrene in the presence of Apollo (ok podmou Apllvnow tuxntow, 5). The ancient scholiast remarks that the mention of Apollos presence shows the reliability of the prophecy (di totvn mfanei tn =hyntvn t sfalw, ad 8). This is certainly a sound remark, but since Pindar constructs all prophecy as reliable, his emphasis on Apollos presence suggests that he wanted to include Battus in the same privileged group of heroes such as Aeacus, Iamus, and Tlepolemus. Medeas prediction of the scene in Delphi corroborates this view, for her description of the interaction between Battus and Apollo is strongly reminiscent of Apollos response to Tlepolemus (tn mn poluxrs pot n dmati / Fobow mnsei ymissin,5354). The privilege of Apollos presence in the consultation process becomes much more pronounced when compared with his distance from the chilling oracle to Pelias that was spoken in Pytho (7178).77 The absence of Apollo in the case of Pelias is an unpropitious omen, whereas his presence in the case of Battus is a signal of favor and success. The Fifth Pythian offers additional evidence of Apollos presence and continuing support of Battus. In this ode the focus is not on Battus visit to Delphi, but on his arrival in Libya. Unlike the several unsuccessful attempts
SnellMaehler treat the word as lower-case. I follow here Race who takes the word as a reference to the official overseers; see also Braswell ad 6667. 76 See also Segal 1986: 13637 on the significance of prophecy and above n. 12. 77 On the oracles to Pelias see Segal 1986: 4546.
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recorded by Herodotus, Pindar makes reference to a single voyage, which is not associated with any misunderstandings and delays, but is, instead, characterized by speed. In the brief narration of Battus voyage to Cyrene Pindar mentions the speed of the ships that carried his men and swiftly passes on to his impressive foundation program that earned him a founder-hero cult after his death (8796). Earlier in the narrative Apollos active support of Battus civilizing program receives special emphasis (5762): <. . .> kenn ge ka barkompoi lontew per demati fgon, glssan pe sfin pneiken perpontan: d rxagtaw dvk Apllvn yraw an fb, fra m tam& Kurnaw telw gnoito mantemasin. even loud roaring lions fled in fear from that man, when he directed his overseas tongue at them; and Apollo, the founder of the colony, gave over the beasts to dreadful fear lest his oracles to the steward of Cyrene go unfulfilled.
Battus encounter with the lions alludes most probably to the story of how he was cured from his stammer, which is attested by Pausanias (10.15.7). According to Pausanias, who does not mention Apolline agency, Battus saw a lion in an uninhabited area of Cyrene and his fear made him shout clearly and loudly (t dema t k tw yaw bosai safw ka mga ngkasen).Whether this is the underlying tradition in the Pindaric version or not, comparison of the two stories shows a remarkable reversal of the natural behavioral patterns in the Pindaric version, thanks to Apollos intervention. In the Fifth Pythian the emphasis is not on the fear that Battus experienced, but on the fear he inspired in the lions. Responsible for the unusual situation of lions fleeing from man is Apollo, who is actively involved in the fulfillment of his prophecy.78 Apollos presence and support of Battus both in Delphi and Cyrene closely parallels the gods favor to Arcesilaus, which is repeatedly expressed in
78
For the colonial significance of this passage see Dougherty 105.
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both odes composed in his honor.79 The fact that Apollo is archagete and the patron-god of the games, where Arcesilaus won his chariot victory, facilitates the close parallelism between ancestor and descendant. Another facilitating factor is the continuity of the Battiad royal line. Pindar does not restrict himself, however, to Arcesilaus Cyrenean royal lineage. Through the interlocking oracles of Medea and the Pythia in the Fourth Pythian he weaves tightly the threads that lead to his Minyan origin.80 In addition to his noble ancestry, Pindar time and again stresses Arcesilaus wisdom.81 His noble ancestry and wisdom are treated together in the first antistrophe of the Fifth Pythian, which concludes with reference to his Pythian victory, a clear sign of Apollos favor (1223): sofo d toi kllion fronti ka tn yesdoton dnamin. s d rxmenon n dk& polw lbow mfinmetai: t mn, ti basilew ss: megaln polvn xei suggenw fyalmw adoitaton graw te toto meignmenon fren: mkar d ka nn, kleennw ti exow dh par Puyidow ppoiw ln ddejai tnde kmon nrvn, Apollnion yurma:<. . .> Indeed wise men bear even their god-given power better. And as you walk in the path of justice great prosperity surrounds you; on the one hand, because you are a king; the inherited pride of great cities holds this most venerable honoran honor combined with your intelligence; and you are blessed now too, for having won a triumph recently at the Pythian festival with your horses you have received this celebrating chorus of men, Apollos plaything.
79
For Apollos favor to Arcesilaus see in particular: Fourth Pythian 6567; 25962; 270; Fifth Pythian 2023; 103107. 80 For the effects of the retrogressive narrative see Segal 1986: 72105; Calame 2003: 4360; Athanassaki 2003: 101105. 81 In addition to the passage cited, see also Pythian 4.25962; Pythian 5.10811.
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Noble inheritance, wisdom, and Apolline favor are all combined in the person of the descendant of Battus. As Claude Calame observed, Arcesilaus appears with traits of a second Apollo through the intermediary of his ancestor Battus, the founder of Cyrene.82 To sum up: Pindar is our earliest source for Apollos harmonious interaction with Aeacus, Iamus, Tlepolemus, and Battus, the respective ancestors of the Aeginetan Alcimedon, the Syracusan Hagesias, the Rhodian Diagoras, and the Cyrenean Arcesilaus. All these representations are to a greater or lesser extent innovative. We have seen that in all cases through parallelism, verbal echoes, or explicit association the ancestral paradigms foreshadow and illustrate the wisdom and achievements of the descendants either individually or collectively. Communication with Apollo is the ultimate test and proof of ancestral wisdom. Hagesias, Diagoras, and Arcesilaus are all said to possess ancestral wisdom. Only in the case of Battus and Arcesilaus, however, have we, thanks to Herodotus, adequate comparative evidence that allows us to assess Pindars strategy in creating ancestral intellectual superiority. In his communication with the Pythia the Herodotean Battus does not show any particular wisdom or intelligence. The founder of Cyrene is represented as a rather common man who succeeds in his mission after a series of trials and errors. In Pindars hands the same information undergoes such a deep transformation that the picture is reversed. Battus communication with the Pythia and Apollo becomes a token of divine favor and wisdom which lives on in Arcesilaus. To be sure Pindars emphasis on wisdom as a prerogative of aristocratic identity is neither new nor unparalleled. The poetry of Theognis shows a similar stress on the intellectual and moral foundation of aristocratic superiority.83 For Walter Donlan the shift of focus from display of external possessions to the inner qualities of the spirit such as superior sensibility, wisdom, grace and moral superiority constitutes an effort on the part of aristocracy to construct a model which would be immune to discreditor imitation.84 What is novel about Pindar is the use of Apolline prophecy as part of aristocratic image-making. The main advantage of Apolline prophecy, if properly constructed, is that it offers the most authoritative means of linking the present to the past. Moreover, fifthcentury depictions of the increasingly challenging communication with the god of Delphi were probably another reason for Pindars inclusion of Apolline
82 83
Calame 2003: 86. Donlan 7795. 84 Donlan 77.
