Of weddings and games: a reading of the proemium to Pindar’s Olympian 7

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the proemium (1-19) to Pindar’s Olympian 7, so as to highlight the opening strategy of the epinician song and the poet’s arrival to the cele-bration of the acclaimed victorious athlete, the boxer Diagoras of Rodes. The analysis focus on the bond between the world of gámos ― the wedding ― and the world of níkē ― of the athletic victory built by means of the long initial simile (1-10) which prepares the announcement of Pindar’s disembark ― of his voice ― in the island of his laudandus.