The main part of this thesis is a survey of Pindar's treatment, in his epinicians, of myths involving the mythological family of the Aiakids. I establish what may be known of Pindar's sources for these stories, and then compare his own accounts. I consider (together with some minor incidents) Aiakos' assist- ance in building the walls of Troy; Phokos' murder; Peleus' experience with Hippolyta and Akastos, and his marriage to Thetis; Telamon's participation in Herakles' expedition against Troy; Achilles' infancy, his combats against Telephos, Kyknos, Hektor and Memnon, and his own fate; Aias' birth and suicide; and finally the story of Neoptolemos' visit to Delphi (chapters 1-7). My major conclusion is that his versions of these myths are more firmly grounded in the mythological tradition than is widely believed: they are constantly allusive, and contain little innovation. What changes there are may be ascribed to a broad rationalizing tendency, rather than to sophisticated poetic purposes. Pindar seems to prefer lesser known, often locally preserved, strands of tradition, but is concerned to produce authoritative accounts of them. The defensive tone of N. 7 may be satisfactorily explained by his care to produce such an account from confused and undignified material; the poem does not contain an apology for a hostile treatment of Neo- ptolemos in Pae.6. In chapter 8, I confirm my conclusions by examining three difficult cases: the myths of P. 3, O.I, and the break-off from the first myth of 0. 9. These examples confirm that traditional material has intrinsic value in epinician, and suggest the conclusion that the explication of a paradeigmatic relation between myth and victory is not the only valid explan- ation of the function of myth in Pindar. Myth may also serve to provide a publicly acceptable warrant for the praise of the victor.

The critical analysis section of this dissertation seeks to define the ode using examples in translation from Greek and Latin odes and examples in English written from the 1500s to the 2000s. Although most definitions of the ode contend that this subgenre of the lyric is an occasional poem of praise that includes a meditative or mythological element, the ode is far more complex. An ode is an occasional poem, but it works to privilege rather than strictly praise its subject, allowing for the speaker's ambivalence toward the subject. Meditation is a key element of the ode, since the poet uses the subject as a means for moving to the meditation or as a conduit through which the meditation occurs. The meditation in the poem is also a way for the poet or speaker to negotiate the relationship between the subject and herself; thus, the ode is concerned with power, since the poet must place herself or the speaker in relation to the subject. Power thus may be granted to either the speaker or the subject; the poet names and speaks of the subject, and often the poet names and speaks of himself in relation to the subject. Additionally, odes usually contain some exhortation, generally directed to the subject if not to those surrounding the reader or capable of "listening in" to the performance of the poem. This definition, it should be noted, is intended to be fluid. In order for a poem to be relevant to its age, it must either adhere to or usefully challenge the contemporary concerns. Thus, while many of the odes discussed will contain the elements of this definition, others will work against the definition. In the remainder of the introduction, I examine ancient models and twentieth- and twenty-first century examples of the ode as a means of exploring what an ode is and how it can undermine the elements of the definition and still work as a poem of this subgenre. In the second section of the dissertation are lyric poems, many of which fit in varying degrees the definition laid out in the critical analysis.

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The musical ode, which developed during the 1660s and 1670s as a means of celebrating occasions of particular significance (often by setting a specially written text), remained popular throughout the eighteenth century, and can be regarded as the earliest form of large-scale secular choral music to have developed in England. This dissertation discusses the nature of the genre (including its relationship with the poetical ode), and surveys the contexts in which odes were composed and performed. It is supplemented by a catalogue which lists some 270 examples of the genre. Among the earliest odes were those written for performance at the court in London. These have already been the subject of musicological study, but although they were the biggest stylistic influence on the other odes written during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, they were not quite the earliest examples of the species. At the University of Oxford, the practice of performing specially composed odes to enhance academic ceremonial dates from at least 1669, and the custom continued throughout the following century. The odes on St Cecilia's Day also originate in the late seventeenth century, but although the works performed in London between 1683 and 1701 have received some scholarly attention, odes on the same theme written later in the century, along with works performed at a number of provincial centres, have not hitherto been discussed in the context of the wider ode genre. Also neglected have been the birthday odes performed at the Vice-regal court in Dublin during the eighteenth century. These complement the London court odes, but have not previously been listed or discussed in detail. Other odes were written for charitable causes, and to commemorate a miscellaneous array of occasions, including military victories and the inauguration of new buildings. In addition, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, some composers responded to developments in the poetical ode by setting libretti which had no 'occasional' inspiration, but which were notable literary achievements in their own right.