Pindar the poet is known for his odes of victory. He is regarded as the greatest among the classical Greek poets.
All our knowledge about Pindar comes from five ancient texts. One of these is a papyrus from Egypt, unearthed in 1961. This papyrus dates back to about AD 200, and has a brief biography of Pindar inscribed on it.
Pindar was born in 522 BC, and hailed from as aristocratic family in Thebes. The ruling family in Thessaly asked him to write his first ode to victory for a fee. Pindar’s first Pythian ode is a tribute to the triumphs of the Greeks over invaders. This ode was written in 470 BC.
‘The Epinicia’, were Pindar’s masterpieces. The earliest surviving epinicion dates from 498 BC. Pindar died in 438 BC.