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Pindar and the Epic Cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2018

Henry Spelman*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge*

Abstract

This article argues that Pindar refers to cyclic Trojan epics as fixed poems known to his audiences and discusses why this matters for our understanding of his poetry. Section I claims that Isthmian 4 alludes to the Aethiopis as the work of Homer. Section II examines how Nemean 10 closely engages with the Cypria. Section III argues that Nemean 6 and Isthmian 8 signal an intertextual engagement with the Aethiopis and the Cypria. A conclusion assesses how far we can extrapolate from the preceding arguments to generalize about Pindar's relationship to Trojan epic and then suggests one particular way in which recognizing allusions to lost epic can enrich our understanding of his preserved lyric.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2018 

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Footnotes

*

hls58@cam.ac.uk. For comments and discussion I am most grateful to Felix Budelmann, Patrick Finglass, Renaud Gagné, Richard Hunter, Gregory Hutchinson, Adrian Kelly, Felix Meister, Lucia Prauscello, Enrico Prodi, William H. Race, Patricia Rosenmeyer and the late Martin West.