The Myths of Pindar's "Nemean 10" Stern, Jacob Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1969; 10, 2; ProQuest pg. 125

The Myths of Pindar's Nemean 10 
Jacob Stern 

ALTHOUGH the opening triad of Pindar's Nemean 10 has been 
praised by Wilamowitz as H das schonste Beispiel fur Pindars 
ckurzen Weg'" and has been considered exemplary of the 

Ka'TcXAoyoS' apE'TWV by Schadewaldt, although the surprising climaxes 
of its myths have been discussed by Bowra and many other useful 
comments have been offered on it, its full significance for the inter­
pretation of the rest of the ode has not yet been sufficiently appre­
ciated.I 

Its theme is apparent! y the communication which exists between 
the world of men and the world of the divine.2 This proximity of man 
to gods is strikingly illustrated if we note the recurrence of verbs in the 
triad which express motion, for it is not merely a metaphorical 
proximity which is implied, but a physical, active encounter between 
the worlds: /LoAwv (11), Zeus comes to Danae and Alcmene; ZKE'T' (14), 
in a quite physical sense Amphitryon comes into kinship with Zeus;3 
euijA8Ev (16), Zeus again enters Amphitryon's court. Heracles' wife 
Hebe does not merely cclive" beside her mother Hera: her proximity 
to an even more powerful divinity is again expressed by a verb of 
motion: f3atvotu' iun (18). Even more emphatically Hypermestra's 
virtue is described with a verb of motion: ou8' <Y7TEP/L~U'Tpa 

7TapE7TAayxO'Y} (6). The surface meaning of the metaphor is obvious: 
Hypermestra has not wandered from the path of righteousness. But, 

1 U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Pindaros (Berlin 1922) 426; W. Schadewaldt, Der 
Aufbau des pindarischen Epinikion (Halle 1928) 338; C. M. Bowra, Pindar (Oxford 1964) 300. 
The triad reminds editors of the famous advice supposedly given to Pindar by Corinna: 
e.g. Pindare III, Nemeennes, ed. A. Puech (Paris 1923) 132, and G. Meautis, Pindare Ie Dorien 
(Neuchatel1962) 375. The text of Pindar used here is that of B. Snell (Leipzig 1959). 

2 Speaking generally about the ode J. Duchemin, Pindare, poete et prophete (Paris 1955) 
181, asserts: <C ••• les contradictions inherentes a la fragmentation de la vie en de multiples 
individualites se resolvent en une immense aspiration de fraternite humaine et divine." 

3 There is some disagreement about the subject 0 I)' (13); schol. 24a incorrectly refers 
o I)' to Zeus. but the normal idiom would make the reference to Amphitryon, and calling 
Zeus o).,{Jcp </!£pTu:ror; is absurd condescension: Scholia vetera in Pindari carmina, ed. A. B. 
Drachmann (Leipzig 1927) Nem. 10, 24a; see the note of J. B. Bury, The Nemean Odes of 
Pindar (London 1890) ad loco 

2-G.R.B.S. 125 



126 THE MYTHS OF PINDAR'S NEMEAN 10 

as this discussion will establish, there is also a further allusion; for 
motion in this ode in many cases will imply specifically the coming 
together of man and gods. We may here also think of Hypermestra 
as not losing her opportunity to encounter divinity, not wandering 
from the path by which such communication is achieved. The con­
trast, when we come to discuss the myth of the ode, will be clear: the 
Apharetidae, who €Ka.{OVT' €PTJf-LOL (72). Their loneliness is exactly their 
inability to experience that physical contact with divinity which is 
central to this opening triad. 

One aspect of this theme in the opening stanzas needs emphasis 
because its significance will become apparent in our later discussion 
of the Dioscuri myth. The movement through which the communi­
cation is achieved is in most cases in a vertical plane: Zeus descends to 
Alcmene and Danae; Heracles ascends to Olympus, as we might also 
imagine Diomedes does (7). In the unique case of Amphiaraos the 
point is especially important (8-9). 

In terms of pure language the contrast of the first and last words of 
this sentence is curious: the cloud of war has descended and been 
buried in the earth. But 7TOAif-LOLO V€~OS is also an allusion to Homer­
not merely to the exact parallel of Iliad 17.243, but also to the more 
common 8a.vaTov V€~OS, with which the usual verb is &f-L~LKa.AV7rTw.4 
The cloud thus becomes simultaneously the object covered by a 
descent into earth, and by allusion the covering object itself. Yet for 
our purposes what is important is that Amphiaraos, whose chthonian 
worship is well attested/) also achieves proximity with the divine by 
the physical act of moving in a vertical plane. His descent is the 
necessary balance to Heracles' ascent mentioned in the next stanza; 

'11.16.350 and Od. 4.180; the expression is also lyric: Bacchyl. 13.64; for V£tPEA7J in the same 
context see II. 20.417 (also with ap.tPLKaA&rrrW), Simon. 89.4 (Bergk), Pind. Nem. 9.38 and 
lsthm. 7.27. In general on the idea see Homeri Ilias II, ed. J. van Leeuwen (Leiden 1913) ad 
17.243. 

