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PINDAR AND AEGINETAN VIRTUES: NATURALIZING MONEY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2020
Extract
Pindar's odes for Aeginetan victors revolve around two major Aeginetan virtues: inborn excellence (phya) and generous guest-friendship (xenia). The latter virtue is, of course, one of the most pervasive themes in Pindar's poetry, in which the poet's relationship with his patrons is presented in terms of guest-friendship, with the odes themselves as the poet's gift to his guest-friends. As for the former virtue, the Aeginetans’ inborn excellence is implicit in the mythic section of almost all Aeginetan odes, which focuses on the line of Aiakos, the progenitor of two of the greatest Greek heroes, Achilles and Ajax. In view of this almost exclusive emphasis, one might be forgiven for assuming that the Aiakidai were the mythical progenitors of the Aeginetans. However, this is simply not true, as Pindar himself was fully aware: in fact, the Aeginetans were a Doric tribe whose ancestry was no more remarkable than that of other Doric cities; at best, they could claim the Aiakidai as their ancestors only metaphorically.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Greece & Rome , Volume 67 , Special Issue 1: Aristocracy and Monetization , April 2020 , pp. 28 - 42
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Classical Association 2020
Footnotes
An earlier version of this article was presented as part of the ‘Aristocracy and Monetization’ panel at the Classical Association Conference, Leicester, 6–9 April 2018. I am very grateful to Professors Richard Seaford and Vaios Liapis for their valuable comments, suggestions, and guidance.
References
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23 Burnett (n. 3), 84.
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27 Ibid., 160–1. Kurke (n. 8), 19, esp. n. 14, finds thirty-seven passages in which athletic victory is presented as a hereditary achievement which increases the symbolic capital of the oikos, and twenty-eight in which the achievement is attributed only to the victor. One obvious problem here is that some odes belong in both categories (e.g. Ol. 7; Isthm. 8; etc.). In addition, Kurke includes the case of Arkesilas of Cyrene (Pyth. 4 and Pyth. 5) in the second category, although Pindar makes a strong connection between Arkesilas and the mythic founder of Cyrene.
28 I note thirteen odes in which Pindar includes in his praise the victor's relatives (apart from his father): Ol. 7, 8, 13; Pyth. 6, 8; Nem. 4, 6, 10; Isthm. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8.
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31 There are only two exceptions to this: Pyth. 1.65 refers to the re-founded city of Aitna, and Isthm. 7.10 refers to a Theban athlete.
32 The dolphin simile is reminiscent of the unusual simile for Melesias in Nem. 6.64–6. Nicholson, N. J., Aristocracy and Athletics in Archaic and Classical Greece (Cambridge, 2005), 152–3Google Scholar, points out that the dolphin was a symbol of the aristocracy of Aegina. Furthermore, the local athletic festival was called ‘Delphinia’.
33 Burnett (n. 3), 61 n. 2, suggests that Lampon is the son of Kleonikos (Isthm. 6.16), who is mentioned by Herodotus (9.78.1) as the most important individual from Aegina who fought in Plataia.
34 I follow Burnett's suggestion (Burnett [n. 3], 61) that Pytheas’ uncle competed with him at Nemea. For a different view, see Pfeijffer, I. ‘Pindar's Eighth Pythian: The Relevance of the Historical Setting’, Hermes 123 (1995), 318–22Google Scholar.
35 Isthmian 6 is the second of the odes commissioned by Lampon, probably three years after Nem. 5. It is dated to 480 bc as there is no mention of the battle of Salamis (contr. Isthm. 5.49). See Burnett (n. 3), 81 n. 1; Nicholson (n. 32), 255–6 n. 1; Indergaard (n. 20), 295.
36 My analysis of this passage is indebted to Nicholson (n. 32), 170–5.
37 Ibid., 171–2.
38 D'Alessio, G. B., ‘Ordered from the Catalogue: Pindar, Bacchylides, and Hesiodic Genealogical Poetry’, in Hunter, R. (ed.), The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. Constructions and Reconstructions (Cambridge, 2005), 231Google Scholar.
39 The reference is to Works and Days 412: μελέτη δέ τοι ἔργον ὀφέλλει (‘care/industry is good for work’).
40 Burnett (n. 3), 92–3, esp. n. 1.
41 It is implied that the brothers won a victory each at Nemea (Σ. Isthm. 5.18a–21a). On the question whether Phylakidas’ second Nemean victory is an exaggeration or an accurate reflection of his achievements, see Cole, T., ‘1 + 1 = 3: Studies in Pindar's Arithmetic’, AJPh 108 (1987), 559Google Scholar. The latter possibility is suggested by Isthm. 6.1–7, 57–66.
42 The reference to Aiakos possibly indicates that the ode was first performed near Aiakos’ ἡρῷον (‘cult’). See Steiner, D. T., ‘Pindar's Ogetti Parlanti’, HSCPh 95 (1993), 163Google Scholar; Pfeijffer, I.Three Aeginetan Odes of Pindar. A Commentary on Nemean V, Nemean III & Pythian VIII (Leiden, 1999), 193CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pavlou, M. ‘Fathers in absentia in Pindar's Epinician Poetry’, GRBS 52 (2010), 6Google Scholar.
43 Likewise, in Nem. 7.82–5 (a passage full of phya-related words), Aegina is personified as a mother who bequeaths divine blood to her descendants after she receives the seed of Zeus.
44 It should be noted, however, that the meaning of εὔανδρον is not straightforward. Race (n. 10) translates it as ‘of brave men’. The context suggests that there is more to the semantics of the word than this. In the myth that follows, Peleus shows himself to be pious (31–4), respectful towards aristocratic codes, such as hospitality (ξεινίου πατρός; 33), and a man whom it is difficult to deceive, in contrast to Akastos (27–30).
45 Bourdieu, P., Outline of a Theory of Practice, trans. Nice, R. (Cambridge, 1977), 180CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
46 Ibid., 183.
47 See also V. Liapis, ‘Payback Time: Metamorphoses of Debt and Commodity in Pindar's Olympian 10’, in this issue.
48 Bourdieu (n. 45) 171–83 (quotations from pp. 171, 172, emphasis in original).
49 On short- and long-term transactional orders see further Liapis (n. 47).