Pindar. First Nemean Ode

Abstract

First Nemean Ode is dedicated to Chromios, guardian of Deinomenes (son of Hieron I, tyrant of Syracuse in 478–467/466 BC) and de facto ruler of Aetna, a new colony founded by Hieron. In the First Nemean, Chromios entertains the poet on the island of Ortygia, the most ancient part of Syracuse. Pindar suggests that toilsome effort on part of a mortal (when the gods endorse this effort) leads to lasting glory. The poet's task resembles that of a sculptor: both cement the glory of the winner and perpetuate the memory of his victory. Pindar parallels and enhances the athletic triumph of Chromios by introducing the myth of the newly-born Heracles, who strangles the snakes sent by Hera. Through the prophecy of Tiresias we learn that Heracles, like Chromios, will be amply rewarded for his toils: the hero will be granted immortality and the goddess of youth as his wife. In the epinician, the poet projects himself as an intermediary between Syracuse and the rest of the Greek world; the array of mythical and topographic references goes beyond the Peloponnesian river god Alpheus and nymph Arethusa (both associated with Ortygia) to Delos, Thebes and the Phlegrean Fields. The new translation presented here is an attempt to convey scrupulously the poem's lexical components and its striking imagery, as well as to trace Pindar's convoluted lyrical thought.