epinikion
Sign in to savethumb|150px|In addition to epinikia, a victorious athlete might be honored with a statue, as with this charioteer found at Delphi, probably a champion driver at the [[Pythian Games]] The epinikion or epinicion (: epinikia or epinicia, Greek , from epi-, "on" and nikê, "victory") is a genre of occasional poetry also known in English as a victory ode. In ancient Greece, 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 and sometimes in honor of a victory in war. Major poets in the genre are
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Origins
- Occasion and performance
- The ''epinikion'' and society
- References
- Selected bibliography
thumb|150px|In addition to epinikia, a victorious athlete might be honored with a statue, as with this charioteer found at Delphi, probably a champion driver at the [[Pythian Games]] The epinikion or epinicion (: epinikia or epinicia, Greek , from epi-, "on" and nikê, "victory") is a genre of occasional poetry also known in English as a victory ode. In ancient Greece, 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 and sometimes in honor of a victory in war. Major poets in the genre are Simonides, Bacchylides, and Pindar.
==Origins== left|thumb|upright|An aulos|aulist plays music in the background of a boxing match (Attic vase, 510–500 BC) Since the poets most often call their victory songs hymnoi (), it has been conjectured that hymns for Heracles, honored as the founder of the Olympic Games, were the original model for the athletic epinikion. Victory odes are also associated with the Dioscuri; Pindar uses the term "Castor-song" (), and Polydeuces (Pollux), the mortal twin of Castor, was a boxer.