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Chapter 6 - Asklepios and the Limits of the Possible

(Pythian 3)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Hanne Eisenfeld
Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts
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Summary

“Asklepios and the Limits of the Possible,” interrogates Asklepios’ presence in Pythian 3 through the lens of interwoven generic frameworks, arguing that these function as a critical lens for the depiction of Asklepios’ changing cultic status and its activation within Pindar’s theological project. I focus on the ode’s extended Asklepian myths, arguing that they that they alternate between depicting Asklepios as an embodiment of failed human overreach and failure and as a superhuman healer by oscillating between the structures of negative epinician exemplum and cult hymn. These interwoven Asklepian identities require the ode’s recipient, an ailing Hieron of Syracuse, to understand his own aspirations and limitations in light of Asklepios’ identities, divided into mortal and immortal strands by Pindar’s modeling. The ode encourages Hieron, as mortal worshipper, to seek Asklepios’ healing, while himself aspiring, as epinician victor, to immortality in song.

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Pindar and Greek Religion
Theologies of Mortality in the Victory Odes
, pp. 200 - 239
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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