The Mind Is Its Own Place: Pindar, Olympian 1.57f

According to some Hittite sources of the Late Bronze Age, Piyamaradu was an Anatolian enemy of the powerful kings of Hatti named Muwatalli II and Hattusili III. Allied with the Ahhiyawa or Achaeans from Greece, who were settled in the city of Milawata or Miletus, the activities of Piyamaradu (against the vassals of the Hittite empire) involved the land of Wilusa or Troad, the island of Lazpa or Lesbos and other areas in western Anatolia. When Piyamaradu rebelled against the Hittites, one of his daughters was married to the Achaean ruler of Miletus, whose name was Atpa. This means that Piyamaradu was probably over 40 years old and that he also could have an adult son at that time. The so-called Tawakalawa Letter, surely written by King Hattusili III, recorded that Piyamaradu suffered a great defeat and then he fled from a Hittite army refuging in the land of Ahhiyawa with his wife and sons, although he continued to attack the vassal kingdoms of Hatti from that Hellenic land (at least during some time). Now, according to Greek legendary tradition the Lydian Tantalus had been a very rich and powerful man until he was punished by the gods with a military defeat (against the king Ilus of Troy) and later with an eternal torment in the underworld, where he was always hungry and thirsty but he could not reach the fruits and water that were very close to him. This terrible punishment, narrated by Homer in the Odyssey (XI, 583-593), may be expressed in the Indoeuropean anthroponym Tantalus, which must have been a byname (rather than a real name) meaning ‘tempted’ or ‘tantalised’; or perhaps this byname is related to a Lydian ancient city called Tantalis and later Sipylus, which was mentioned by Pliny the Elder (N.H. II, 93). The legendary Tantalus was certainly related to the mountainous region of Sipylus, in Lydia, but also with the land of Paphlagonia, in northern Anatolia, which appears to have been ruled by Tantalus or by his son Pelops, and even with ‘Phrygia’ (the valley of the Sangarius River). Tantalus was buried in the region of Sipylus, his homeland, but Pelops fled from Asia Minor and he finally settled in the Elean city of Pisa, after marrying the Hellenic princess Hippodamia. Pelops gave his name to the Peloponnesus, and the kings of the Atrid dynasty, in Mycenae, were considered the main descendants of Pelops and Tantalus. A daughter of Tantalus, called Niobe, also settled in Greece because she married Amphion, king of Thebes, but she finally returned to western Anatolia.

2021

The weight of the human condition looms heavily over the Greek Lyric tradition, as it admittedly does over Greek poetry as a whole. Already in Homer we can observe a constant preoccupation with mortality, the burden of which all Homeric heroes-most notably Achilles-are struggling to bear. 2 In Homer's world of heroes, this burden is arguably heavier than that of the common man. Divine descent in conjunction with the evident excellence in terms of beauty, strength and intellect of the heroes, raise the stakes regarding their inevitable descent to Hades, the common lot of humanity. Achilles's famous exhortation in Book 9 of the Iliad (318-20), that an "equal fate" awaits all men, be they worthy or bad makes the point clear: this nihilistic view might just be a faint attempt by Achilles to 'dismiss' the concept of heroism, and with it the embassy sent to him by the Achaeans, but it nevertheless alludes to the inescapability of death as the most important concern of man and one that overshadows all other endeavours, despite what Homer and the epic tradition would like us to believe. Achilles's nihilistic view comes of course as no surprise. In fact, the Iliad shows no shortage of similar views expressed by several heroes. 3 A similar pessimism also applies to the Odyssey, where the shadow of death looms heavily over the events of the poem, crowned by Odysseus's very journey to the land of the dead where a large part of the epic past is revisited through the shades' reflection on their own epic storylines. I have shown elsewhere that this reflection allows for a revaluation of that very past through the pessimistic perspective of the human's (and hero's) mortal nature, but suffice it to say here that it is through this perspective of the dead heroes and heroines of the past that the tragic fate of mankind and by extension man's constant concern with death, is amply demonstrated. 4 Greek Lyric naturally inherits that pessimism. Yet its appropriation comes with certain challenges due to the fact that Lyric poets are often concerned for the fate of the common man, 1 This paper is a revised version of G. A. Gazis (forthcoming) 'What is your lot? Lyric pessimism and Pindar's afterlife'. G. A. Gazis is an Assistant Professor of Greek Literature at the Department of Classics and Ancient History. His main interests lie in the study of Archaic Greek Epic and Lyric poetry with a particular focus on the afterlife beliefs and descriptions portrayed therein. His publications include Homer and the Poetics of Hades,

