Henry Spelman was raised in Philadelphia and received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2015. He is the author of numerous articles on early Greek poetry and currently holds the WHD Rouse Junior Research Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge.

• Frontmatter Note on Translations and Conventions List of Abbreviations Precis Part One: Pindar's Audiences Introduction to Part One I: Secondary Audiences I.1: Knowledge of first performance I.2: Knowledge of external realities I.2.A: Public matters I.2.B: Individual circumstances I.2.C: Mythology I.3: Difficult pleasures I.4: Orality and writing II: Vital Light in Isthmian 4 III: Event and Artefact: From Performance to Permanence III.1: Isthmian 2.43 8 III.2: Olympian 10.91 6 III.3: Bacchylides 13.220 31 III.4: Pindar fr. 52o III.5: Nemean 3.76 84 III.6: Bacchylides 3.90 8 III.7: Conclusions IV: The Poetics of Permanence IV.1: Time travel and tradition: Pythian 1 IV.2: The victor's perspective: Nemean 4 IV.3: Epinician lessons: Pythian 6 IV.4: Epic analogues: Pythian 3 IV.5: Epigrammatic interactions: Nemean 5 IV.6: Interwoven perspectives: Nemean 7 and Paean 6 V: Genre and Tradition V.1: Genre V.1.A: Occasions and audiences in cultic poetry V.1.B: Permanence outside epinician V.1.B.i: Paean 7b V.1.B.ii: Dithyramb 2 (fr. 70b) V.1.C: Conclusions: rhetoric and reality V.2: Tradition V.2.A: Alcman and Stesichorus V.2.B: Alcaeus and Sappho V.2.C: Ibycus and Anacreon V.2.D: Common considerations V.2.E: Conclusions: development and continuity V.3: Coda Part Two: Pindar and the Traditions of Lyric Introduction to Part Two VI: The Epinician Past VI.1: Epinician origins in history: athletics, Ibycus, Simonides VI.2: Epinician origins in epinician: from revel to literature VI.2.A: Nemean 8 VI.2.B: Olympian 10 VI.3: The flowers of new poems: Olympian 9 VII: The Epinician Present VII.1: Generic references VII.2: The poet's career VII.3: Patrons and communities VII.4: Other eulogists VII.5: Epinician revels VII.6: Nemean 6 VII.7: Conclusions VIII: The Lyric Past VIII.1: Lyric history VIII.2: Generic enrichment VIII.2.A: Pythian 2 VIII.2.B: Pythian 1 VIII.2.C: Isthmian 2 VIII.3: Conclusions Epilogue Endmatter Bibliography 1. Texts 2. Works cited Index

Spelman's thought-provoking book, with a wide variety of literary evidence and the brand new perspectives he offers, is a useful work that accomplishes its aleged purpose. I therefore recommend it to all interested readers.