The victory ode was a short-lived poetic genre in the fifth century BC, but its impact has been substantial. Pindar, Bacchylides and others are now among the most widely read Greek authors precisely because of their significance for the literary development of poetry between Homer and tragedy and their historical involvement in promoting Greek rulers. Their influence was so great that it ultimately helped to define the European notion of lyric from the Renaissance onwards. This collection of essays by international experts examines the victory ode from a range of angles: its genesis and evolution, the nature of the commissioning process, the patrons, context of performance and re-performance, and the poetics of the victory ode and its exponents. From these different perspectives the contributors offer both a panoramic view of the genre and an insight into the modern research positions on this complex and fascinating subject.

The victory ode was a short-lived poetic genre in the fifth century BC, but its impact has been substantial. Pindar, Bacchylides and others are now among the most widely read Greek authors precisely because of their significance for the literary development of poetry between Homer and tragedy and their historical involvement in promoting Greek rulers. Their influence was so great that it ultimately helped to define the European notion of lyric from the Renaissance onwards. This collection of essays by international experts examines the victory ode from a range of angles: its genesis and evolution, the nature of the commissioning process, the patrons, context of performance and re-performance, and the poetics of the victory ode and its exponents. From these different perspectives the contributors offer both a panoramic view of the genre and an insight into the modern research positions on this complex and fascinating subject.

The volume, published to mark Herwig Maehler's 70th birthday, contains 19 of his articles and papers, offering a selection from the research contribution of a Classicist who has explored very diverse areas of the Ancient World, combining them in productive and imaginative ways. The papers reprinted here (some in slightly revised and updated form) concern Homer, Greek, lyric poetry, Attic tragedy, the ancient novel, Hellenistic poetry, Greek palaeography, art and sculpture under the Ptolemies and various other aspects of daily life in Graeco-Roman Egypt. This selection will be of interest not only to Classical scholars but to anyone interested in the culture of Graeco-Roman-Antiquity.