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prophecy in his ideological arsenal.85 Exactly because communication with Apollo was thought to be fraught with difficulty, the ancestral privilege of the gods company, clear guidance, and support was all the more exclusive. In an ideological system where intellectual and other qualities as well as honors and privileges pass on from generation to generation, such depictions constitute authoritative accounts of the survival of ancestral intellectual qualities and privileges.86 The most succinct formulation of the exclusive privilege of the gods presence, however, belongs not to Pindar, but to Callimachus in his Hymn to Apollo (910): Vpllvn o pant fanetai, ll tiw sylw: w min d, mgaw otow: w ok de, litw kenow. Apollo does not appear to everybody, but only to the noble; he who may see the god is great; he who has not seen the god is insignificant. The immediate reference of this statement is to the imminent epiphany of Apollo to the performance which is represented as being in progress, but it also anticipates Apollos appearance in the form of a raven to Battus and his guidance of the founder and his people to Libya (7678), which occupies a great part of the hymn. Among recent critics Peter Roses assessment of Pindars creations of singular and utopic privileges for his patrons is, in my view, the most eloquent and pertinent:
Bacchylides does not show the same predilection for prophecy as Pindar, though in his account of Croesus (c. 3) he emphasizes Apollos favor for the Lydian king and attributes his rescue to the gods favor (whereas Herodotus 1.8687 reports the story, but gives more weight to the human factor). 86 Slater attributes to the choral poets and above all to Pindar a new definition of aristocracy, which is based on the knowledge of ta kala and the power to achieve them. According to Slater ta kala is a category with a wide spectrum and is, therefore, impossible to define, but it represents an inborn code of values. Aristocrats, Slater suggested, simply know some things other people do not, and with an absolute confidence that others cannot have. That is what strikes me as revolutionary about Pindar; it is what is in ones head that really counts, not boule or arete or ploutos (Slater 1997: 48).
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L. ATHANASSAKI The inner logic of Pythian 10 leads both to the fervent realization of aristocratic ideology in image, structure, argument, and to the transcendent negation of that ideology in its celebration and demonstration of the poets mastery of access to a realm of being free of pain and guilt, full of sensuous gratification, and quite beyond the limited reality of the Greek ruling class. Indeed, it is in the end a moot point whether the net effect of the poem is more a celebration of their power or his.87
The Tenth Pythian was Roses test-case, but I think his conclusions offer the best illustration of Pindars representation of the utopic relations between aristocrats and Apollo that I have named Apolline pas de deux. ii.3 THE THEBAN ORESTEIA I have left to last Pindars version of the story of Orestes in the Eleventh Pythian, for unlike all my other instances there is no ancestral link between the laudandus Thrasydaeus and Orestes. Gildersleeves assessment of the interpretative problems of the ode in 1885 has proven emblematic of subsequent scholarship: In most of the odes the meaning of the myth, its office as an incorporation of the thought can, at least, be divined. Here the uncertainty of the date and the unusual character of the story combine to baffle historical interpretation.88 The questionable suitability of a story of multiple murders to enhance the achievement of the victor is to this day an issue of scholarly debate.89 The other important question concerns the date of composition of the ode and its possible
Rose 18283, whose neo-Marxist approach offers an analysis of the epinician form along the lines of a negative and positive hermeneutic. The negative hermeneutic explores the aspects of the text that reflect and reinforce aristocratic claims, whereas the positive hermeneutic examines those aspects that show the inadequacy of the status quo and the superiority of the poet and his poetry. 88 Gildersleeve 358. 89 For the Oresteia as a negative example see in particular Young 1968 with a review of previous scholarship; for the Oresteia as a positive example see in particular Robbins 1986; Egan has put forward the view that the pedagogues story of Orestes Pythian victories in Sophocles, Electra (680783) was an established tradition known to Pindar as well; according to this reading the relevance of Orestes to Thrasydaeus is they are both Pythian victors. The question that this interpretation leaves unanswered is why Pindar did not choose to tell this story or even allude to it. For the mythical narrative as a blend of blame and praise see Calame 2000: 95115.
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relationship to Aeschylus Oresteia.90 I will address both issues, but I will focus on an aspect that has been relatively unexplored in discussions of the relevance of the mythological exemplum, namely the double encomiastic motivation of the performance.91 I will argue that the Eleventh Pythian was composed to celebrate an athletic victory at a Theban festival in honor of Apollo. 92 In light of the double celebratory occasion, I will examine the relevance of the Pindaric version of the Oresteia for the celebration of the god, in whose honor the chorus also dance, and for the audience of the performance, which in this case was, in all likelihood, the whole city.
In favor of 474: Von der Mhl on the basis of internal criteria, namely the victories attributed to the honorand and his family; on the basis of political criteria see the arguments of Wilamowitz 1922: 25963; Gentili 14750; Robbins 1986 and very recently Finglass. In favor of 454 mainly on the basis of political criteria see Bowra 1936; in favor of Aeschylean influence on the basis of literary criteria see especially Dring 1943; further arguments are adduced by Herington 1984 and Hubbard 1990. 91 Angeli Bernardini and Sevieri, both thinking that the performance-context was the Daphnephoria, have both drawn attention to the double encomiastic program of the ode; see also next note. For Angeli Bernardini the relevance of the mythical exemplum for the praise of Apollo consists in the grandeur of Delphi as centre of xenia and link between Thebes and Sparta. This thesis has been developed and modified by Sevieri, who argued that Apollo in his function as a god of initiation is praised for guaranteeing civic order. I certainly agree with Sevieris conclusion; for the suggestion of Apollo as a god of civic values see also Neschke on the basis of the opposite arguments. Sevieris argumentation is based on (a) reading the Oresteia as a positive example, arguing that Pindar did not perceive Orestes so much as a matricide, but as a restorer of his paternal oikos and (b) on the premise that Pindar alludes to Apollos command. Since similar views and arguments have been put forward by other scholars as well, I will address them in the course of my discussion. It will suffice for the moment to say that I agree with Sevieri that scholarly interpretation of Pythian 11 is influenced one way or another by the Aeschylean Oresteia, but I will add that the same is true for the reconstruction of Apollos role in Stesichorus Oresteia; for, if the Aeschylean Oresteia had not survived, we would not be able to postulate in Stesichorus Oresteia Apollos instigation or sanction of matricide on the basis of the bow he gives Orestes to defend himself against the Erinyes. As is clear from Olympian 7, the fact that Apollo purifies Tlepolemus and designates him oecist of Rhodes does not mean that he sanctions, let alone instigates, the murder he has committed. 92 Angeli Bernandini following Boekch has suggested the enneateric Daphnephoria. Schachter 102 raised the possibility that the Daphnephoria was only one part of an extended springtime festival in honor of Apollo. Against the Daphnephoria as the performance context of the ode see now Finglass 2732. Calame 2000: 100 leans towards an annual festival as the performance context of the ode.
