Pindar books in order
5th-century BC Greek lyric poet
- Lived
- 516 BC–436 BC
- Country
- Boeotian confederation
- Books
- 2
Pindar published 2 poetry collections. The best-known is Victory Odes.
Updated September 2026
Where to start with Pindar
Start here
Victory Odes
Pindar's most-read book.
Poetry in order
Pythian Odes (1994)
Victory Odes (2024)
About Pindar
Pindar was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is by far the greatest, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich exuberance of his language and matter, and his rolling flood of eloquence, characteristics which, as Horace rightly held, make him inimitable." His poems can also, however, seem difficult and even peculiar. The Athenian comic playwright Eupolis once remarked that they "are already reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elegant learning". Some scholars in the modern age also found his poetry perplexing, at least until the 1896 discovery of some poems by his rival Bacchylides; comparisons of their work showed that many of Pindar's idiosyncrasies are typical of archaic genres rather than of only the poet himself. His poetry, while admired by critics, still challenges the casual reader and his work is largely unread among the general public.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Pindar FAQ
- How many books has Pindar written?
- Pindar published 2 poetry collections that we list, as of September 2026.
- What order should I read Pindar's books in?
- Publication order is a safe choice; the full list is above. Most readers start with Victory Odes.
- What is Pindar's most famous book?
- Victory Odes is Pindar's most widely read book.
Authors like Pindar
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.