Blog Post 4 - Analysis of Bacchylides' Ode 13

-The opening lines indicate for whom this victory ode has been commissioned. They provide the name of the victor, his familial relations, his homeland, and his specific accomplishment. In this case, Pytheas—the son of Lampon from Aigina—won the pankration, which was a combination of wrestling and boxing.

[Ant. 2]

-The speaker of these lines may be Nemea, the nymph of the game site, but it is uncertain.

-Perseus’ descendent is Herakles.

-This describes the first of Herakles’ twelve labors, which was to kill a lion that was terrorizing Nemea.

-Herakles killed the lion with his bare hands; this mythical event was apparently the inspiration for the pankration—a wrestling-boxing hybrid that had very few limitations on the severity of the attacks between the opponents. Bacchylides thus suggests that Herakles’ defeat of the “savage” lion with his mere physical strength is comparable to the violent intensity of the pankration.

-This also indicates that the pankration was a part of the Nemean games, one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece.

[Ep. 2]

-This addresses the glory obtained by the victors of the pankration, while also offering respect for Zeus.

-This suggests it is a significant honor to win the pankration, as only “a few men throughout their lifetimes” achieve this “golden fame”. Even after a victor dies, his fame and glory live on. This assertion implies the power of poetry to immortalize the legacy of a victor.

[Str. 3]

-Bacchylides addresses Pytheas (“son of Lampon”) and says that he is one of the few who has achieved this glory by winning the pankration, implying that he too will have this lasting fame.

-He then begins his address to Aigina, the nymph of Pytheas’ homeland

[Ant. 3]
-Bacchylides says that Zeus (“son of Kronos”) has honored Aigina with this victory, and that praises are sung for her “by many a high-vaunting girl”.

[Ep. 3]

-This continues the address to Aigina by celebrating victors of her own lineage.

-“Your son” refers to Aiakos, the son of Aigina and Zeus.

-Endeis is Aiakos’ wife and mother of Peleus and Telamon—who are described as “godlike” and a “warrior”, indicating that these are more victors of Aigina’s lineage.

[Str. 4]

-Eriboia is Telamon’s wife, and her “high-spirited son” is Ajax. Bacchylides also introduces Achilles in this section.

-This begins the central narrative within the victory ode, which involves an event from the Trojan War.

-The first scene of this narrative is that of Ajax defending the Greek ships as Hektor (a Trojan) set out to destroy them.

-Peleus’ son is Achilles. This describes his “harsh anger” directed towards Agamemnon after Agamemnon stole Briseis, a young woman he had been awarded as a war prize.

[Ant. 4]

-The Dardanians are the Trojans.

-Ilion is another name for Troy.

-Nereid’s son is Achilles.

-Bacchylides says that Achilles’ anger “set[s] the Dardanians free from their woes” because the typically savage warrior refused to “take part in warfare” due to his rage.

-The Trojans had previously remained within the walls of Troy until Achilles’ withdrawal from battle.

[Ep. 4]

-This compares the sudden hope and courage of the Trojans as the shift from fear to joy and hope that men experience at sea when the darkness of night is broken by the dawn and they can confidently head towards land.

[Str. 5]

-Laomedon is the king of Troy who requested Poseidon and Apollo to build the walls of Troy.

-The Trojans had new courage upon learning that Achilles refused to battle out of spite for Agamemnon’s taking of Briseis.

-The Trojans “stretched their hands up to the gods”, implying a gratefulness to the divinities for this turn of events, and left Troy’s walls for the first time to battle the Greeks.

[Ant. 5]

-The Danaans are the Greeks.

-Acknowledgment is given to Ares and Apollo, the gods who helped encourage the Trojans to fight.

-The Trojans fought the Greeks “beside the ships’ fair sterns”, killing many men.

[Ep. 5]

-Skamandros is the main river in Troy.

-“But they were destined before then to make Skamandros’ eddying waters crimson…” implies that the Trojans will not be successful, and the Greeks will slaughter many of them in this battle.

[Str. 6]

-“Aiakos’ descendants” refers specifically to Achilles, who will apparently take the lives of many Trojans.

[Ant. 6]

-Bacchylides discusses the glory of “Excellence” (a deity), who “does honor to the glory-laden island of Aiakos”, implying that she will help the Greeks succeed.

[Ep. 6]

-Alpheos’ stream refers to Olympia, the site of the Olympic games.

-This ends the inner narrative and brings it back to Pytheas’ personal victory.

-Bacchylides says to not only honor Pytheas, but also Menandros, the man who trained him. Menandros apparently lead many athletes to victory in all of the Panhellenic Games.

-He also addresses the credit due to Athena, who gave Menandros honor.

[Str. 7]

-Bacchylides addresses the importance of giving respect and praise where it is due. Only those who are “overmastered by envy and its reckless speech” would refuse to praise such a “man of skill” as Menandros.

-He also says that those who refuse to give praise where it is due will “dwindle and fade away from sight”. This creates a contrast between the eternal fame that poetry gives to the people it celebrates; those who refuse to acknowledge of the glory of others will leave no legacy.

[Ant. 7]

-Though lines are missing, it is clear that Bacchylides is giving credit to the Muses for assistance in writing this ode.

[Ep. 7]

-Kleio is a Muse.

-Bacchylides once again discusses the legacy that will be left by his poem. He addresses Pytheas’ father, Lampon, who commissioned this victory ode; he says that he hopes Lampon will “look with favor on [his] gift”, which was “no slight one”, again indicating the significant power he holds as a poet to immortalize a victor.

-He gives credit to Kelio, a Muse, for allowing him to write the poem.

-Bacchylides says that if he was successful in writing the ode (which he clearly was), Pytheas will be famous to everyone.

            This poem contains structural components characteristic of all victory odes. It begins by mentioning the name, familial relations, homeland, and accomplishment of the victor for whom the poem has been commissioned. It also attributes credit to the gods for the victory and invokes the Muses in order to write the poem. There is also a narrative within the ode that follows a ring structure, looping through certain themes—an advanced element sometimes included in victory odes. The progression of this circular narrative is as follows: Ajax defends the Greek ships against the Trojans; Achilles withdraws from battle in anger and thereby gives hope to the Trojans; the Trojans had, until this point, remained within the walls of their city; however, they decide to go on the offensive since Achilles withdrew from battle; and finally, they attack the Greek ships that Ajax is defending. Bacchylides implies the failure of the Trojans and the slaughter that results from their attack in lines 164-165, where he says, “But they were destined before then to make // Skamandros’ eddying waters crimson”. This suggests that Ajax was successful in defending his people’s ships. This story is thus relevant to the pankration due to the courage displayed by Ajax and the violence he must have used in order to achieve success in this battle; since the pankration was such a violent sport, similar courage and strength must have been exerted by Pytheas.

            Throughout the ode, there are also mentions of the poet’s ability to provide the victor with an immortal sense of glory, and Bacchylides warns that those who withhold praise when it is earned will have the opposite fate of fading from relevance. It is also interesting that Bacchylides addresses the glory owed to Menandros for training Pytheas, as this suggests that those who help someone achieve glory (be they an athletic trainer, the gods, or perhaps even the poet who is immortalizing him in song) also deserve honor.

Sources:
Greek Lyric

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/pankration.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemean_Games