90
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The opening invocation of Semele, Ino, Alcmena, and Melia to gather at the Ismenion in order to sing of holy Themis, Pytho, and the right-judging navel of the earth indicates that the occasion of the performance of the Eleventh Pythian was a festival in honor of Apollo. The setting of the performance, the imaginary chorus of the local heroines, the Theban origin of the laudator, the laudandi and the actual performers give this ode a distinct Theban flavor. In this exclusively Theban context the voices of the actual and imaginary choruses merge in a way that makes it impossible to distinguish the narrative boundaries between the hymn to Delphi and the Oresteia (145): Kdmou krai, Semla mn Olumpidvn guiti, In d Leukoya pontin moylame Nhrhdvn, te sn Hraklow ristogn matr pr Melan xrusvn w duton tripdvn yhsaurn, n perall tmase Lojaw, Ismnion d nmajen, laya mantvn ykon, padew Armonaw, nya ka nun pnomon rvdvn stratn magera kale sunmen, fra Ymin ern Puyn te ka ryodkan gw mfaln keladset kr& sn spr& ptaploisi Ybaiw xrin gn te Krraw, n t Yrasudaow mnasen stan trton pi stfanon patran baln, n fneaw roraisi Pulda nikn jnou Lkvnow Orsta. tn d foneuomnou patrw Arsina Klutaimstraw xeirn po kratern k dlou trofw nele duspenyow, pte Dardanda kran Primou Kassndran poli xalk sn Agamemnon& cux preu Axrontow ktn par eskion nhlw gun. ptern nin r Ifignei p Erp
APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS sfaxyesa tle ptraw knisen baruplamon rsai xlon; tr lxei damazomnan nnuxoi pragon kotai; t d naiw lxoiw xyiston mplkion kalcai t mxanon llotraisi glssaiw: kakolgoi d poltai. sxei te gr lbow o meona fynon: d xamhl pnvn fanton brmei. ynen mn atw rvw Atredaw kvn xrn klutaw n Amklaiw, mntin t lesse kran, pe mf Eln& purvyntaw Trvn luse dmouw brtatow. d ra gronta jnon Strofon jketo, na kefal, Parnasso pda naont: ll xron sn Arei pfnen te matra yk te Agisyon n fonaw. r, floi, kat meusporon trodon dinyhn, ryn kleuyon n t prn: m tiw nemow jv plou balen, w t katon nnalan; Mosa, t d ten, e misyoo sunyeu parxein fvnn prguron, llot ll& {xr} tarassmen patr Puyonk t g nun Yrasud, tn efrosna te ka dj piflgei.
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Daughters of Cadmus, you, Semele, dwelling among the Olympian goddesses and you, Ino Leucothea, sharing the chambers of Nereus sea daughters, go with the mother of Heracles, who gave birth to the noblest child, and join Melia at the treasury of the golden tripods, the sanctuary which Loxias particularly honored and named it Ismenion, the true seat of seers; O daughters of Harmonia, there he now summons the native host of heroines to gather together, so that you sing holy Themis, Pytho, and the
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L. ATHANASSAKI right-judging center of the earth at nightfall in honor of seven-gated Thebes and the contest of Cirrha, where Thrasydaeus caused his ancestral hearth to be remembered, when he cast upon it a third crown, by his victory in the rich fields of Pylades, the host of Laconian Orestes. Whom indeed, at the slaughter of his father, his nurse Arsinoe took away from the powerful hands of Clytemnestra and from her grievous treachery, when by means of gray bronze she let Cassandra, the daughter of Dardanian Priam, go along with the soul of Agamemnon to the shadowy shore of Acheron, the pitiless woman. Was it then Iphigeneia, slaughtered at Euripus far from home, who incited her to rouse her heavy-handed anger? Or did nightly love-making lead her astray as she was overcome by another mans bed? This fault is most hateful in young wives and impossible to cover up because of others tongues; and fellow citizens are slanderous; moreover, because prosperity brings with it equal envy; whereas whoever has low aspirations murmurs unnoticed. The hero son of Atreus died himself, when he came at last to famous Amyclae, and ruined the prophetess, after he plundered all luxury from the homes of the Trojans, set on fire for the sake of Helen. The young boy, on the other hand, went to his aged guest-friend Strophius, who lived at the foot of Parnassus; but with the help of Ares in due course he killed his mother and laid Aegisthus in a stream of blood. It seems, my friends, that I roamed about at the path-shifting crossroad, being on the right track before; or did some wind throw me off my sailing course, like a small boat at sea? Muse, it is your duty, if you have agreed to hire your voice for silver, to set it in motion this way and that, either in honor now of the father Pythonicus or of Thrasydaeus,whose joy and fame keep blazing.
In the introductory frame subject matter and narrative strategy work in tandem to foreground the Theban identity of the imaginary chorus and the setting of the performance as well as Apollos presence in the celebration. In the first strophe, the request to the Theban heroines to gather at the Ismenion is first made in the name of the speaker (17), but in the antistrophe it becomes clear that the speaker has just expressed Apollos request (710). The summons to the Ismenion first expressed in the speakers and then in Apollos name is complemented by a final clause (912) that reveals the purpose of the invitation, namely the celebration in song of Delphi in honor of Thebes and the Pythian games. The mention of the games is followed by a relative clause, in which Thrasydaeus victory receives brief mention, but the immediately following
449
prepositional locative phrase, which specifies the place of the victory, forms the basis for the introduction of the story of Orestes. Thus in the antistrophe the song of the imaginary Theban chorus merges imperceptibly with the actual song in progress in one long period. It is thus impossible to tell whether the story of Orestes is presented as the common subject of the imaginary and the actual singers or, if not, where the first song ends and the second begins. The admission to an unspecified group of friends of a digression and the subsequent reminder to the Muse to sing of the honorands, which frame the mythical narrative, signal the restoration of the epinician voice and can thus be markers only of the end of the song of the imaginary chorus. Such voice-merging is not an idiosyncracy of this ode, but an elsewhere attested choral device to tell the same story from a double perspective, thus reinforcing its authority.93 In this instance, the male performing chorus and the imaginary chorus of Theban heroines join voices to sing an authoritative version of the story of Orestes, in which Apollo plays no role. In the Pindaric version Orestes helper is not Apollo, but Ares. The qualification of the omphalos as ryodkawis part of a statement concerning the justice of Themis, Pytho and the navel of earth in general. An allusion to the right judgement of Apollo in the case of Orestes cannot be excluded, but, as Farnell observes, Pindar gives no clue as to the content of such a judgement: there is no mention of Apollo, and he never lets us see what his own judgment was, and what Apollos judgment was, on the act of Orestes.94 Apollos absence acquires greater significance from the identity of the god whom Pindar represents as Orestes helper in the murder of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. In Pindars Oresteia it is the god of war and violence who is instrumental in the act of vengeance, not the god of prophecy and music. In addition to the questionable suitability of a story of matricide to enhance an athletic victory and the absence of an ancestral link between Thrasydaeus and Orestes that would account for the choice of topic, the absence of Apollo from it poses yet another question concerning its relevance. If Pindar had assigned the role of Orestes helper to Apollo and not to Ares, there would have been a basis for parallelism between Thrasydaeus and Orestes, since they would have both been under the aegis of Apollo for different reasons. But this is precisely the story that Pindar chose not to tell. David Young, who interpreted the Oresteia as a brilliant and frightening foil for the peaceful life of the
For Pindaric instances see Young 84 n. 2 and Athanassaki 1990: 12834; for a similar device in Aeschylus see Athanassaki 1994. 94 Farnell 1932: 226 ad 9; see also Finglass 46 with n. 73.
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honorand, has made the strongest case against any parallelism between Orestes and Thrasydaeus: there is nothing in the myth which pertains to Thrasydaeus or to his kind.95 According to Young the positive example for Thrasydaeus comes at the conclusion of the ode in the praise of the Tyndarids and Iolaus, who won renown mainly through athletic excellence, but also because of their devotion to their dear ones.96 I agree with Young that the Oresteia is a frightening foil, but I will argue in favor of a broader function of the mythological exemplum. I suggest that the combination of praise and blame does not simply aim at the assertion of the honorands peaceful lifestyle, but at the definition and promotion of a positive aristocratic model which is consistent with Apolline values. In my reading the attribution of all responsibility for violence to Ares serves as a contrasting paradigm to Apollo, who emerges as a god of justice, eunomia, and the joyous pursuits of peaceful life.97 The double celebratory program of the composition and performance of the Eleventh Pythian suggests that on this particular occasion Apollo was also an honorand of equal, if not greater importance. On account of its double occasion, therefore, the Eleventh Pythian invites comparison with epinicians that have a double encomiastic program, namely the celebration of an athletic victory on the occasion of a religious festival.98 Three of these odes will serve as comparative material, the Third and Fourteenth Olympians and the Fifth Pythian.99 The Third Olympian in honor of Therons victory was probably composed for celebration at the Theoxenia of the Tyndarids.100 Athletics and xenia are the themes that pervade the encomiastic and the mythological parts of the ode and link them together.101 Thus the hospitable reception of Heracles by
Young 17. Young 22; for the Dioscuri as a positive example see among others Newman 60 63; Calame 2000: 10810. 97 For the use of Apolline values as a civic paradigm by Aristophanes in the Knights see the stimulating discussion of Sfyroeras in this volume. 98 For the dynamics of genre and occasion see Nagy 1994. For the fluidity of genres composed for performance in cultic contexts see Calame in this volume. 99 Krummen 3397 has argued that the performance context of the Fourth Isthmian was the Theban Heraclea. 100 See Krummen 22336 with a review of previous scholarship. 101 For the importance of the theme of xenia in the mythical exemplum and the encomium see Shelmerdine 79, who, following Fraenkel, does not think that the context of the performance is the Theoxenia, but suggests instead that By dedicating his song to the Tyndaridae, and by linking Therons victory so closely with them, Pindar makes in effect the present victory feast itself a theoxenia, a feast at which the gods are present and being honored.
96 95
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the Hyperboreans reflects the xenia of Theron and the Acragantines to the Dioscuri.102 The olive tree which the Hyperboreans give to Heracles finds a contemporary parallel in the olive crown that Theron wins: this he does thanks to the favor of the Tyndarids, who are represented as Heracles successors in supervising the Olympic games after his apotheosis (3441). Pindar is the only ancient authority to attribute such a status to the Dioscuri and, in all likelihood, his claim is due to the double occasion of the celebration.103 Human and divine honorands are equally glorified. Theron, who receives the olive crown from the Dioscuri at Olympia, reciprocates their xenia at Acragas.104 The olive crown, originally a gift of the Hyperboreans to their guest Heracles, links together not only Theron with the Dioscuri, but the Dioscuri with Heracles, for appointing them overseers of the games in his stead, Heracles passes on to them jurisdiction over the olive crown. The Fourteenth Olympian, known also as the Hymn to the Graces, displays a similar pattern. The brief ode, composed in honor of Asopichus victory in the foot-race, was composed for performance in the sanctuary of the Graces and Johannes Kakridis has plausibly suggested that the celebratory context was a festival in honor of the deities of Orchomenos.105 Of the two strophes of the ode, the first is exclusively dedicated to the aretalogy of the Graces, who are represented as indispensable stewards of choral performances and feasts on Olympus, on this particular occasion thus overshadowing the Muses. The second strophe consists of a description of the performance in progress, a request to the deities for its success, and a brief praise of the victor. The hymnic form of this ode points to a double celebratory purpose, but the predominance of the hymnic element does not detract from the glorification of the victory it celebrates. The choral celebration of the victor in the presence of the Graces in the hic et nunc is the human analogue of eternal choral celebrations on Olympus in honor of Zeus.106 Apollo and Arcesilaus are the divine and human honorands of the Fifth Pythian, composed for performance probably at the Cyrenean Carneia.107 Apollos aretalogy in this ode is representative of Pindaric encomia of the god in
Krummen 25557 suggested that the Hyperborean symposia constitute the ideal paradigm for human symposia. 103 Farnell 1961: 29 ad 36. 104 Shelmerdine 79. 105 Kakridis 14446. 106 Athanassaki 2003a. 107 For the Carneia as the occasion of performance see the reservations of Burton 13537. For a strong argument in favor of the Carneia see especially Krummen 10816.
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his festivals and will be discussed in more detail later on. It will suffice for the moment to draw attention to an important difference between the Fifth and the Eleventh Pythian, which is due to the social status of the honorands. The Fifth Pythian was composed to celebrate the victory of a king, the glory of his dynasty, and the foundation of the city.108 The Eleventh Pythian was composed to celebrate the victories of a family that belonged to the Theban elite. In the case of Arcesilaus, as in the case of Theron, Pindars emphasis is clearly on the divine favor to the honorands, for in the case of absolute rulers there was no need to reintegrate them into the community.109 The belief in the divine origin of royal power, which Pindar extends to tyrants as well, gave the poet the freedom to focus on the gods many favors to the monarch, which was by extension beneficial to the whole community. In contrast, the epinician challenge to reintegrate aristocrats who were not rulers into their peer group necessitated resort to different strategies in the representation of divine favor. We have seen that in the Fourteenth Olympian the Graces are asked to grant success to the choral performance in honor of Asopichus. The singers request the favor of the deities, in whose honor they dance, as a group and they hope to please them in turn as a group. The identity of the honorands affects inevitably the configuration of human and divine relations. I will argue that in the Eleventh Pythian the Theban chorus worship and hope to please Apollo in a spirit similar to that of the chorus in the Fourteenth Olympian. Before turning to the dynamics of the relationship between Apollo and the Theban chorus in the Eleventh Pythian, however, I will discuss Pindars representation of Apollo in relation with the literary tradition. Unlike the stories of Oedipus and Neoptolemus, the story of Orestes raises not the issue of human and divine antagonism, but the issue of Apolline justice, as is evident from Aeschylus magisterial treatment in the Eumenides. If Pindar composed the Eleventh Pythian under the influence of the Aeschylean masterpiece, the reasons for his dissociation of Apollo from Orestes matricide would be clear. In the Eumenides Apollo does not have the power to protect Orestes from the Erinyes
108
For the political motivation of the heroic elevation of Arcesilaus see Currie 256
57.
In the long run, however, the profile of absolute rulers had to have some affinities with the aristocratic profile so as to appeal to a Panhellenic audience. For the different strategies employed by Pindar in the praise of absolute rulers see Kurke 21824. For Pindaric strategies of reintegrating the elite see the detailed discussions of Crotty 10438 and Kurke 1991: 3561, 163224 and passim. Curries recent study of Pindars intimations to certain athletes of immortalization during their lifetime shows the other side of the coin, i.e. the epinician attempts to single out the honorand.
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and instructs him to go to Athens (7984), where the god also goes and appears before a human court in order to defend Orestes, but primarily his own justice.110 Seriously challenged by the Erinyes, Apollo and Orestes win by the narrowest possible margin thanks to Athena.111 The fact that the Erinyes are not entirely defeated either, but are honored by the patron-goddess of Athens, is sufficient indication of the weakness of Apollos position.112 The challenge of Apolline power and justice on the Athenian stage has been succinctly formulated by Albin Lesky: Eben dadurch, da der Gott von Delphi, der in lterer Fassung selbst binden und lsen konnte, keinen anderen Weg kennt als den nach Athen, da er selbst, der Gott, vor den Menschen erscheint, weil mit dem Recht durch Athene Gttliches in ihre Hand gelegt wurde, erhlt der Schlu der Trilogie jene Erhabenheit, die den Zankton der Gerichtsszene vergessen lt und zu jener Apotheose attischer Rechtssprechung fhrt, die dem Athener Aischylos vor der Seele stand, als er das letzte der drei Dramen schrieb. Seinen Gehalt knnen wir Nachgeborene nie ganz ausschpfen, aber ahnen knnen wir es noch, was der Weg von Delphi nach Athen der Zeit des Aischylos bedeuten mute. Wohl sollen wir uns alle die Unstimmigkeiten vor Augen halten, die die Doppellsung in den Eumeniden brachte, aber doch nur, um zu verstehen, da so erst jene Szene mglich wird, die den Gott von Delphi vor der ehrwrdigsten Gerichtssttte der Athener erscheinen lt. Fr diese Auffassung hebt sich auch der alte Streit, ob Aischylos an Apollon Kritik ben wollte oder nicht. Das Recht liegt auf beiden Seiten: tadeln konnte Aischylos den Gott nicht wollen, von dem er selbst sagt, da Zeus aus ihm spreche. Aber gengen
In ll. 198200 the Erinyes accuse Apollo as solely, not partially, responsible for the matricide (o metatiow, . . ., ll' . . . panatiow).Orestes, on the other hand, admits to shared responsibility with Apollo at 46567; see also 59396 and 60913. Apollo accepts responsibility in 57980, but he adds in his defense that he always prophesies according to Zeus will; see 61421. In 71516 the Erinyes characterize Apollos oracles as unholy. 111 In Bierls characterisation of Apollo (87) the god is seen as the pettifogging lawyer who represents only one party. Sommerstein 184 on Apollos defense: An audience most of whom, if over the age of 30, had personal experience of jury service will have recognized in Apollos speech most of the tricks of a pleader with a bad case. For Athena as Orestes true healer and Apollos inability to play this role see Finley 277. 112 See 79496 where Athenas reassures the Erinyes that the split vote means that they are not defeated.
