Isthmean
Thebes
P
Pindar
Pindar
c. 518 BCE–c. 438 BCE · Thebes
Pindar (c. 518 - c. 438 BCE) was the most celebrated Greek lyric poet, born near Thebes. He is best known for his victory odes, choral songs composed to honor winners at the great athletic festivals such as the Olympic Games. Written in a grand, densely allusive style that weaves together myth, praise, and moral reflection, his poems are among the finest achievements of early Greek lyric and our richest source for that genre.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→
✦
Stop 1 of 1
ThebesBoeotia
We know they were here, but the specifics of what they did at this stop aren’t recorded yet in our corpus.
About Thebes
Thebes, today the town of Thiva, is the chief city of Boeotia in central Greece and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities. In Greek myth it is linked with Cadmus and is the setting of the stories of Oedipus and the Seven against Thebes. Historically it was the birthplace of the lyric poet Pindar and of the Cynic philosopher Crates, teacher of Zeno of Citium. After defeating Sparta at Leuctra in 371 BCE it briefly dominated Greece, until Alexander the Great destroyed it in 335 BCE; it was rebuilt and in Byzantine times became a centre of silk production. Christian tradition places the tomb of Luke the Evangelist there, in the church that bears his name.
The world in their lifetime
✦
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Pindar’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.