Pindaric Scholarship between Aristarchus and Didymus: An Edition of the Fragments with Explanatory Notes and a Discussion of Early Pindaric Scholarship

The aim of this thesis is to explore Hellenistic scholarship on Pindar in the period between Aristarchus and Didymus. Although no ancient scholarly work on Pindar survives in its entirety, the Pindar scholia and other indirect sources show that about a dozen scholars known by name worked on Pindar in the period studied. The present study sets out to collect and edit anew the fragments of these scholars, as well as to analyse their content and situate them within the wider context of Hellenistic scholarship. The thesis consists of two parts. Part I serves the purpose of a general commentary on Hellenistic scholarship on Pindar. Chapter 2 situates the collected fragments within the larger context of Hellenistic scholarship with a focus on the work of Aristarchus and Didymus, questioning the view that Aristarchus did not take an historical view of Pindar’s poetry. Chapter 3 identifies the Pindaric scholars active in the period studied and explores their work in individual sections. Chapter 4 focuses on Pindaric scholarship in general. It shows that the ancient Pindarists generally did not restrict themselves to interpreting Pindar by his own works exclusively, but used all information available to them when interpreting the poet. Part II contains the actual collection of fragments of named and known Pindarists contemporary with or active between Aristarchus and Didymus. It is accompanied by an English translation along with a commentary on details of language, transmission and content.