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L. ATHANASSAKI konnte ihm der Gott auch nicht mehr, der mit Tierblut Mord shnte, und so lt er denn Apollon selbst den Weg ber sich hinaus weisen, den auch sein eigenes Denken ging: vom starren Ritus zum heiligen Recht.113
If Pindar composed the Eleventh Pythian in the knowledge of Aeschylus Oresteia, his representation of Apollo must be considered the Theban response to the Athenian challenge. To Aeschylus litigant and negotiating god Pindar opposes a distant and serene Apollo who presides over the right-judging navel of the earth and the festivities in Thebes. Even if the Eleventh Pythian is pre-Aeschylean, however, Apollos absence is significant, because his involvement was already part of the literary and possibly the iconographic tradition.114 The Homeric account in the Odyssey, a Hesiodic fragment (23a MW) and the few surviving fragments of Stesichorus Oresteia are our earlier extant sources which bear witnesses to divergent traditions.115 In the Odyssey Orestes avenging of his father is an honorable and predicted act, as is clear from Zeus reminder to the other gods (1.3243), but there is no divine encouragement for it, nor any consequence. Of Stesichorus Oresteia very little survives, but enough to indicate Apollos intervention and his antagonism towards the Erinyes. A papyrus commentary of the 2nd century A.D. has preserved a tiny fragment of Apollos speech to Orestes, in which the god tells the hero that he will give him his bow in order to defend himself against the Erinyes (fr. 217). The commentator attributes to Stesichorean influence Euripides use of the same theme and Aeschylus use of the lock of hair in the recognition scene between Orestes and Electra. According to the ancient commentator the influence of Stesichorus on later poets was second only to that of Homer and Hesiod. Ada Neschke, in her survey of pre-Aeschylean versions of the story of Orestes, reaches the conclusion that the most important innovation of Stesichorus, which later exercised great influence on the tragedians, was Apollos dominant role. Neschke also lays emphasis on the significance of Ares substitution for Apollo in the Eleventh Pythian and detects an implicit criticism of the
Lesky 211; contra Defradas 1972: 18188, who following Wilamowitz 1896 saw a strong Delphic influence on Aeschylus Oresteia. 114 Orestes flight from the Furies was the subject of the Hero and the Snake metope (570550 B.C.) from Foce del Sele; see Prag 44 who also suggested tentatively that Apollo and the Furies may have been the subject on the Rum Jug painters protoattic crater (Prag 85). For a different identification of the figures on the crater see Davies. 115 For the pre-Pindar and pre-Aeschylean versions see Defradas 1972: 16076; Neschke; Robbins 1986.
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Stesichorean version on Pindars part.116 Her view is plausible in light of the great influence of Stesichorus and of the difference in the representation of Apollo by the two poets, in so far, of course, as the fragmentary condition of Stesichorean poetry allows us to judge. We have seen that Stesichorus depiction of Apollo in the Lille fragment is much closer to Aeschylus than to Pindar. Did Pindar have only Stesichorus in mind or a growing body of poetry featuring Apollo as a major player? Wilamowitz, for instance, postulated a now-lost Delphic epic Oresteia, in which the god played a major role.117 Wilamowitz, however, took the reference to the right-judging omphalos as an allusion to Apollos sanction of the matricide. The obvious difficulty with Wilamowitzs view is that Pindar would have been far more articulate, if he had wished to play up the gods role, as is evident from his other representations of the god. If the Eleventh Pythian was a response to versions that foregrounded Apollo, it was undoubtedly a tacit revision. The invitation to Theban heroines to celebrate the god and not to the Muses and Graces, who ordinarily accompany the poet, points up the Theban provenance of the ode and may indicate Pindars departure from traditions of Stesichorean influence. In 474, if we accept the high date for the composition of the ode, Pindar was a renowned Panhellenic poet. It is no wonder that on the occasion of a celebration of Apollo in Thebes he decided to try his hand at a story that Homer, Stesichorus, and other poets had sung and which would prove fascinating for all the tragedians as well. Orestes was also the subject of one of Corinnas poems (fr. 690), but the few preserved verses do not allow us to see how she handled the tale.118 In any event, we have seen that the Stesichorean version had already sown the seeds for the eventual challenge of Apolline justice on the Athenian stage. In celebrating the god, Pindars main concern was to reinstate Apolline justice, as the transference of responsibility to Ares indicates. Before turning to the religious and ideological considerations that underlie Pindars substitution of Apollo for Ares, I will explore the range of complexities that divine intervention presented in this particular case.
Neschke 29495. Wilamowitz 1896: 2426 and 24656. Athenaeus 12.512f. mentions a now lost Oresteia by Xanthus. For the hypothesis of a growing body of literature see Defradas 1972: 17381. 118 See also Finglass 3234. The ancient view that Corinna was an older contemporary of Pindar has been challenged by a number of modern scholars who have argued in favor of a lower Hellenistic date. In favor of the fourth century see Schachters 2005 recent essay with references to previous scholarship.
117
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In the present status of the evidence the definitely earlier Homeric account and the possibly later Aeschylean drama represent opposite ends of the spectrum concerning the implications of divine intervention. Aeschylus brought Apollos involvement to its natural and extreme consequences: a human court is invited to judge Orestes who obeyed the gods dreadful command. The defendant in the Areopagus is nominally Orestes, but essentially it is Apollo who commanded the act. In the course of defending his command Apollo presents various arguments, but the split vote indicates that the god has been marginally successful in convincing the Athenian jury. If Pindar composed the Eleventh Pythian in 474, he may not have thought of the extreme scenario of bringing the god to court, but it is reasonable to assume that he must have pondered the implications of such a horrendous command for Apolline justice. The issue of divine responsibility in connection with Orestes vengeance is already raised by Zeus in the Odyssey. Commenting on the tendency of mortals to blame gods for their misfortunes (oon d nu yeow broto ativntai, / j mvn gr fasi kk mmenai,1.3233),Zeus uses the example of Aegisthus to prove that human accusations are unjustified on the grounds it is their own reckless acts that cause excessive suffering. The gods sent Hermes to warn Aegisthus not to kill Agememnon, nor to woo Clytemnestra, for Orestes would exact vengeance. But despite Hermes good intentions, Aegisthus did not heed his warning and paid full price for his act (3343). Hermes warning is the only divine intervention in the story of Orestes in the Odyssey and is made in order to avert disaster. What the Homeric and the Aeschylean versions have in common, despite their great differences, is the idea that mortals are judges of gods. From Homer ownward the Atreid saga acquired new and fascinating dimensions, as is evident from the Stesichorean fragments, but it is fair to assume that mortals as judges of divine plans and acts loomed in the background or the foreground of the various tales of the matricide. It is for this reason, I believe, that in the Eleventh Pythian Pindar kept Apollo far from human judgement. The transference of responsibility from Apollo to Ares gives the story a different turn, which is at once un-Homeric and un-Stesichorean. Pindars Orestes is neither a noble avenger, nor Apollos proteg.119 He is an agent of violence in exactly the same way that his mother and father were in a world where Ares rules sovereign. Although Ares is mentioned explicitly only once as a companion of Orestes, he looms large throughout the narrative. Agamemnon is said to have brought death to Cassandra, but is also characterized as the foremost
See however Robbins 1986: 25 who argued in favor of strong Homeric influence on Pindar; similarly Sevieri; contra Neschke 29195.
