| Abstract [eng] |
This work explores what fundamental laws of space, time, and causality characterize cosmos in Pindar's epinicia and how the world projected by each victory ode serves the essential function of the genre: to monumentalize the victor of the Panhellenic Games. The study builds on the cosmographic approach proposed by Renaud Gagné (2021), which explores the poetics of worldbuilding, i.e., how texts rhetorically articulate the cosmologies that are relevant to their meaning, and looks at the fundamental principles that govern the epinician space and time of Pindar's worldbuilding. The work is divided into two parts: an introductory theoretical part introduces the theoretical approaches and concepts relevant to the rhetoric of worldbuilding. The second part analyzes the fundamental structures that determine the world order in Pindar's epinicia. The first focus is on the memorial function of the epinicion; it is shown how the idea of the world can serve to fulfil this function. It is then discussed how the centres and boundaries established in the epinician space give the emerging versions of the world their unique identity. Finally, it is looked at how time reveals the destiny of the victor and what role song fulfils in binding space and time into an integral unit, communicating the significance of the victor’s achievement. The structures of space and time reveal that the epinicia set up versions of the world (microcosms) that represent the victor. Such microcosms, positioned by Pindar within the framework of the Panhellenic Olympic cosmos, can be considered unique mnemonic monuments, in which the identity of the victor is defined and established not so much through personal characterization but rather through references to points of memory (loci) in the world relevant to the victor’s biography. |
