Where are the losers in Greek epinician poetry?

Simon P. Burris (Baylor University)

In Simonides fr. 507 one Crius—“ram” in Greek—is said to have “got himself fleeced” (ἐπέξατο) upon entering the precinct of Zeus, i.e. he lost at either Olympia or Nemea (Page 141). While the use of Crius’ name is interesting for its humor, much more interesting is the fact that it occurs at all in this context. Defeated athletic opponents of laudandi are never named in the extant epinician odes of Pindar and Bacchylides, a lack that may, perhaps, be explained as due to differences in tone between individual authors (e.g., Bowra 312-314, Lesky 186), or to a broader development of “epinician etiquette” over time (Nagy 1990, 393n62). Whatever the reason, by omitting the names of losers, Pindar and Bacchylides appear to give up a potentially useful rhetorical device. By naming Crius, Simonides establishes him as a foil for his laudandus, and furthermore suggests a parallel with Homeric epic, where a hero’s kleos is often bound to the identity of his defeated opponent (Cf. Nagy’s discussion [1999, 28-29] of Hector’s challenge to the Achaeans in Iliad 7.87-91).

In this paper I shall argue that certain features in the epinician odes of Pindar and Bacchylides compensate for the lack of named athletic opponents. Sometimes this compensation appears in the form of a generalized opponent, as when victors are said to have defeated “the Greek host” (P.11.50, cf. P.12.6, N.10.25, I.4.29, Bacch. 10.20). Sometimes the compensation is achieved by means of a substitution. Pindar’s mythological analogues to the athletic victor routinely defeat named and thoroughly characterized victims (e.g. Achilles vs. Memnon in N.3.62-63, Achilles vs. Trojans in I.8.64-65). These mythological victims stand in for the defeated opponents of the laudandus, and thus provide increased prestige to the athletic victory celebrated in the ode. Finally, I suggest that the games themselves may function as “losers” in epinician rhetoric, their emphatic naming and foundation narratives being analogous to the names and biographies of slain opponents in Homer.

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Lesky, Albin. A History of Greek Literature. Translated by James Willis and Cornelis de Heer. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1996.

Nagy, Gregory. The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Rev. ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

———. Pindar's Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

Nicholson, Nigel James. Athletics and Aristocracy in Archaic and Classical Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Page, D. L. “Simonidea.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 71 (1951) 133-142.