Pindar, Olympian 1: For Hieron of Syracuse
Pindar of Thebes
The opening ode of Pindar's victory book — composed for Hieron's chariot victory at Olympia in 476 BCE — and the most quoted line in Greek lyric: 'Best is water.'
About the Poem
Olympian 1 is the opening poem of Pindar’s collected Epinikia (victory odes), placed first by Aristophanes of Byzantium because it celebrated the most prestigious event (the single-horse race at Olympia) and the most powerful patron — Hieron I, tyrant of Syracuse — victorious in 476 BCE.
The poem famously substitutes a more pious version of the Pelops myth for the traditional tale (in which Tantalus serves Pelops as food to the gods). Pindar’s opening tricolon — ariston men hydōr — became the most quoted line of Greek lyric in antiquity.
Proem (lines 1–11)
Greek (Doric literary dialect)
Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς αἰθόμενον πῦρ ἅτε διαπρέπει νυκτὶ μεγάνορος ἔξοχα πλούτου· εἰ δ’ ἄεθλα γαρύεν ἔλδεαι, φίλον ἦτορ, μηκέτ’ ἀελίου σκόπει ἄλλο θαλπνότερον ἐν ἁμέρᾳ φαεν- νὸν ἄστρον ἐρήμας δι’ αἰθέρος, μηδ’ Ὀλυμπίας ἀγῶνα φέρτερον αὐδάσομεν· ὅθεν ὁ πολύφατος ὕμνος ἀμφιβάλλεται σοφῶν μητίεσσι, κελαδεῖν Κρόνου παῖδ’ ἐς ἀφνεὰν ἱκομένους μάκαιραν Ἱέρωνος ἑστίαν…
English (Ernest Myers, 1874 — public domain)
Best is water of all, and gold as a flaming fire in the night shineth eminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou art fain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickening than the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neither shall we find any games greater than the Olympian whereof to utter our voice: for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the minds of the skilled in song, so that they celebrate the son of Kronos, when to the rich and happy hearth of Hieron they are come…
The Reimagined Myth of Pelops (lines 36–53, excerpt)
Pindar refuses to repeat the traditional cannibal myth and offers an alternative.
Greek
ἦ θαυματὰ πολλά, καί πού τι καὶ βροτῶν φάτις ὑπὲρ τὸν ἀλαθῆ λόγον δεδαιδαλμένοι ψεύδεσι ποικίλοις ἐξαπατῶντι μῦθοι. Χάρις δ’, ἅπερ ἅπαντα τεύχει τὰ μείλιχα θνατοῖς, ἐπιφέροισα τιμὰν καὶ ἄπιστον ἐμήσατο πιστὸν ἔμμεναι τὸ πολλάκις… υἱὲ Ταντάλου, σὲ δ’, ἀντία προτέρων, φθέγξομαι…
English (Myers)
Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out with cunning fables beyond the truth make false men’s speech concerning them. For Charis, who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, by lending honour unto such, ofttimes causeth the unbelievable to be believed. … Son of Tantalus, of thee I will speak contrariwise to them that have gone before…
Closing — The Prayer for Hieron (lines 106–116)
Greek
εἴη σέ τε τοῦτον ὑψοῦ χρόνον πατεῖν, ἐμέ τε τοσσάδε νικαφόροις ὁμιλεῖν, πρόφαντον σοφίᾳ καθ’ Ἕλ- λανας ἐόντα παντᾷ.
English (Myers)
May it be thine to walk loftily all thy days, and mine to consort with victors as long, foremost in the art of song among Hellenes in every land.
Sources & Citations
- Greek text: Perseus — Pindar, Olympian 1 (Snell-Maehler edition)
- English translation (PD): Ernest Myers, The Extant Odes of Pindar (Macmillan, 1874) — archive.org / Perseus
- Scholarly: William H. Race, Pindar: Olympian Odes, Pythian Odes (Loeb Classical Library, 1997); Gerber, Pindar’s Olympian One: A Commentary (1982)
- Wikipedia: Olympian 1