Olympian 2
Background
Under Theron and his brother Xenocrates, Acragas, a Greek colony of Gela, was brought to the height of its glory.[1] The brothers were descended from the Emmenidae, who were descended from Cadmus.[1] They were allied to the rulers of Syracuse, Damareta, daughter of Theron, having successively married Gelon and his younger brother, Polyzelus, while Theron had already married a daughter of Polyzelus, and Hieron a daughter of Xenocrates.[1]
Theron became tyrant of Acragas about 488, and conquered Himera in 482.[1] The tyrant of Himera appealed to his son-in-law Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, who called in the aid of the Carthaginians, whom Theron and his son-in-law, Gelon of Syracuse, defeated at Himera in 480.[1] In 476 Theron won the chariot-race at Olympia, which is celebrated in this ode.[1] The date is recorded in the Oxyrhynchus papyrus.[2][1]
Summary
![](../I/Akragas_-_464-450_BC_-_silver_tetradrachm_-_eagle_-_crab_-_Berlin_MK_AM_18206066.jpg.webp)
The God, the hero, and the man, we celebrate, shall be Zeus, the lord of Pisa, Heracles, the founder of the Olympic games, and the victor Theron (1–6).[3] Theron's famous ancestors had settled and prospered in Sicily, and Zeus is prayed to continue their prosperity (6-15).[4] But prosperity leads to forgetfulness of troubles, as is proved by the family of Cadmus, from which Theron himself is descended (15–47).[4] He and his brother have an hereditary claim to victory in the Greek games (48–51). Victory gives release from trouble (51 f.).[4]
Glory may be won by wealth combined with virtue; while the unjust are punished, the just live in the Islands of the Blest, with Cadmus and Achilles (53–83).[4]
The poet is like an eagle, while his detractors are like crows, but their cavil cannot prevail against the poet's praise (83–88).[4] Theron is the greatest benefactor that Acragas has had for a hundred years; though his fame is attacked by envy, his bounties are as countless as the sand of the sea (89–100).[4]
References
- Sandys, ed. 1915, p. 16.
- Grenfell, ed. 1899, ii, p. 88.
- Sandys, ed. 1915, pp. 16–17.
- Sandys, ed. 1915, p. 17.
Sources
- Grenfell, Bernard P., ed. (1899). The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 88.
Attribution:
- Sandys, John, ed. (1915). The Odes of Pindar, including the Principal Fragments. Loeb Classical Library. New York: The Macmillan Co. pp. 16–29.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Further reading
- Gildersleeve, Basil L., ed. (1885). Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes. Harper's Classical Series. New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 140–54.
- Lewis, Virginia (2017). "Place and Identity in Pindar's Olympian 2". CHS Research Bulletin. 5 (2).
- "Pindar, Olympian 2". Perseus Digital Library.