The old scholia on Pindar descend from the commentaries on his victory odes written by Alexandrian scholars, Aristarchus among them, and by their successors, above all Didymus in the first century BCE. Abridged and merged over the following centuries, they survive as notes in the margins of medieval manuscripts of the odes. The notes are anonymous, but they often name the critics whose views they report.
The commentary follows the four books of odes: Olympian, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian. The Olympian scholia open with a colon-by-colon account of the metre of the first ode, for Hiero of Syracuse. Each later book begins with a preface on the founding of its games: the Pythian for Apollo's killing of the serpent Python, the Nemean for Heracles' lion or for the child Opheltes, killed by a serpent while the Seven marched on Thebes, and the Isthmian for Melicertes or for Theseus's killing of Sinis. The notes then follow each ode phrase by phrase. They explain the victors, their families and cities, paraphrase the myths, set out the metre, gloss rare and dialect words, and record variant readings and rival interpretations, quoting poets, historians and mythographers whose works are otherwise lost.
Contents
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Ὀλυμπιονῖκαι Olympian Odes
The scholia to the Olympian odes begin with the ode for Hiero of Syracuse and his racehorse, and with a colon-by-colon account of its metre, naming each verse as Glyconic, Pherecratean and so on. Notes on myth, wording and the interpretations of Aristarchus follow ode by ode, among them the seventh ode for Rhodes, and the last notes, on the fourteenth, paraphrase Echo's errand to Persephone's house to tell the dead Cleodamus of his son's victory.
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Πυθιονῖκαι Pythian Odes
A preface on the Pythian games opens these scholia: Leto's labour, the birth of Artemis and Apollo on Delos, Hermes' gift of the lyre, and Apollo's killing of the serpent Python, for which the contest was held. Among the ode-by-ode notes, those on the fourth Pythian discuss the recalling of Phrixus's ghost and the ram's fleece, listing the names given to his stepmother by Pindar, Hippias, Sophocles and Pherecydes. The last notes, on the twelfth ode, recall that Midas won when his reed broke.
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Νεμεονῖκαι Nemean Odes
Why the Nemean games were founded is the first question here: for Heracles' killing of the lion, or as funeral games held by the Seven against Thebes for the child Opheltes, killed by a serpent while Hypsipyle led the army to a spring. The notes then follow the Nemean odes; on the sixth they explain how the family of Alcimidas won in alternate generations, like fields left fallow, and the last read the eleventh ode's counsel to Aristagoras to seek measure in gain.
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Ἰσθμιονῖκαι Isthmian Odes
The Isthmian games are traced first to their founding: in one account the Nereids told Sisyphus to hold them for Melicertes, who leapt into the sea with his mother Ino; in another Theseus founded them after killing Sinis. The notes on the odes include Heracles' fight with Antaeus, who roofed Poseidon's temple with the skulls of strangers, and Chrysippus's objection to Pindar's wheat-bearing Libya, and close on the Muses' lament for Achilles and the praise of the boxer Nicocles.