Pindar and the Cult of Heroes

A radical new appraisal of the veneration and cult of heroic men, living and dead, in ancient Greece. Bruno Currie finds the roots of the Hellenistic ruler cult, and hence Roman emperor cult, in the 5th century BC (and earlier), and identifies Pindar's victory odes as a crucial stage in this process. Pindar and the Cult of Heroes combines a study of Greek culture and religion (hero cult) with a literary-critical study of Pindar's epinician poetry. It looks at hero cult generally, but focuses especially on heroization in the 5th century BC. There are individual chapters on the heroization of war dead, of athletes, and on the religious treatment of the living in the 5th century. Hero cult, Bruno Currie argues, could be anticipated, in different ways, in a person's lifetime. Epinician poetry too should be interpreted in the light of this cultural context; fundamentally, this genre explores the patron's religious status. The book features extensive studies of Pindar's Pythians 2, 3, 5, Isthmian 7, and Nemean 7.