9. The Authority of Historiā and the Sign of the Hero §1. The juridical aspect of Herodotean narrative—that it can establish who is aitios ‘responsible’ for the ultimate struggle between Hellenes and Persians—is articulated already in the prooemium of the Histories, in that the purpose of the entire narrative is said to be an inquiry into the aitiā ‘cause’ of that struggle. [1]… Read more
10. The Charms of Tyranny: Pindar and Herodotus II §1. The paradigm of the tyrant in Herodotus is clearly a negative concept, serving as a foil for the moral message of historiā. Yet in the case of the archetypal tyrant figure, Croesus the Lydian, the perspective is not exclusively negative. There are positive sides to the traditional concept of Croesus the Tyrant, and the balancing of his… Read more
11. The Ainos as Song or Speech: Pindar and Herodotus III §1. On the level of content, we have seen some striking similarities between Pindaric song and Herodotean prose in conveying a moral message about the realities of wealth, power, and prestige. The actual tradition of such a moral message can be summed up in one word, ainos, a premier term of self-reference in the epinician medium… Read more
12. Authority and Authorship in the Lyric Tradition §1. Having compared the authority of Pindar’s traditions in song with the authority of traditions in poetry and prose, we are ready to consider the actual medium of Pindaric song as a key to understanding the concept of authorship in lyric poetry. So far we have concentrated on the epinician tradition represented by Pindar. But now we must situate… Read more
13. The Genesis of Athenian State Theater and the Survival of Pindar’s Poetry §1. In the roughly defined chronological span of 650 to 450 B.C. covering the era of the nine canonical lyric poets, [1] Pindar is not only the latest but also the best known for what we have been calling occasional poetry and song. Close behind him are his near… Read more
Bibliography Abu-Lughod, L. 1986. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Adelman, J. 1978. “‘Anger’s My Meat’: Feeding Dependency and Aggression in Coriolanus.” In D. Bevington and J. L. Halio 1978: 108-24. Adkins, A. W. H. 1960. Merit and Responsibility. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. … Read more
Published in 1990 by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Copyright, Johns Hopkins University Press. Also available online via Johns Hopkins University Press here. Read more
Acknowledgments This book stems from the Mary Flexner Lectures in the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College, which I delivered in the autumn of 1982. I am grateful to Bryn Mawr College for the invitation and for the allocation of a generous subsidy that has helped make this book more affordable. I offer my thanks to Mary Patterson McPherson, President of Bryn Mawr, to Judith Shapiro, the… Read more
Abbreviations The following abbreviations identify works frequently cited in the notes: CEG See Hansen 1983 DELG See Chantraine 1968+ DK See Diels and Kranz 1951-1952 EG See Page 1975 FGH See Jacoby 1923+ GP, GP II… Read more
Introduction: A Word on Assumptions, Methods, and Aims §1. This effort is a continuation of two earlier books. One of these, The Best of the Achaeans, [1] centered on the role of oral tradition in early Greek achievements of poetic artistry and precision of expression, with Homer in the forefront. The task was difficult, in that I was challenging two influential stances… Read more
