Lo splendore del klέος. Pind. Ol. I, vv. 23-24, 93-95, 103-105

In this article, the author investigates the richness of a synaesthetical association recurrent in the Pindar’s First Olympian Ode : the brightness of kleos. Despite the numerous studies on the light and on synaesthesia in ancient literature, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to this Pindaric figure of speech, which is not only relevant from a literary point of view, but also useful in reconstructing the performative circumstances of the victory ode and the precise referents of Pindar’s imagery. Moreover, the insistence with which the poet proposes this inter-sensal metaphor to his audience makes it a central notion. After a theoretical and methodological introduction, the author shows the strong connections between the lexical field of kleos and the realm of sounds. In fact, we have to assume that the transition of “fame” from its original meaning “report, rumour” is not complete at the time of Pindar, and that, moreover, he consciously stresses the etymological meaning of kleos through the insistent association with the idea of light. This linguistic explanation is the key-point thanks to which it is possible to fully appreciate the synaesthetical value of the association light-kleos. The analysis of two passages (Ol. I, vv. 23-24 and 93-95), in which this figure of speech is evident, is followed by a third one (Ol. I, vv. 103-105). Thanks to the inquiry into the central notion of the brightness of kleos, the author is able to propose a deep and detailed interpretation of the metaphor of v. 105, whose intelligibility mostly depends on the sense to give to the term ptuché. This words would refer to a metaphorical shield of songs – bright and sonorous – forged by the poet for Hieron. A set of important testimonies, among whom literary references to the Homeric Shield of Achilles and to the Seven against Thebes by Aeschylus, are evoked to corroborate this interpretation.