Mnemosyne

Classical Quarterly, 2013

Among the most characteristic motifs in Greek mythology is the sexual union of a god with a mortal woman and the resultant birth of a hero. The existence of hexameter poetry listing the women thus favouredthe famous women in the underworld in the eleventh book of the Odyssey, and above all the Eoiaiis evidence of an interest in the women involved, not only in their heroic sons, and suggests that already at an early date the theme was the object not merely of passive reception but of an active consciousness. The Eoiai, indeed, saw such unions as an integral part of an earlier and better age, when mortals and immortals were closer: ξυναὶ γὰρ τότε δαῖτες ἔσαν, ξυνοὶ δὲ θόωκοι ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν καταθνητοῖς τ' ἀνθρώπων (fr. 1 Μ-W)

Paths of Song: The Lyric Dimension of Greek Tragedy, eds. R. Andújar, T. Coward, and T. Hadjimichael, 2018

Pindar at Colonus: AS ophoclean Response to Olympians 2a nd 3

Dionysus ex machina, 2021

The relationship between katabasis and memory is represented by the myth of Pirithous in Hades, as suggested by "Pirithous" attributed to Critias. The meeting between Pirithous, seated on the throne of Oblivion, and Heracles takes the form of a dialogue regarding the Lapith’s inability to see and hear. Pirithous’ effort to recover his faculties allows to dispel the mist that separates him from the world, until the recognition through memory. Through a philological analysis, my purpose has been to show how the tragedian stages the theme of memory. Afterwards, I’ve reflected upon the anthropological significance of Pirithous’ seated position.

Etica & Politica / Ethics & Politics, 2019

The paper focuses on Plato´s concept of punishment from the perspective of the eschatological myths in the Gorgias, the Phaedo and the Republic. The fundamental message of all three mythical accounts is found in the attempt to visualize the unseen life of the soul, with special attention to the conditions of its proper activity. The special issue of its rewards and punishments is not restricted to the afterlife experience of the soul but is primarily related to the here-and-now perspective of the incarnated life. Instead of the consequentialist vision of a post mortem destiny punishing past wrongdoing, the proposed interpretation stresses the actual concern with our present situation. Given the intrinsic value of virtue (and the corresponding badness of vice), the Platonic images of the afterlife could be read as an intensification of human experience during this life. Closely related topics – the process of judgement and the method and effect of punishment – are outlined in further detail. Here, the paper points out Plato´s transformative approach to the function of punishment. Against the background of the contemporary Athenian legal system, Plato offers a philosophic alternative of cultivating the soul through the power of dialectical examination and Socratic elenchos.

Mnemosyne 64 (2011) 299-301

American Journal of Philology, 1993

Pindar's Seventh Olympian Ode celebrates the Olympic boxing victory in 464 won by Diagoras of the Rhodian family of the Eratidai.1 Just as appropriately, however, the poem can be described as a brilliant hymn to Rhodes. Pindar himself, as early as the conclusion of the proem (13-14), declares that his purpose is to honor the island and, in one of his closing statements (93-94), insists on the interaction between oikos and polis: in particular that the polis will share in the festivities honoring the oikos.2 The exaltation of the victor appears to set off the central mythic panel, which constitutes a proud encomium of the island state of Rhodes.3 It is my intention here to explore and substantiate this claim, which, let it be said in advance, is also supported by the fate of the poem as an artifact of public importance. As ancient testimony informs us (Gorgon FGrHist 515 F 18), the ode was dedicated in golden letters at Athena's temple at Lindos.4 The mythic section of the ode falls into three parts, which are narrated in reverse chronological order. First is the story of the Tirynthian Tlepolemos, who killed his grand-uncle and, at the instigation of Apollo, fled to Rhodes (20-34). Second comes the birth of Athena, the fireless sacrifice offered to her by the Rhodians who failed to heed Helios' instructions, and their subsequent reward (34-53). And third, I For the text of Pindar I use Snell and Maehler, for the scholia Drachmann. 2For other instances of the whole polis sharing in the komos see 01. 11.15-20, Nem. 2.24, 3.1-5. On the conventional character of the transition from victor to polis see Bundy, Studia 20-22, 81-93. On the intricacies of this relationship between praise of victor and praise of polis see Kurke, Oikonomia 125-92. 3 For the epinician itself as bridging the gap between the victor and the polis see Crotty, Song, and Burnett, Bacchylides 50 and 175 n. 6. 4Cited in the scholia (Drachmann I 195). On this dedication as a public gesture, an act of public sharing and display, see Nagy, Pindar's Homer 162, 174-75.