Victor odes

Victory ode is a distinct form of poetry in ancient Greek, where poets are commissioned by victors or their family members to celebrate the their athletic victories, most notably the four-horse chariot race. Also known as Epinikia, victory odes contains some special features that other forms of poetry usually do not, where the poet can jump back and forth between a number of different topics. The common topics include the actual athletic event which the victor won, the mentioning of the the victory's family members, mythological tales that are often connected to the athlete geographically or characteristically, the conveying of morals and values, and the poet's awareness of the importance of himself. We are able to see some of those features from Pindar's Olympian 1 and Olympian 13.

Celebration of the actual victory:
Olympian 1, Ant.1:
recalling how beside the Alpheos he rushed,
giving his body's strength ungoaded to the race,
and so infused his lord with mastery,
the Syracusan king whose joy is horses.

Alpheos: the river on which Olympia was situated
his: Hieron, the victor
Pindar documents here Hieron's mastery in horse racing.


Olympian 13, Str.2:
Accept as well the crown which, by the custom of
victory revel, he brings here from Pisa's plains,
being victorious at one time in both
pentathlon and stade race, thus gaining
what never yet befell to mortal man before


Pisa's plains: from Olympia
Pindar celebrates the Xenophon's winning in two games at a time at Olympia, which is an unusual and unparalleled achievement at that time.


At the core of victory odes are the documentary of the victory, from which other topics such as mythological accounts and morals stem. Poets uses different references, such as Alpheos or Pisa's plains to refer to Olympia.

Mentioning of family members:
Olympian 13, Ep.2
but at Poseidon's games established between two seas
longer songs will attend on him, together with
his father Ptoidoros, and on Terpsias too, and Eritimos.

Ptoidoros, Terpsias, and Eritimos: Xenophon's family members
Since victory odes are commissioned by the victor or his family members, it is common for the poet to pay tribute to the family members by mentioning their names.

Related mythological references
Olympian 1, Ep.3

Thus he spoke, and the words that he laid hold of
were not without effect. Exalting him, the god
gave him a golden chariot and a team 
of tireless winged horses.

He took string Oinomaos down and took the
maiden as his bride...

the god: Poseidon

Pindar discussed extensively about the myth tale of Pelops in this poem. In the above piece Pindar talks about his winning of the chariot race against Oinomaons, king of Pisa, with the support from his lover Poseidon, and eventually won the Oinomaos' daughter. It is fitting to celebrate Pelops because he is regarded as the founder of the Olympic games, which Hieron competed at and won. In addition, both Pelops and Hieron are masters of chariot horse racing.

Olympian 13, Str.1
I shall come to know prosperous Corinth, foreporch
of Isthmian Poseidon, splendid for its youths.
For there dwell Good Order and 
her sisters, steady base of cities,
Justice and Peace her twin,
who deal out wealth to men,
the golden daughters of wise Themis.

Good Order, Justice and Peace: the three horai
Themis: personification for divine order and law

Pindar draws on mythological futures who are local to Xenophom, who comes from Corinth, which is appropriate.

Conveying morals
Olympian 13, Ep.4
About his fate I shall keep silent

his: Ballerophon's
fate: refers to Ballerophon's fate of being thrown off by Pegasos from the sky to the earth, crippled, when he is truing to fly up to Olympos and join the gods. Before that Ballerophon was a great hero who fought against the Amazons.

Pindar is being silent because he does not wish to explicitly state the moral here, possibly in order not to appear personal to the victor. However, audiences at that time would know what he is trying to convey--no matter how great one is, there are limitations as to what morals could achieve, and we must not try to achieve more than what we deserve.

Self-awareness
Olympian 1, Ep.4
I hope to honor a still sweeter victory
with a swift chariot, discovering
a path of words to lend assistance
as I approach the sunny hill of Kronos. Now for me
the Muse fosters in her reserves of force the mightiest
arrow...

Muse: gods of poetry and literature
arrow: a reference for the nimbleness of his poetic skills

Pindar is portraying the swiftness of his own poetic skills, which he believes is given by Muse, and thus is a talent than learned skill. By saying that he establishes his authority as a poet, which from a pragmatic stand point might be helpful in his future career to be commissioned.

Olympian 13, Str.3
I myself, sailing as a private citizen on a public mission
and singing of the craft of men born long ago
no less than of heroic deeds in warfare.

Pindar recognizes his responsibility as a poet to not just talk about warfare, but also to talk about "craft of men born long ago", or in other words, the mythological tales, which should be passed on in the community.