SOURCE: "A Note on Pindar and His Poetry." In The Odes of Pindar, second edition, translated by Richmond Lattimore, pp. v-xiv. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976.

In the essay below, Lattimore reviews Pindar's life and career.

Concerning the life of Pindar we can be sure only of the bare outlines, together with certain general facts. There is no sound biographical tradition for his period. It will perhaps be best to ignore anecdotes, guesses, and combinations which cannot be confirmed, and to state briefly what seems to be established. Pindar was born a citizen of Thebes, the chief city of the Boiotian confederacy, probably in 518 B.C. The date of his death is unknown; but the last work of his for which we have a date is the "Eighth Pythian," for a victory won in 446 B.C. His first dated ode is the "Tenth Pythian" of 498 B.C...