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agent of the destruction of Troy (3334). Pindar makes no explicit mention of Ares with regard to the destruction of Troy in this ode, but a parallel passage in the Fifth Pythian shows that he associates the sack of Troy chiefly with Ares (kapnvyesan ptran pe don n Arei,8485).Iphigeneias slaughter, which Pindar considers a possible motive for Clytemnestras revenge, is also an act necessitated by war. Pindars Oresteia is a tale of war and violence with no attempt to justify violence and its agents.120 As a story of the unmediated sovereignty of Ares, Pindars Oresteia is a foil for the values that Apollo stands for. The invitation to the Theban heroines to celebrate holy Themis, Pytho, and the right-judging omphalos is not to be understood, in my view, as a cryptic reference to Apollos horrendous command, but as a variation on his aretalogy as it is sung in a number of odes. Apollos aretalogy in the Fifth Pythian, composed like the Eleventh Pythian for another festival of the god, offers a representative example (6369): ka barein nsvn ksmat ndressi ka gunaij nmei, pren te kyarin, ddvs te Mosan ow n yl, plemon gagn w prapdaw enoman, muxn t mfpei mantion: He also dispenses remedies for serious illnesses to men and women, he has provided the cithara and bestows the Muse on whomever he wants, he has put to peoples mind good governance without war, and he rules over the oracular recess.
Newman 1979: 60 The Atreidae are presented as a family which brought ruin both upon itself and upon a last representative of the city of Priam. Few characters depicted in the myth are admirable. This is clearly true of Clytaemnestra and Agamemnon. But we cannot forget either that the last word of the whole story which begins with blood involves Orestes too in the web of bloody destruction.
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Apollo is praised as healer, god of music, guardian of the oracular shrine, and dispenser of eunomia in time of peace.121 In associating eunomia with peace Pindar follows Hesiod, who makes Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene daughters of Themis (Th. 901 ff.).122 The association of Apollo with eunomia in the Fifth Pythian and the association of Eunomia with Themis, Peace and Justice in the Thirteenth Olympian are clearly resonant of the aretalogy the Theban heroines are asked to sing. Similarly, in the First Paean, composed for performance in one of Apollos festivals in Thebes, Pindar also associates Apollo with the daughters of Themis, who are said to have come to Thebes to offer Apollo a banquet.123 The paean concludes with the singers wish that god may continue to crown the citizens with the flowers of eunomia (nyesin enomaw,10). The Fifth Pythian and the First Paean, composed for performance in festivals in honor of Apollo, celebrate the god as dispenser of peace, eunomia, and justice and chime with not only the proem of the Eleventh Pythian, but also the epinician speakers statement in the concluding triad. When, after the praise of the athletic victories of Thrasydaeus and his father, the epinician singers blame tyranny and praise the middle condition as a guarantee of more enduring prosperity, they essentially praise peace and eunomia, which represent the Apolline ideal (5253). The theme of praise and blame continues in the following antistrophe, but the text is too corrupt to permit certainty (5556).124 If the heavily emended text, however, is close to what Pindar wrote, the positive model of high distinction is associated with peace and avoidance of hybris (5258):
The hymnic quality has been noticed by a number of scholars. See, for instance, Krummen 1990: 13940 and 14546; Currie 227; Burton 14546 drew attention to the aristocratic tenor of the civic model that these verses project. 122 For Pindars adoption of the Hesiodic genealogy see especially Olympian 3.610; also Olympian 9.1516. 123 Rutherford 255: The Horae seem to have a double significance: on the one hand characterized in a Hesiodic fashion [. . .] they are linked to the idea of political order [. . .] and they continue the theme of peace and stability. On the other hand, the presence of Eniautos, which is unprecedented, suggests that they should be seen as literal seasons of the year. 124 The alternative rendering, adopted by Turyn and others, gives a pessimistic sense: junasi d mf retaw ttamai: fyonero d mnontai / t&: tw kron ln / sux te nemmenow ann brin / pfugen;The implication of the rhetorical question is that those who have reached the peak cannot avoid the insolence of the envious, even if themselves opt for hesychia; differently Newman 1982: 193 for whom the rhetorical question need not expect a negative answer.
121
APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS yeyen raman kaln, dunat maimenow n lik&. tn gr n plin erskvn t msa makrotr {sn} lb teyalta, mmfom asan turanndvn: junasi d mf retaw ttamai: fyonero d mnontai. <ll> e tiw kron ln sux te nemmenow ann brin pfugen, mlanow {d} n sxatin kallona yantou <stexoi> glukutt& gene enumon ktenvn kratstan xrin porn:
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May I desire noble achievements that come from the gods seeking what is attainable for my age; for finding the middle condition in a city flourishing with more enduring prosperity, I blame the destiny of tyrannies. I strive for excellence in which all may share; for the envious are warded off. But if somebody has reached the peak, lives in peace and has avoided dreadful arrogance, he would walk on a better last path before black death, having provided for his sweetest offspring the grace of a good name, the greatest of possessions. Avoidance of hybris as a presupposition of eunomia and association of eunomia with Apollo is as old as Homer. In the Odyssey one of the suitors chastizes Antinous for striking the disguised Odysseus and warns him that the gods in various guises visit the cities of men and watch their hybris and eunomia (nyrpvn brin te ka enomhn forntew, 17.487). Upon hearing the incident Penelope expresses the wish that Apollo may strike Antinous in turn (ay otvw atn se bloi kluttojow Apllvn,17.494)..Tyrtaeus also foregrounds Apollo as a dispenser of justice and civic order in a poem handed down under the title Eunomia (4 W).125 The epinician singers do not mention Apollo explicitly in the concluding triad, but the values they praise are certainly consistent with the representation of Apolline justice and eunomia in this and other odes. The epinician speakers condemnation of tyranny and hybris and his declared preference for the middle condition, shared values, and hesychia is an ideologically loaded statement, which may also be a reference to contemporary
For the political significance of Tyrtaeus elegy see Van Wees. For its performance context see Stehle 5154.
