Download or read book Pindar and the Cult of Heroes written by Bruno Currie and published by Oxford Classical Monographs. This book was released on 2005 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pindar and the Cult of Heroes takes a radical new look at the veneration and cult of heroic men, living and dead, in ancient Greece. Bruno Currie finds the roots of the Hellenistic ruler cult, and hence Roman emperor cult, in the 5th century BC (and earlier). Pindar's victory odes represent a crucial stage in this process. Currie also offers a major re-evaluation of the epinician genre and extensive studies of five of Pindar's odes.