Book contents
- Pindar and Greek Religion
- Pindar and Greek Religion
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Editions, Abbreviations, and Frequent References
- Chapter 1 Pindar Mythologus and Theologus
- Chapter 2 Herakles Looks Back at the World
- Chapter 3 The Dioskouroi in Existential Crisis
- Chapter 4 Exaltation at Akragas: Herakles, the Dioskouroi, and Theron
- Chapter 5 The Isolation of Amphiaraos
- Chapter 6 Asklepios and the Limits of the Possible
- Chapter 7 An Invitation
- References
- Subject Index
- Index Locorum
Chapter 4 - Exaltation at Akragas: Herakles, the Dioskouroi, and Theron
(Olympian 3)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 November 2022
- Pindar and Greek Religion
- Pindar and Greek Religion
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Editions, Abbreviations, and Frequent References
- Chapter 1 Pindar Mythologus and Theologus
- Chapter 2 Herakles Looks Back at the World
- Chapter 3 The Dioskouroi in Existential Crisis
- Chapter 4 Exaltation at Akragas: Herakles, the Dioskouroi, and Theron
- Chapter 5 The Isolation of Amphiaraos
- Chapter 6 Asklepios and the Limits of the Possible
- Chapter 7 An Invitation
- References
- Subject Index
- Index Locorum
Summary
“Exaltation at Akragas: Herakles, the Dioskouroi, and Theron,” argues that in Olympian 3 Pindar’s theological modeling brings Herakles and the Dioskouroi together with the victor, Theron, tyrant of Akragas, ininto an intricate network of divine and mortal relationships. Theron’s place within this network, as established and celebrated by the ode, praises him for his exceptional privilege and his corresponding achievement in bathing his city in piety and exaltation. This is a differently flavored theology of mortality, cut to the needs of one of the most powerful men of the Greek world, but it ultimately articulates the same distinction between Theron’s mortality and the immortality of his patrons that is modeled elsewhere in the epinician corpus by demonstrating that his privileged closeness to Herakles and the Dioskouroi is only exceptional, and thus meaningful, in light of his mortality.
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- Pindar and Greek ReligionTheologies of Mortality in the Victory Odes, pp. 116 - 151Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022