Pindar, Greek Pindaros c.518-c.438BC
Greek lyric poet

Born near Thebes, Boeotia, he began his career as a composer of choral odes at 20 with a song of victory still extant (Pyth. X, written 498BC). He composed odes for the tyrants of Syracuse and Macedonia, as well as for the free cities of Greece. He wrote hymns to the gods, paeans, dithyrambs, odes for processions, mimic dancing songs, convivial songs, dirges, and odes in praise of princes. Of all these poems only fragments are extant, but his Epinikia ('Triumphal Odes') can be read in their entirety. They are divided into four books, celebrating the victories in the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian games.

Bibliography: C M Bowra, Pindar (1964)