/; See E. Bethe, RE 1 (1894) 1886f; W. Fauth, Der Kleine Pauly 1 (1964) 308-310; W. W. How 
and J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus (Oxford 1928) ad Hdt. 8.134; M. P. Nilsson, The 
Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology (Berkeley 1932) 115f. The euhemerism ofL. R. Farnell, 
Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality (Oxford 1921) 58f, will not satisfy many, but he 
agrees that at Oropus Amphiaraos was worshipped as "a chthonian god." For the most 
recent discussion see F. Bener, Die Amphiaraossage in der griechischen Dichtung (diss. ZUrich, 
1945) 47f, 53f. 



JACOB STERN 127 

together they will exactly duplicate the alternate ascents and de­
£cents of the Dioscuri described in the last epode. 

One further comment about these lines is in order: Amphiaraos' 
reception into earth is not to be thought of as tragic or unfortunate; 
the earth does not merely accept, it welcomes him: iJ7TfQ€KTO (8).6 
His descent without a hint of disaster or punishment gloriously 
intervenes between the deification of Diomedes and the beautiful­
haired women of Argos. The earth struck by Zeus' thunderbolt is, 
therefore, to be understood in an archaic sense: here the bolt is not the 
customary weapon which destroys the evil, but rather the sky god's 
instrument of deification. Zeus here uses his lightning to honor 
Amphiaraos, not to destroy him.' The institution of his worship is a 
consequent result of his being struck by Zeus' lightning and his 
kindly reception into earth. 

Yet that Zeus' thunderbolt was not always of this sort becomes clear 
later in the ode (71-72): 

The thunderbolt could as well be used as his means of punishment. 
That it intervenes here immediately after the defilement of Aphareus' 
tomb has been stressed by the critics.S The two instances of Amphiaraos 
and Idas provide a striking proof of what is well-known in Greek 
religion, and particularly important for the understanding of Pindar: 
within each god's control are opposite phenomena-their implements 

8 See the first sense in LSJ; a'XO/Lat in this kindly sense becomes a leitmotif in Pyth. 9.9, 56, 
73. 

7 What A. B. Cook calls" death by lightning as euthanasia" is well-known in mythology: 
Heracles, Erechtheus, Semele; it is apparently misunderstood in the cases of Kapaneus 
and Salmoneus. For general discussions see E. Rohde, Psyche, Seelencult und Unsterblichkeits­
glauben der Griechen 8 I (Tiibingen 1921) 320f; A. B. Cook, Zeus, a Study in Ancient Religion 
II.1 (Cambridge 1925) 23f; J. Harrison (F. M. Cornford) Themis, a Study of the Social Origins 
of Greek Religion (Cambridge 1927) 220f. The clearest statement from antiquity is Artemidori 
Valdiani Onirocriticon, ed. R. Pack (Leipzig 1963) 11.9: ovadS' yap KEpavvwBEiS' exTtp.oS' laTtv, 

OTTOV y£ Kal wS' BEDS' Tt/Lu:rat. For Amphiaraos especially see also Pind. 01. 6.14 and Nem. 
9.24; in his note on the latter passage L. R. Farnell, The Works of Pin dar II (London 1932), 
discusses the favorable thunderbolt and refers to Pyth. 4.23, 197. Speaking of Semele in O/. 
2.26 Rohde asserts: "Blitztod heiligt in manchen Sagen den Getroffenen und erhoht ihn zu 
gottlichem (ewigem) Leben." That the ground is hit by the bolt rather than Amphiaraos 
himself is of little importance. 

8 F. Staehlin, "Oer Oioskurenmythus in Pindars 10. nemeischer Ode," Philologus 62 
N.F. 16 (1903) 193; K. Fehr, Vie My then bei Pindar (Zurich 1936) 136; H.-G. Gerhardt, Zeus in 
den pindarischen Epinikien (Frankfurt 1959) 21. 



