27 Aug 2004
A Heathen Code

All the Olympic hoopla has certainly brought forth the analysis and commentary on ancient Greece, but none so clearly captures the spirit of the Heathen soul as this bit by William Race, a classics professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Here's a bit of what I mean:

In praising Hieron, he [Pindar] recounts how Pelops won his bride Hippodameia by defeating her father in a chariot race at Olympia. Before the race, in which 13 suitors had already been killed, Pindar has Pelops articulate the Greek heroic code: "Great danger does not call for a coward. Since men must die, why would anyone sit in darkness and coddle a nameless old age to no use, deprived of all noble deeds? No, this contest shall be mine!"

This thoughtful look at Pindar and his poetry in praise of the Olympics provides a deep insight into what the Heathen Greeks (and indeed, all Indo-European cultures) thought most important: courage, honor, reputation.

Why would Pindar, the greatest lyric poet of classical Greece, compose a quarter of his poetry to honour athletic victors? And why did those 45 victory odes, alone of all the classical Greek lyric poetry, survive intact? Because athletics were at the institutional heart of Greek life - and are of continual fascination to all cultures touched by ancient Greece.

(link) [Athens News]

via rogueclassicism

00:00 /Asatru | 3 comments | permanent link