The εὐνομώτατος ἔρανος in Pindar O. 1.25-27 and the Myth of Pelops : A Reassessment

he reference to Pelops emerging from the cauldron in verses 25-27 of Pindar O. 1 is one of the most enigmatic passages in the ode. Scholars have regarded it as an allusion to the tale of a cannibalistic banquet or as a new story invented by Pindar himself, but both of these interpretations fail to s...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Acerbo, Stefano
Format: article
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/121899
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/121899
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:821.14
Pindar
Immortality
Rejuvenation
Pelops
Apollodorus
Olympia
Filología griega
5505.10 Filología
Description
Summary:he reference to Pelops emerging from the cauldron in verses 25-27 of Pindar O. 1 is one of the most enigmatic passages in the ode. Scholars have regarded it as an allusion to the tale of a cannibalistic banquet or as a new story invented by Pindar himself, but both of these interpretations fail to satisfy. Many of the problems caused by this passage derive from the evidence used to reconstruct pre-Pindaric traditions. A second boiling to restore Pelops, preserved only in a scholium to O. 1, is an «ad hoc» interpretation of the annotator. Based on evidence provided by Apollodorus the mythographer, a different version of this episode may be inferred, whereby the cauldron evokes mythical representations, involving rejuvenation and immortality, which can fully account for the enigmatic passage of O. 1.