Among Greeks in Pindar's time, there was the notion that no deed came to its own without the word. The word grants recognition and justification.
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After a period of disorder, Zeus restored order and the gods asked him to create divinities to exalt these deeds through words and music. Thus the Muses were born.
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In his odes to the winners of games, Pindar calls himself a divinely inspired poet—the equal of the games' victors. Thinking of popular poets and songwriters today, this seems familiar. However, it serves alien, aristocratic purposes beyond Pindar's conceit.
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– Citing divine inspiration ensures that the praise is from a justified source.
– It puts the winner in place as a mortal with a twisting life arch.
– It highlights 'what is' over 'what is thought'; the deed over the mind; reality over relativity/nothing.
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– It infers that the grace of victory is a conquering of death and chaos. (If you've followed my tweets you know that separation anxiety and death denial are two recurring themes.)
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Arguably, the daybreaking Greeks were sensitized to many things we cannot feel or that we think we must force, or fake, to gain insight into. One of these things is worth. We lack the objectivity of aristocratic culture. We are self-absorbed. We dwell in nothingness and chaos.
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(We being shorthand primarily for intellectuals, artists, the literary establishment, media personalities, creators, and a mood of the time.)
Instead of celebrating what is, we deconstruct it. What's more, we intend others to believe that this destruction is not a repetive song.
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Without a belief in the afterlife like that in Christianity, what good was the Olympic victor's great moment worth if man is doomed to oblivion? In part, the Muses and the Graces were tasked with saturating the moment with the light of dignity: wisdom, elegance, luster.
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An interesting, thought provoking thread