Myth, Locality, and Identity in Pindar''s Sicilian Odes

This book argues that Pindar engages in a striking, innovative style of mythmaking that represents and shapes Sicilian identities in his epinician odes for Sicilian victors in the fifth century BCE, and it contributes new insights into current debates on the relationship between myth and place in classical literature.

List of contents

• List of Figures


• Acknowledgments


• List of Editions and Abbreviations


• Introduction


• Chapter 1: Arriving in Syracuse: Arethusa and syracusan civic identity


• Chapter 2: Demeter and persephone: ancestral cult and Sicilian identity


• Chapter 3: Locating aitnaian identity in pindar's pythian 1


• Chapter 4: Fluid Identities: the river akragas and the shaping of akragantine identity in Olympian 2


• Chapter 5: Conclusions and test cases: Ergoteles of Himera and Psaumis of Kamarina


• Bibliography


• Subject Index


• Index Locorum

About the author

Virginia Lewis is an Assistant Professor of Classics at Florida State University.

Summary

This book argues that Pindar engages in a striking, innovative style of mythmaking that represents and shapes Sicilian identities in his epinician odes for Sicilian victors in the fifth century BCE, and it contributes new insights into current debates on the relationship between myth and place in classical literature.

Additional text

Every page contains an original insight into Pindar's poetry, or the politics of Greek Sicily, or the nature of Greek ritual and myth, or the formation of group identities, making it required reading for scholars in any of these fields.

Product details

• Authors: Lewis , Virginia Lewis, Virginia M. Lewis, Virginia M. (Assistant Professor of Classic Lewis, Lewis Virginia M.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9780190910310
• ISBN: 978-0-19-091031-0
• No. of pages: 312
• Series: Greeks Overseas
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Classical linguistics / literary studies; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, RELIGION / Ancient, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General, Classical texts, Folklore, myths & legends, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Ancient religions & mythologies, Ancient, classical and medieval texts, Ancient religions and Mythologies, Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology)