THE KΩMOΣ OF PINDAR AND BACCHYLIDES AND THE SEMANTICS OF CELEBRATION

摘要

There are currently multiple interpretations regarding the semantics of κῶμος in nepinician poetry. The purpose of this paper is to query the validity of these several nsuggestions and to put forth an interpretation that resolves problems that these ndiscordant readings leave unanswered. I argue that in epinician odes κῶμος means n‘celebration’ and refers, generally,n1n to the first celebration at which an epinician ode nwas performed. Others have interpreted κῶμος as celebration; however, I undertake na detailed analysis of the word here to clarify the confusion in epinician criticism nthat this word continues to cause.n2n The paper, then, should also make a contribu-ntion to etymological studies of archaic and early classical Greek. In addition to narguing that κῶμος means celebration, I shall also suggest that κῶμος never means nfirstly ‘chorus’, ‘ode’, ‘procession’ or ‘band of revellers’ in the extant epinician nodes of Pindar and Bacchylides, although all four of these translations have been nput forth for κῶμος. I shall suggest, rather, that the polysemic noun κῶμος has nelicited these several denotations because celebration may be interpreted in diverse nmanners: celebration is comprised by the various acts and utterances which are nparts of celebration as a whole. Epinician victory celebrations regularly included nprocessions, revels, epinician odes and choral performances, for example. Thus, nPindar and Bacchylides’ use of κῶμος within its celebratory context on occasion nmay metonymically overlap with the chorus, the ode or the people holding the ncelebration in honour of the victor. Indeed, Pindar and Bacchylides on occasion nexploit κῶμος to link the celebration closely with their odes and choruses. Since nκῶμος generally refers to a particular historical victory celebration at which an nepinician ode was performed or might be performed, it should not be interpreted nmetaphorically but rather literally in relation to the particular occasions that elicit nepinician song.n3n Moreover, κῶμος refers to ‘static’ aspects of celebration in addition nto possible ‘mobile’ celebrations. Thus, I broaden Heath’s assertion that κῶμοι are n‘mobile celebrations’ to include non-mobile celebrations or non-mobile aspects of ncelebrations too;n4n that is to say, although victory celebrations may regularly have included processions, we need not delimit the epinician κῶμος to the procession. nHaving clarified the epincian genre’s celebratory vocabulary, we shall better under-nstand the historical contexts of praise as well as the rhetorical and ideological use nthat Pindar and Bacchylides make of κῶμος in their odes. Pindar and Bacchylides nuse the κῶμος, celebration, to verbally bring to life the immediate celebration at nwhich their odes were performed. One consequence of the thesis put forth here is na greater awareness of and appreciation for the eminent present and the immediate ncelebration that pervades the atmosphere of the odes.