Apollon Pythien chez Pindare

Abstract

Despite Pindar’s known close ties to the site of Delphi and its god, it is surprising to find only nine occurrences of the adjective Πύθιος in all of Pindar’s preserved work, and only one of the phrase Πύθιος ̓Απόλλων – in the Olympian odes moreover, and not in the Pythian, as one could have expected. This observation leads me to examine each of the uses of Πύθιος in Pindar, then to survey the other epithets with which the poet qualifies Apollo, before examining the situation of Olympian Zeus, Nemean Zeus and Isthmian Poseidon. I end with a quick review of Πύθιος in Bacchylides’ poems, in an attempt to determine more precisely Pindar’s possible originality regarding Pythian Apollo.