Epistolarity in Pindar’s Olympian 12

Sean P. Northrup (North Broward Preparatory School)

Genre has not, for the most part, been clearly defined across the Pindaric corpus. Olympian 12 finds an odd home in the epinician genre. Ostensibly, the ode was composed to celebrate the victory of one Ergoteles in the long race at Olympia (and at the Pythian and Isthmian games as well). The only reference to this race, however, seems slight when compared to other epinicians, and incongruous with the general direction of the poem. Pindar’s mention of Ergoteles’ feet and the crown at Olympia are the only epinician features of the poem at all—or at least epinician features as they are historically understood. To begin with, like Pythian 3, it lacks so many of the traditional elements of the epinician. There is no real laudandus—there is, rather, a monendus—and Pindar can hardly be called a laudator in this poem. The central focus of the message of Olympian 12—that adversity can reap rewards unforeseen—is at heart a moral and not a laudatory one, though the laudatory aspect is not as significant in Pindar as some have supposed. Also, the mythological factor so prevalent in the epinicians remains only a brief allusion, and a faint one at that. Most notably, κλέος as no place whatsoever in Olympian 12 as it does in other epinicians.

Although the Olympian 12 stands out because of what it lacks in relation to other epinicians, it contains resonant echoes of epistolarity. That a letter could be written as a poem should not in itself be surprising; indeed, in this presentation I will suggest that epistolarity may be an important feature of the epinician style. In doing this, I will focus on generic features of epistolarity in the poem.

Imagery and diction likewise bear characteristics and references to epistolarity. The first word of the poem is λίσσομαι, a word often used in divine supplications. At the same time, however, the word also carries strong dialogic connotations. An emphasis on the dialogic aspect of this word can be found in Sappho 1 and also earlier in Homer.

Immediately after his dialogic invocation, Pindar inserts a metaphor that echoes the circumstances of letter-writing: “for it is you [Savior Fortune] who guides swift ships on the sea.” Why Pindar should move so quickly into a discussion of ships does not become apparent until a few lines later, when Pindar compares men’s hopes and thoughts ships traveling at sea, buffeted by storms and waves. Ships and seas form the imagery of travel and distance, imagery that can by nature be associated with letter-writing. It is almost as if Pindar uses this imagery deliberately to form a connection between the immediate images of travel and his moral message to Ergoteles.

If the Olympian12 is an early example of the epistolary genre, then it should be possible to examine recognized features of later examples of the genre and find them in Pindar. The first extant—and only surviving—treatise dealing with the epistolary genre comes from Demetrius of Phaleron. Though disparate in so many ways, the commonalities between the epistolary principles of Demetrius and certain aspects Olympian 12 further highlight its epistolarity.

Suggestions and possibilities of epistolarity ranging from diction to metaphor to content are strong enough to warrant at least further examination not only of epistolarity in Pindar but of the very nature of his so-called epinician odes.