Pindar: Olympian and Pythian Odes

Abstract

Basil L. Gildersleeve (1831–1924) was an American classicist who spent much of his career at Johns Hopkins University. This is his influential 1895 edition of Pindar's Olympian and Pythian Odes, a body of work notable for its insights into lyric poetry and modes of self-understanding. Gildersleeve's remarkable introductory essay outlines Pindar's lineage, patriotism, and poetic development, as well as his poetic themes and structures. It focuses particularly on Pindar's new approach to old themes, his view of government and the human condition, and his role as a conveyer of Greek ethics. The poems are presented in the original Greek, followed by extensive notes that gloss the historical specificities and grammatical structures. Gildersleeve's index highlights major characters, battles, forms and metaphors. Although the scholarly analysis later in the book is very thorough, Gilderdale's introduction itself is accessible to anybody interested in ancient Greek poetry.

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