The ''epinikion'' or ''epinicion'' (: ''epinikia'' or ''epinicia'',

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, from ''epi-'', "on", + '' nikê'', "victory") is a

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

of occasional poetry also known in English as a victory

ode An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...

. In

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, the ''epinikion'' most often took the form of a choral lyric, commissioned for and performed at the celebration of an athletic victory in the

Panhellenic Games Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate religious festivals held in ancient Greece that became especially well known for the athletic competitions they included. The four festivals were: the Ancient Olympic Games, Olympic Games, ...

and sometimes in honor of a victory in war. Major poets in the genre are

Simonides Simonides of Ceos (; ; c. 556 – 468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Kea (island), Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed by them as worthy of criti ...

Bacchylides Bacchylides (; ''Bakkhulides''; – ) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted in Bacchylidea ...

, and

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

Origins

Boxers Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1538

Since the poets most often call their victory songs ''hymnoi'' (), it has been conjectured that

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

s for

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

, honored as the founder of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, were the original model for the athletic ''epinikion''. Victory odes are also associated with the

Dioscuri Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. Their mother was Leda (mythology), Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal ...

; Pindar uses the term "Castor-song" (), and Polydeuces (Pollux), the mortal twin of Castor, was a boxer. Although the best-known ''epinikia'' appear to have been composed for a chorus, they may have originally been performed by a soloist. Pindar says that a

lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from t ...

Archilochus Archilochus (; ''Arkhílokhos''; 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Iambus (genre) , iambic poet of the Archaic Greece, Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest ...

was sung at Olympia, and a scholiast to the passage gives a quotation. The performance of these songs seems to have led in the 6th century BC to aristocratic commissions for more elaborate numbers. The earliest ''epinikia'', surviving only in fragments, were composed by

Simonides of Ceos Simonides of Ceos (; ; c. 556 – 468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed by them as worthy of critical study. ...

in the 520s BC. Simonides was the first professional poet known to write odes in honor of victorious athletes at the games; in antiquity, he was also notorious for being the first poet to charge a fee for his services. The ''epinikia'' of Bacchylides were formerly considered lost and were known only from quotations in other authors, until the discovery in the late 19th century of a

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

containing fifteen of his odes. Pindar's four surviving books of ''epinikia'', called one of "the great monuments of

Greek lyric Greek lyric is the body of lyric poetry written in dialects of Ancient Greek. Lyric poetry is, in short, poetry to be sung accompanied by music, traditionally a lyre. It is primarily associated with the early 7th to the early 5th centuries BC, s ...

", correspond to each of the four major festivals of the Panhellenic Games: Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean. Many of Pindar's odes can be identified by event, champion, and year.

Occasion and performance

The ''epinikion'' was performed not at the games, but at the celebration surrounding the champion's return to his hometown or perhaps at the anniversary of his victory. The odes celebrate runners, pentathletes,

wrestlers Wrestling is a Martial arts, martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling ...

, boxers, and charioteers; Pindar usually narrates or alludes elaborately to a

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

connected to the victor's family or birthplace. The Pindaric ode has a metrical structure rivaled in its complexity only by the chorus of Greek tragedy, and is usually composed in a triadic form comprising

strophe A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of var ...

antistrophe Antistrophe (, "a turning back") is the portion of an ode sung by the chorus in its returning movement from west to east in response to the strophe, which was sung from east to west. Characteristics Usage as a literary device It has the n ...

, and

epode According to one meaning of the word, an epode is the third part of an ancient Greek choral ode that follows the strophe and the antistrophe and completes the movement. The word epode is also used to refer to the second (shorter) line of a two-l ...

. The odes were performed by a chorus that sang and danced to the musical accompaniment of the phorminx or

aulos An ''aulos'' (plural ''auloi''; , plural ) or ''tibia'' (Latin) was a wind instrument in ancient Greece, often depicted in art and also attested by archaeology. Though the word ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or as " double flute", ...

The ''epinikion'' and society

"The victory ode", notes Mary Lefkowitz, "is a curious and somewhat paradoxical form of art". Simon Goldhill has described the ''epinikion'' as practiced by

as "a performance hired to mark the place of an individual within his

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

". The ''epinikion'' praised the victorious athlete as an ideal representative of the community and of the aristocratic class, linking his achievements with those of local cult heroes. But the athlete was also admonished against

hubris Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), is extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence and complacency, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. Hubris, arrogance, and pretension are related to the need for vi ...

, "not to seek to become

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

". A later contributor to the genre was

Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...

.Cf. e.g. .

References

{{Reflist

Selected bibliography

* Mathiesen, Thomas J. "Epinikion and

encomium ''Encomium'' (: ''encomia'') is a Latin word deriving from the Ancient Greek ''enkomion'' (), meaning "the praise of a person or thing." Another Latin equivalent is '' laudatio'', a speech in praise of someone or something. Originally was the ...

". In ''Apollo's Lyre:

Greek Music The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its History of Greece, history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek folk music, Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originat ...

and

Music Theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

in Antiquity and the Middle Ages''. University of Nebraska Press, 2000, pp. 135–14
online
*Robbins, Emmet. "Public Poetry". In ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets''. Edited by Douglas E. Gerber. Brill, 1997. Limited previe
online
*Kurke, Leslie. "The Strangeness of 'Song Culture': Archaic Greek Poetry". In ''Literature in the Greek World''. Edited by Oliver Taplin. Oxford University Press, 2001. Limited previe
online
* Neumann-Hartmann, Arlette. ''Epinikien und ihr Aufführungsrahmen''. Hildesheim, Weidmann, 2009 (Nikephoros. Beihefte, 17). Ancient Olympic Games Panhellenic Games Ancient Greek poetry Occasional poetry