Cheeks, Jaws, Effort and Auletics: Observations on Pindar’s Pythian 12

Mnemosyne. A Journal of Classical Studies. 2022. Vol. 75. No. 5. P. 697–718.

Olga L. Akhunova

 This paper is an attempt to clarify a number of difficult places in Pindar’s description

of the Gorgons’ lament in Pythian  12, which have given rise to inconsistent interpretations

and remain insufficiently clear (δυσπενθέϊ σὺν καμάτῳ, 10; εὐπαράου Μεδοίσας, 16;

τὸν … ἐκ καρπαλιμᾶν γενύων χριμφθέντα … γόον, 20-21). The central contention is that

these details are directly relevant to the technical aspects of aulos-playing (the strain

which is required to produce the sound, the position and movement of the mouth, the

‘good-quality’ cheeks) and provide clues to intriguing details of the myth that Pindar

tells in Pythian  12.

 

Keywords: myth, sound, Pindar, Gorgons, embouchure, aulos

Publication based on the results of: Пиндар. Пифийские оды: русский перевод с параллельным греческим текстом, научным комментарием и справочным аппаратом (2022)