The Scholia on the Nemean and Isthmian Odes are notes on two books of Pindar's victory odes, written in the margins of the medieval manuscripts that carry the poems. Behind them lies the commentary of Aristarchus, Didymus and other Alexandrian critics, cut down, recopied and added to by later teachers; many of the notes are headed as taken from the old scholia.
The notes follow each ode lemma by lemma. Most are short glosses and paraphrases: they explain a word or a construction, name the victor and his city, and supply the myth behind an allusion, such as Ortygia and the Alpheus in the first Nemean ode, or Heracles and Telamon against Laomedon in an Isthmian. The Nemean set is much the larger and runs from the first ode to the eleventh; its last notes, filed with the Nemeans, belong to the Isthmian ode for Melissus. The Isthmian set is brief and covers three odes, two for the family of Lampon of Aegina and a third that opens with an address to Thebes.
Pindar Commentary Scholia on Nemean and Isthmian Odes: summary and contents (PDF)
Pindar Commentary Scholia on Nemean and Isthmian Odes: summary and contents (Markdown)
Contents
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Νεμεονῖκαι Nemean Odes
Short glosses and paraphrases on Pindar's Nemean odes, many headed as drawn from the old scholia, open on the first ode, for Chromius: why Ortygia is where the Alpheus breathes again, and Delos as Ortygia's sister. Later notes explain the third ode's honey mixed with milk, and notes on the eleventh warn the victor to remember that he is mortal; the last lemmata, filed with them, belong to the Isthmian ode for Melissus: Heracles wedded to Hebe and the trainer called a helmsman.
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Ἰσθμιονῖκαι Isthmian Odes
A brief set of notes on three Isthmian odes. The first group explains Theia as mother of the sun and the praise of the Aeginetan brothers Phylakidas and Pytheas, sons of Lampon; the next, on a second ode for Lampon's family, takes the second bowl of song, Heracles' expedition with Telamon against Laomedon, who withheld the promised horses, and Achilles' victims Memnon and Penthesilea. The last opens on the address to Thebes, with Dionysus beside Demeter and Zeus's visit to Alcmena.