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politics. The question of political reference bears of course on the date of composition. Maurice Bowra, who argued in favor of composition in 454, interpreted the statement as condemnation of Athenian interference in Theban politics after the Athenian victory at Oenophyta in 457.126 Scholars who date the ode to 474 have seen an allusion to the oligarchy that seized power and exercised tyrannical rule in Thebes at the time of the battle of Plataea.127 In contrast, David Young interpreted the statement as a poetical topos with no reference to contemporary tyrannies or oligarchies, but intended simply to praise the lifestyle of the victor.128 I agree with Young that at Pindars time denunciation of tyranny and advocacy of the middle course was a topos. Yet the fact that the statement was a topos does not mean that it could not have political or ideological force. In contrast, its wide use is a proof of its political effectiveness, which, as we will see, depends on the ideological standpoint of the speaker and the context of the utterance.129 The precise political reference of the statement may be elusive, but we are on safer ground with regard to its ideological agenda. Pointing out the similarity of the choral statement to Theognis advice to Cyrnus (21920, 331, 33536), Burton has suggested that they both derive from the same aristocratic code that advocates the middle course and hesychia as a bulwark against the dangers of political faction.130 The aristocratic tenor of the statement is evident from the examples that Pindar uses to instantiate this ideal, namely the athletic achievements of Thrasydaeus and his family in the hic et nunc, which find expression in the athletic excellence of the Dioscuri and Iolaus in the mythological exemplum. If in ideological terms the example of the Tyndarids and Iolaus is a model of hesychia and peaceful activities, the house of Agamemnon is clearly not.131 The blame of tyranny may very well be a reference to contemporary events, but it is also a comment on the behavioral patterns of the members of the house of Agamemnon, whose story the chorus have just narrated.
Bowra 1936: 13240. Thuc. 3.62.3. Note the Thucydidean speakers emphasis on the lack of eunomia and moderation of this tyrannical regime: per d sti nmoiw mn ka t svfronestt nantitaton, gguttv turnnou. For Pindars allusion to the tyrannical power of this group see in particular Gentili 14750; also Robbins 1986: 56. Cf. Finglass 1718. 128 Young 1115. For a similar view see more recently Instone 9193. 129 On this point see also Gentili 149. 130 Burton 73; see also Bowra 1936: 138. 131 See Young 1920 who argued that the advantages of the life of Thrasydaeus are first illustrated by presenting the disadvantages of its opposite.
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In social terms the house of Agamemnon represents an aristocracy which has gone berserk as a result of war, autocratic ambition, internal strife, illicit love, and vengeance. The chorus narrate the story of the doomed family in a matter-of-fact manner, but it is significant that from beginning to end they focus on the evils that have befallen them without any reference to any successful accomplishments. Even the sack of Troy, Agamemnons success as leader of the Achaeans, is mentioned in relation to its human cost: the death of Cassandra and the destruction of Trojan houses. It is precisely this model that the chorus reject in favor of an alternative peaceful lifestyle that adheres to the middle condition, privileges civic prosperity, and values achievements in which the community at large can share. The anatomy of negative elite behavior and its rejection is, according to this reading, a foil for a sharp definition and public pronouncement of a positive and well-paralleled aristocratic model. Leslie Kurke has suggested that the rejection of tyranny and the declaration of preference for the middle course is a clear message to the victors fellow citizens about his attitude: the family has no designs on rule within the city, despite its conspicuous expenditure on horse racing and athletics in general.132 I agree with Kurke that the statement aims at the reintegration of the honorand in his community by quelling suspicions of tyrannical ambition. To be sure this is not the only instance of an outright assertion of the honorands peaceful civic attitude, but if we interpret the Oresteia as an aberrant civic model, it is by far the most elaborate and emphatic political statement. It is so emphatic that, viewed as one familys message to their peers, it sounds rather defensive than reassuring. Moreover, this is the only instance that the assertion of the peaceful civic attitude of the honorand is expressed in the first person.133 The identity of the speaker of first-person epinician statements has been a notorious crux. With regard to the identity of the persona loquens scholars have argued in favor of the poet, the chorus, a composite voice including the poet and the chorus or, alternatively, a generalized first person expressing thoughts applicable to everybody, but often specifically to the victor.134 This is certainly
Kurke 1991: 216. Assertions of the honorands love for hesychia and avoidance of hybris in the third person are common; see for instance Olympian 4.1516 (Psaumis); Olympian 7.90 92 (Diagoras); Pythian 4.28485 (Damophilus); Isthmian 3.13 expressed as a gnomic statement, but qualifying the lifestyle of the Melissos and his family, the Cleonymids; the same assertion is made in the third person in Isthmian 4.79 for the Cleonymids in general. See also the discussion in Kurke 1991: 195218. 134 See in particular the discussions in Slater 1969; Lefkowitz 1991:171; DAlessio; Nagy 1994; Carey 1995; Stehle 1517.
133 132
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not a problem that can find a straightforward universal solution. In this particular case, Kurkes interpretation rests on the assumption that the first-person statement expresses the attitude of the victor and his oikos. In contrast, Wilamowitz, who interpreted the first-person statement as autobiographical, suggested that Pindar seized the opportunity to vindicate himself against charges of tyrannical sympathies on account of his praise of Sicilian potentates.135 In light of the communal occasion of the performance and the Theban identity of poet, honorands, chorus, and audience I wish to explore the possibility of a composite voice expressing views that the chorus and the poet shared as members of the Theban aristocracy. We can only speculate about the identity of the members of the chorus and the audience of the performance. I presume that on this particular occasion the poet and the honorand led a chorus consisting of friends and relatives of the victor, who belonged to the elite. In light of the double celebratory occasion of the performance it is fair to assume a wide Theban audience and possibly worshippers from other Boeotian towns.136 The fact that the poet, the honorands, and presumably the performing chorus all belonged to the Theban aristocracy provided an ideal opportunity for public display of aristocratic solidarity through definition of the political code they shared. Eva Stehle defines community performance as follows: The notion of community performance as providing reflection and model means that community performers speak both for and to the audience and community at large: for the community as reflectors of its beliefs and to it as models for renewed affirmation of those beliefs.137 Did the chorus speak on behalf of the community at large in this particular instance? As with all political discourse we have to allow room for dissent, but in
Wilamowitz 1922: 263. The composition of the audience of the epinician performances was variable and depended on the nature of occasion. See, for instance, Krummen 26667 and passim, who has argued that whereas Isthmian 4, Pythian 5, and Olympian 3 addressed large Theban, Cyrenaean, and Acragantine audiences, the targeted audience of Olympian 1 was Hierons court. For rather small sympotic performances in Aegina see Burnett 2005: 23940 and passim. See also the interesting discussion in Carey 2007. Regardless of the first performance, however, we should bear in mind that in the long run, Pindars and any other great poets target was an ever-changing Panhellenic audience. 137 Stehle 28.
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a moderate oligarchy it is fair to assume that they spoke on behalf of the majority. Definition and public affirmation of the aristocratic agenda through performance could be an end in and of itself, but internal or Panhellenic politics could also come into play.138 Aristocratic excess had been a target of Solons poetry and Pindars acquaintance with criticism of aristocracy in Athens and elsewhere need not be doubted.139 Solons description of the privileged of his own time is indicative of the kind of attack directed against aristocracy. According to Solon, Dike will prevail and exact punishment in due course (4.15 16 W) and Eunomia has the power to restrain the unjust, stop excess, weaken hybris and madness, straighten out crooked judgements, soften deeds of pride and put an end to sedition and strife (4.3239 W). 140 Clearly, the excesses that Solon imputes to the aristocrats of his time in Athens and the evils of the house of Agamemnon, which the epinician chorus narrate, display the same pathology. Another similarity between Solonian elegy and the Pindaric epinician is the advocacy of the middle course, but from a different viewpoint. Solon encourages the adoption of the middle course from an anti-aristocratic standpoint (4c W), whereas Pindar composes the Eleventh Pythian for performance by an elite group whose standpoint is clearly aristocratic.141 Useful for our purposes too is Solons faith that justice and eunomia will prevail and that the city will never perish, because Athena is its powerful guardian and protectress (4.14 W). The advocacy of the middle way by both Solon and Theognis shows that by Pindars time it had long been a negotiating position in aristocratic and antiaristocratic political agendas.142 Precisely the same negotiating position is dramatized on the Athenian stage.143 In the Eumenides the Erinyes advocate the middle course as a presupposition of justice and prosperity, which they define as the
Stehle 1213 has drawn attention to the fact that especially in ritual contexts performance entailed enacting social status. 139 For Pindars knowledge of Solons poetry see Newman 1982. 140 As Donlan 72 pointed out, Solons list of aristocratic faults reflected the common mans perception of aristocracy. For Solons dialogue with Hesiod in this elegy see the recent discussion in Irwin with a review of previous scholarly discussion. 141 For the different ideological perspective of the two poets see also Gentili 149. The difference in ideology is also evident from the absence of phthonos in Solons political poetry, noted by Newman 1982. Unlike Pindar, for Solon it was not envy that the aristocrats of his time should ward off, but their own transgressions. 142 For the appropriation of the same idiom by Solon and Theognis see Nagy 1983. 143 In his First Dithyramb Bacchylides echoes Solon (c. 15.5063) in a song that, according to Maehler, was composed to be danced at the Panathenaea; see Maehler 2004: 157 and now Fearn 2007: 31523.
