Olympian and Pythian Odes

and Kamarina, “watered by the Hipparis, with the stedfast dwellings that skirt the stream,” and Himera with its hot springs, haunted by the nymphs, and Aitna, “all the year long the nurse of biting snow.” He looks across the firth to Italy, to the land of the Epizephyrian Lokrians, and from his height “bedews the city of brave men with honey.” Then, turning southward, he descries Kyrene, “rich in flocks, fruitfullest of lands,” “third part of the mainland,” “stock of loveliness.” Eastward then to Rhodes, “child of Aphrodite and bride of the sun,” to Tenedos, “resonant with lute and song.” Now home to Greece and Argos, “city of Danaos and the fifty maidens with resplendent thrones,” “the dwelling of Hera,” “meet residence for gods, all lighted up with valorous deeds.” Long does his gaze linger on Aigina, no eyesore to him, however it may be to the Peiraieus. One fourth of the epinikia victory odes have for their heroes residents of that famous island which Pindar loved with all the love of kindred. “Nor far from the Charites Graces fell her lot,” “this city of justice,” “this island that had reached unto the valorous deeds of the Aiakidai,” “her fame perfect from the beginning,” “the hospitable Doric island of Aigina.” Yet he is not blind to the merits of Aigina’s foe. Every one knows by heart the words that earned him the great reward. In the dithyramb hymn to Dionysus Athens is "the bulwark of Hellas, glorious Athens"; in the epinikia she is lauded as the “surest foundation of song.” His glance takes in with rapid sweep Lakedaimon and Thessaly. “If Lakedaimon is prosperous, Thessaly is happy; the race of one, even Herakles, ruleth both.” Nearer he comes, now to “famed” Opus, now to Orchomenos, “land of steeds, watered by the Kephissos, dwelling-place of the Charites,” and then his eye rests in brooding love on Thebes, the theme of his earliest song, “Thebes of the seven gates, mother mine, Thebes of the golden shield.”

It is evident, then, that the theme was no narrow one, that all that was best, highest, most consecrated, all the essential Hellenism in Pindar had ample scope.