The healing effect of song in the poetry of Pindar and Theocritus

Abstract

This thesis is a study of medical metaphors which compare song to medicine and poet to physician in the poetry of Pindar and Theocritus. The first chapter examines this theme in early Greek poetry, specifically in the early hexameter of HomerÕs Iliad and Odyssey, and HesiodÕs Theogony. The second chapter focuses on PindarÕs explicit medical comparisons as they define his role as a poet in his victory odes. Finally, a close reading of TheocritusÕ Idyll 11 demonstrates that healing songs are a continuous feature which permeates the Greek poetic tradition, spanning time and genre.