128 THE MYTHS OF PINDAR'S NEMEAN 10 

of life can also be their implements of death. The point has recently 
been made about Apollo's role in Pythian 3 by Young,9 but has only 
been partially noted by students of Nemean 10.10 We recall other cases 
of Zeus' hostile bolt (against Asclepios at Pyth. 3.58, and the Giants at 
Pyth. 8.17), but equally to be recalled are the kindly uses of his power: 
a golden snow comes to Alcmene (Isthm. 7.5); like Amphiaraos, 
Semele is deified by the thunderbolt (01. 2.26).11 

It appears rather to be a natural phenomenon than a moral prin­
ciple that Pindar stresses in Nemean 10, though if we choose to em­
phasize the Apharetidae's defilement of their father's tomb the 
moral is clear enough.12 Yet what is for the present to be appreciated 
is that the explanation of Zeus' favor and disfavor is in terms of the 
same principle of motion which we have seen before. Amphiaraos 
achieves his encounter with divinity by the physical act of descending 
into the welcoming earth; the Apharetidae, on the other hand, are 
€pfjpm: in no-man's land, near to nothing divine. What most critics 
have taken to be the Grundgedanke of the ode is to be understood in 
light of this comparison: Kai I-'av O€WV 7TLO'TOV rlvos (54).13 The gods 

11 D. C. Young, Three Odes of Pin dar (Leiden 1968) 41f. 
10 Gerhardt (supra n.8) 59; A. Rivier, "My the et poesie," BullBude N.s.9 [=Lettres d'Huma­

niu 9] (1950) 84f; J. H. Finley Jr, Pindar and Aeschylus (Cambridge [Mass.] 1955) 130. 
11 Duchemin (supra n.2) 187: ' ... i1 n'est pas rare chez Pindare, ou tant de heros obtien­

nent la beatitude des dieux, qu'une mort, reelle ou feinte, en tout cas transitoire, joue 
veritablement Ie role d'un rite de passage, indispensable pour acceder a une condition 
superieure." 

12 This is the only clear moral statement in the myth; the "moral" tone of the ode has 
been greatly exaggerated, especially by those critics who choose to overemphasize the words 
&.P4L {Jovalv'7Tws (60). We may agree with F. Mezger, Pindars Sieges lieder (Leipzig 1880) 467: 
"also nicht wegen der den Apharatiden geraubten Braute; Pindar zieht auch hier die filr 
die Gotter ehrenvollere Form der Sage vor," but Bowra, op.cit. (supra n.1) 300, goes too 
far: "This helps to acquit the Dioscuri of any imputation of wrong-doing." Pindar avoids 
the version which tells of the rape of the Leucippides, as known from Lycoph. 546, Theoc. 
22.137f, and schol. Nem. 10.112a; whether his version "about cattle" intends to recall the 
simple raid as described by Apollod. 3.11.2, or the more involved and blameworthy version 
of schol. Lycoph. 547 is unclear. If Staehlin, op.cit (supra n.8) 184, and A. S. F. Gow, Theo­
critus II (Cambridge 1952) 383, are correct, the latter version was that of the Cypria, and 
hence known to Pindar: see Gow's note for further references. Under any circumstances 
to be "moral" it is necessary to do more than avoid rape, and to make an ethical interpre­
tation of the behavior of the Dioscuri depend on three vague words in the text is absurd. 
G. Norwood, Pindar (Berkeley 1945) 56, sees" shameless injustice" in the intervention of Zeus. 

13 Almost everyone who has spoken on the ode agrees on the importance of this line; 
for the clearest statements see Mezger (supra n.12) 463, 469;Wilamowitz (supra n.1) 429; 
Schadewaldt (supra n.1) 338. It is usual to accept the maxim as an augury of Theaios' hoped 
for victory at Olympia: Mezger, Bury (supra n.3) 186, W. T. Lendrum, "The Date of 
Pindar's Tenth Nemean," CR 16 (1902) 268. 



JACOB STERN 129 

show faith to those who are by virtue of act or birth physically near 
to them. The necessity, stated simply, is to avoid desertion, to be 
among those who receive divine visitations or are permitted to travel 
the path which will bring them into contact with the gods. 

In the myth of the Dioscuri which fills the final triads of the ode we 
find a stress on the same themes which we found in the opening 
triad: verbs expressing motion, particularly vertical motion, are 
again prominent. In many cases they will be found to illustrate a quite 
physical coming together of the divine and mortaL So, for instance, 
EAe6vTOS (49) implies what we may take to be the descent of the 
Dioscuri to Pamphaes, who thus gains for his descendants the right of 
communication with divinity.14 The next stanza, which structurally 
preempts the climax of the myth, presents a parallel case: again 
vertical motion is stressed in the travels of the Dioscuri, and again 
proximity is of prime importance. As is logical, considering the 
ambiguous position of the Dioscuri between mortality and divinity, 
this proximity is both that of the brothers to Zeus (Trapa TraTp~ cpOI.<p I 
LJ ~ v£/LovTaL, 55f) and that of the brothers to each other: the word order 
of line 59 (€LA€T' alwva cpfh/L£vOV JIoAv8€'')K''fJs K&UTOpOS EV TrOA£/LCP) seems 
purposely contrived to show the closeness of the two brothers. 
There can be no doubt that those critics are correct who insist that the 
Dioscuri migrate together, not separately.15 

