Pindaric Metre: the `Other Half'

Pindar is one of the greatest Greek poets, but while the metre of half of his poems is easy to grasp, that of the other half has so far remained obscure. Kiichiro Itsumi presents a new account of their metre. He separates the metre into two types and identifies a series of precise entities from which the verses are made, in this way imposing a new clarity and discipline on what had previously seemed a much vaguer process. Itsumi's analyses of individual poems include a discussion of stanzaic structure, of textual problems, and of particular lines in the stanza and their exploitation within the text. These analyses will be an invaluable resource for serious scholars of Pindar.

Pindar is one of the greatest Greek poets, but while the metre of half of his poems is easy to grasp, that of the other half has so far remained obscure. Kiichiro Itsumi presents a new account of their metre. He separates the metre into two types and identifies a series of precise entities from which the verses are made, in this way imposing a new clarity and discipline on what had previously seemed a much vaguer process. Itsumi's analyses of individual poems include a discussion of stanzaic structure, of textual problems, and of particular lines in the stanza and their exploitation within the text. These analyses will be an invaluable resource for serious scholars of Pindar.

Kiichiro Itsumi is Professor of Greek and Latin Classics at the University of Tokyo.