The Shelves · Lyric (melic) poetry

Odes (17 books in the Alexandrian edition)

Known · Attestedin Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Lyric (melic) poetry: “choral”

Conjecturedvery likely class

Pindar of Thebes

c. 518–438 BCE. The Theban poet of victory odes. Aristophanes of Byzantium edited his poems in seventeen books by genre; the four books of victory odes we read are that arrangement's survivors.

Odes

Opening words

Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ

Best is water

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in large part

The four books of victory odes survive; hymns, paeans, dithyrambs, maiden-songs and dirges survive in fragments.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Attested

Edited in Alexandria.

In the cupboard: edited, classified or commented on by the Library's scholars.

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III · In the show

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IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references
  • Vita Ambrosiana of Pindar
Modern scholarship (2)
  • W. H. Race, Pindar, 2 vols (Loeb Classical Library 56, 485; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997).
  • R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship from the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968)

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

ODES

Beside it in the cupboard