The next two stanzas present a variation on the theme: the same 
emphasis on motion is found (EgLKEuOav, -ryAe€, 8LWKWV, ECPOPWXO€LS), 
but the scene is now earthbound, and so the motion is on the ground 
rather than from Olympus to earth. There is a violent rushing, 
particularly by the Apharetidae, in this passage: AaLif;'Y]poIs, acpap. 
clJK£WS, aVTLKa, (Jo0. Bury has properly stressed the pun on the name 
Aphareus, which Pindar seems to have connected with acpap.16 Yet 

14 Meautis, op.cit. (supra n.1) 381f, discusses parallels to the motif of a god or hero re­
ceiving hospitality at the home of a mortal; for the Dioscuri see especially Hdt. 6.127 and 
the well-known story of Simonides and Scopas (fr.510 Page). Bury, op.cit. (supra n.3) 190, 
stresses the structural parallel: "Pamphaes entertaining the divine brothers seems to hold 
parley, across the interspace, with Amphitryon, whose house was visited by Zeus:' 

15 The last lines of Pyth. 11 are clear on this point, and it is assumed that Pin dar follows 
the same version in Nem. 10: "Ambo simul in caelo sunt, simul in sepulcro Therapnae. Si 
altero in sepulcro versante alter apud caelestes fuisset, semper fuissent separati, nee 
unquam Pollux degisset cum Castore, quod tamen expetierat," L. Dissen apud Pindari Opera 
11.2, ed. A. Boeckh (Leipzig 1821) 471 ad 55; for a full discussion see Duchemin (supra n.2) 
182f. 

16 Bury (supra n.3) ad 63. 



130 THE MYTHS OF PINDAR'S NEMEAN 10 

it is the total vanity of this rushing which must be appreciated. For 
all their speed the Apharetidae are deserted, and Idas is stopped dead 
in his tracks by Zeus' bolt; equal to the suddenness of the action is the 
suddenness with which the action is stopped. The point is made in 
what has been acknowledged to be one of Pindar's most forceful 
lines-ap.a S' EKatovT' EpijP.Ot (72).17 It is not so much the justice or 
injustice of their action as it is precisely their desertion by divinity and 
mankind which separates the Apharetidae from the Dioscuri, 
Heracles, Amphiaraos and the other heroes of the opening triad. And 
as if that were not enough, Pindar drives the point home in a maxim 
the full irony of which has not been sufficiently appreciated, although 
Norwood 18 has caught the tone: xaAE7Ta S' epL!) av(}pciJ7TOL!) OfJ-LAE'iV 

KpEuu6vwv (72). OP.LAE'iV again expresses the idea of the encounter,19 
but contact with divinity has in this one instance in the ode proved 
disastrous and has left the Apharetidae paradoxically deserted. 

In the next strophe Polydeuces returns to the body of his brother 
and appeals to Zeus: oLXETat TLp.a ~tAwv TaTWp-Evcp ~wTt (78). We find 
here the human equivalent to the divine principle: as a hero needs 
an encounter with divinity, so a man's honor demands proximity of 
friends. The disaster of the Apharetidae is once again clear, while to 
the Dioscuri, as he did to Danae and Alcmene and as they did to 
Pamphaes, Zeus aVTtO!) ijAV(}E (79). Even the birth of Castor seems to 
be twisted into the pattern: p.aTp~ TEf! 7TEAauaL!) (81). And in the final 
stanza we are left with the twins moving eternally on their vertical 
path, showing their closeness to each other and to Olympus: half the 
time yata!) tJ7TlvEp(}EV (87) in a clear echo of Amphiaraos, whom ya'ia 

indSEKTO (8); half the time EV xpvulot!) S6P.OtULV (88) with Heracles and 
Diomedes. The point has been simply made by Rivier: Polydeuces' 
speech shows HIe refus d'etre seul."20 

The echo of line 8 which was just observed in line 87 leads to yet a 
further point; to the two cases, however, must be added a third and a 
fourth: ya{~ 8~ Kav(}E{u~ 7TVp{ (35), Pindar's description of the Pana-

17 Norwood, op.cit. (supra n.12) 70, describes the line as "that rare achievement, grandeur 
evoked by the plainest phrase." Similarly Puech (supra n.l) ad 72. 

