Modelli pindarici nella parodo dell'Aiace

Intertextuality between lyrics and tragedy is a fascinating, yet difficult topic: while echoes from lyric poetry as genre model are widely recognized, the employment of lyric passages as example models is rarer and difficult to argue for. This paper aims at reassessing the evidence on a controversial case, i.e. the presence of epinician motifs in the parodos of Sophocles’ Ajax. By applying some principles of intertextual studies, the argumentation reconstructs the public’s competence in Pindaric texts and compares Sophocles’ text with the most relevant passages from victory songs. Far from being part of a mere literary discussion upon the adaptation of the myth of Ajax, Sophocles’ reworking of Pindar’s odes cooperates with the whole composition of the parodos and with several dramaturgic features in order to characterize the Chorus of Salaminian sailors.