Heroic journeys

My dissertation is a study of the function and the poetics of space, and spatial transitions and movements in the victory odes of Pindar. It analyzes ways in which numerous geographical and landscape references are employed in the odes, and, in particular, the ways in which various movements between different spatial referents are accomplished on the poetic and narrative level. Part One focuses on the references to the various sites of athletic victories and their relationship with the hometowns of the athletic victors. I argue that Pindar intentionally blurs the lines between the site of the victory and the site of the athlete's native city. This strategy opens up the athlete's single individual victory for co-optation by wider public spheres. Part Two deals with the geography of the mythical narratives in the victory odes. Myth further opens up the space for praise by introducing figures of heroic founders of athletic rituals, mythical settlers of particular cities and regions, legendary ancestors claimed by individual families and entire polcis, and other heroic paragons of proto-athletic behavior. In my analysis, I focus on the narratives of foundation in Olympian 7, Pythian 9, and Pythian 5.