18 Norwood (supra n.12) 56: "He first broadly hints that Castor and Polydeuces (whom 
Zeus aided) were in the wrong, but after the god has thrown omnipotence into the scale 
we find only this comment: 'whoso striveth with his betters will regret the meeting'." 
Rivier, op.cit (supra n.IO) 84, rightly mentions that this maxim is the reverse of the better 
known line 54. Editors note the similarity to 01. 10.39 and the echo in Theoc. 22.212. 

11 Bowra (supra n.l) 226. 
10 Rivier (supra n.IO) 87. 



JACOB STERN 131 

thenaic amphora; and tJ7TO KEV8wL ya{as (56), the Dioscuri's half-life 
in Therapne. In each case it appears to be the lower half of the vertical 
spectrum which is singled out for especial comment: the glory of 
Amphiaraos is in his fiery reception into earth; the willing descent of 
Polydeuces, though it implies the parallel ascent of Castor, is yet 
verbally and thematically the more impressive statement of the 
theme of non-desertion. So also the brightest object in the ode is the 
mundane amphora, made of fired earth which recalls the death of 
Amphiaraos (35f): 

, ~ , 8' , "\' yaLff OE Kav HUff 7TVP, Kap7Tor; El\aLar; 
)/ ,rlH ", ,\" I 
Ej.J.OI\EV par; TOV EVaVOpa I\aov EV ayyEwv 

" '\ EPKEULV 7TafL7TOLKLI\OLr;. 

Wilamowitz has complained of these bizarre lines,21 but, though they 
may be excessive, their import is clear: they epitomize the illumination 
of earthly things in the ode. An even more striking case is Pamphaes, 
to whom the Dioscuri descend and whose name is a bright epithet of 
the sun.22 Communication between the worlds becomes the source 
of that physical brightness which is a keynote of the Pindaric vision, 
and this ode makes it clear that that illumination is a result of a 
purposeful willingness of the gods to descend to man, and of man to 
descend into earth, as Amphiaraos and Polydeuces do. So it is that the 
emphatic brightness in the ode is on the earth: the Danaides are 
aYAao8povwv (1), the city of Argos </>AEYETaL (2), the amphora is 
7TafL7ToLK{AOLr; (36), the family of Theaios is apyvpw8EvTEr; (43), the 
ancestor is IIafLr?a:ry (49). What Finley has called the accessibility 
of the gods in this ode23 is seen to be a result of the willingness of the 
gods to descend to man, and the splendor of earth is the result of that 
descent. 

But if it is this willingness to approach man which is basic to the 
7TtUTLr; of the gods, as Pindar suggests in the maxim quoted earlier (54), 

there is still another side to the coin, as is clear from the later echo of 
that maxim (78f) :24 

21 Wilamowitz (supra n.1) 427: "den Zwang, den Raum zu fUllen." So also Bowra (supra 
n.1) 210. 

220d. 13.29, cf Bur. Med. 1251; the verbal form is used of stars at n. 5.6 and Hes. Op. 567. 
23 Finley (supra n.lO) 130. 
24 The echo is noted and discussed by Mezger (supra n.l2) 469; for a reason best known to 

himself C. A. M. Fennell, Pindar, the Nemean and Isthmian Odes (Cambridge 1883) ad 79, calls 
the echo "mere coincidence." 



132 THE MYTHS OF PINDAR'S NEMEAN 10 

- ~.., \ Q -7T'avpo, 0 EV 7T'ovCP 7T'un'o, t-'POTWV 
Kap.&Tov p.ETa>..ap.f3&vELV. 

The 7T'lu'TL~ which gods can offer men involves for them merely the 
physical act of descent; the demonstration of 7T'lu'TL~ in man, however. 
involves a 7T'6vo~ and a K&p.aTo~ not necessary to the gods, for man's 
ascents and descents are accompanied by pain and toil. This is implied 
in the u7T'lpp.' a8Elp.avTov (17) of Heracles and the echoing u7T'lpp.a 
OvaT6v (81) of Castor, in the death of Amphiaraos, and, most 
clearly, in the choice of Polydeuces. There may be brightness in the 
earth as a result of the motion of the gods, but, as Bury has stressed, 
the brightness is brazen rather than golden.25 For the single mention 
of gold in the poem we must turn back to Olympus and again ap­
preciate that those "golden homes" (88) are accessible to man only 
after the descent of Polydeuces with the pain and toil it entailed. 

CITY COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK 

March, 1969 

25 Bury (supra n.3) 188.