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middle way between despotism and anarchy (52637). Athena expresses the same view in her instructions to the jurors right before the beginning of the voting (69697). The appropriation of the same discourse by aristocrats and their opponents may account for Pindars decision to define more precisely the aristocratic civic model in terms of what it is and what it is not. If for Aeschylus the ideal civic model is the negation of the two political extremes, for Pindar, in a composition for a Theban audience, it is the rejection of despotism and its pathology. In his native city the poet, who had elsewhere praised kings and tyrants, opts for the rule of the few.144 The political situation in Thebes in 474 was different from 454, but whether the threat to the elite was internal or external, definition and promotion of aristocratic agenda was equally appropriate at both times.145 If the ode was composed in 474, evocation of the tyrannical rule a few years earlier on the part of the audience would be inescapable, even if the primary intent of the statement was to assuage their fear vis--vis the intentions of the honorand and his family. The same is true for 454. Athenian interference and control over Theban politics was yet another threat to the elite. In both instances aristocratic solidarity was crucial as a bulwark against internal and external usurpers of power. Pindars anatomy of the pathology of despotism mainly in the form of a mythological exemplum was a subtle way to promote a positive elite model in the specific historical circumstances and in the long run a guarantee for the relevance of the message for different occasions. The representation of Athena as the paragon of justice and eunomia by the Athenian poets sheds light upon Pindars dissociation of Apollo from partisan politics in his Oresteia. In Aeschylus Oresteia the patron-goddess of the Athenians, when confronted with the magnitude of Orestes deed, does not see simple solutions, but great complexities. She immediately states that the matter is far too great for a mortal, but it is not right for herself either to judge alone a murder that has caused sharp wrath (47072), and proceeds to establish the legal process which will enable her to share responsibility.146 Whether we view Aeschylus Oresteia as a triumph of democratic ideology or as a complex negotiation of power between the Athenian demos and the aristocracy, Aeschylus, like
In Pythian 2.8688 he distinguishes between the rule of the one, the few, and the many. For the significance of this distinction and Pindars attitude to tyrants see Nagy 1990: 274313 and Hornblower 2004: 7886. 145 For internal divisions in Thebes after the Persians wars see Thuc. 3.62.5 and Bowra 13839. 146 For the idea of divine responsibility and obligations to mortals see Sommerstein 24.
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Solon, casts Athena in the role of supreme arbitrer of justice and eunomia.147 Like the Athenians, the Thebans also needed a god to oversee civic order and the distribution of justice. For Hesiod this god was Zeus.148 For the poet, who was later imagined as Apollos table-companion, the god of Delphi could also play this role in Thebes and the rest of the Doric world. Viewed as an epinician in honor of Thrasydaeus Pythian victory and an encomium of Ismenian and Delphic Apollo the Eleventh Pythian displays a subordination of individual praise to communal celebration. The athletic excellence and the civic virtues of Thrasydaeus and his family are praised through the enumeration of their victories and their association with the Dioscuri and Iolaus. Apollo is honored in the common song of the performing male chorus and the imaginary female chorus as a god of justice, peace, music, and athletics. Moreover, the male dancers cast themselves as a perfect example of the civic values that Apollo represents, becoming thus for the duration of the performance the embodiment of Apolline values. iii. CONCLUSIONS It is time to pull together the different strands of my argument. Pindars representations of Apollo and his oracle show the use of two different strategies: strong emphasis on the gods prominent role in auspicious stories and suppression of his involvement in inauspicious tales. All accounts of Apollos prominence are to a greater or lesser extent Pindars innovations and illustrate ancestral privilege and wisdom. The suppression of Apollos role in stories of transgression serves a similar end: it downplays all those elements that would call into question ancestral excellence or Apolline justice. The objectives of the epinician versions of the story of the Labdacids in the Second Olympian and of Neoptolemus in the Seventh Nemean on the one hand and of Apollos absence from the Oresteia in the Eleventh Pythian on the
The literature on the politics of the Oresteia is vast. For an argument in favor of conflict and negotiation of power between mass and elite see Griffith with bibliography. Griffiths analysis of the dynamics of power rests on a thorough study of (a) the relations between the members of the royal house of Argos with other Greek ruling families and with the Olympians, whichas he demonstratesare informed by the aristocratic values of xenia and hetairia, and (b) the perception and reception of the acts of the brilliant dynasts by the less privileged characters of the trilogy such as the watchman, the choruses, and the Athenian judges. In favor of democratic ideology see Goldhill 2000 with a review of the main contemporary scholarly approaches. 148 For the significance of Zeus absence from Solon as opposed to Hesiod see Irwin 16980 with bibliography.
147
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other are different only in terms of perspective. Apollos dissociation from instigation or sanction of horrendous deeds is a tacit affirmation of his justice. The dissociation of Apolline prophecy from acts of transgression and the transference of agency to inescapable Moira is a subtle reconfiguration of ancestors ethos and pathos: ancestral faults and sins are kept in the background and suffering is attributed to the designs of Destiny. It is precisely on account of Apolline justice that the gods distance from inauspicious tales gains significance. The gods involvement would entail attribution of justice and would throw human responsibility into relief. Apollos absence and the operation of Moira in effect mitigates the gravity of human transgression and transfers matters to a higher realm, where human decision-making is unthinkable and even divine conformity to the mandates of Moira is ordinarily expected. We have seen that Pindars representations of the unusually harmonious ancestral interaction with Apollo in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Olympians and in the Fourth and Fifth Pythians are all innovative accounts that showcase inherited excellence. Pindaric representations are thus polar opposites of fifthcentury depictions of Apolline prophecy as a catalyst in the chain of ancestral sin, inherited guilt, and punishment. In the epinicians Apolline prophecy serves as an authoritative illustration of inherited excellence with special emphasis on the most precious of gifts, wisdom. In all these instances Apollo emerges as a patron of the elite whom he favors and guides smoothly and unambiguously. Pindars stories of Apollo and his oracle, brilliant representations of aristocratic aspiration to exclusive club membership, are clearly unique. Comparison with contemporary or earlier depictions of Apolline prophecy sets in relief the uniqueness of Pindars representations.
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APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS: POETIC REPRESENTATIONS, POLITICS, AND IDEOLOGY* Lucia Athanassaki University of Crete

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

Stehle 160. Goldhill 155; see also 149.

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

For the colonial significance of this passage see Dougherty 105.

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

Calame 2003: 86. Donlan 7795. 84 Donlan 77.

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

APOLLO AND HIS ORACLE IN PINDARS EPINICIANS

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