Greek lyric poet (522/518-446 BC) from Cynoscephalae, near Thebes, in Boeotia. He came from a noble family, which sent him to Athens to study music and frequent the city’s aristocratic circles. Pindar wrote every type of lyric poetry, composing hymns (poems in honour of the gods), paeans (songs in honour of Apollo), dithyrambs (songs in honour of Dionysus), prosodies (songs of supplication or thanksgiving, sung during a procession towards the sanctuary of a god), partheneia (songs for dances performed by young girls), hyporchemata (lively choral hymns to Apollo), encomia (hymns of praise) and laments (funeral songs), but only his victory odes (Epinikia), songs celebrating a victory at one of the four principal athletic festivals of his day (the Olympian, Nemean, Pythian and Isthmian Games) are preserved in their entirety.