Slinking Home to Mother: Pindar on Losers (Pyth. 8.81–87)

Abstract

The Eighth Pythian is the last datable poem in the extant remains of Pindar’s poetry. It celebrates a victory won in 446 bc by Aristomenes of Aegina, who seems to have competed at Delphi in the boys’ wrestling competition. It has often been observed that Pindar seems remarkably reluctant to describe the details of the competition that occasioned an ode, and in this case the poem is noteworthy for containing one of only two passages in the corpus of epinicians that describe the defeated (81–87). The present article will consider this passage in detail. It will be argued that Pindar’s presentation of Aristomenes’ victory reflects the initiatory aspects of boys’ athletics in Greek society, suggesting that the victor flying aloft on wings of manly deeds has joined the company of adult men, whereas the defeated slinking home to their mothers remain in the world of childhood.