Agrigento is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento.
HieronI was the son of Deinomenes, the brother of Gelon and tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, Magna Graecia, from 478 to 467 BC. In succeeding Gelon, he conspired against a third brother, Polyzelos.
Phalaris was the tyrant of Akragas in Sicily in Magna Graecia, from approximately 570 to 554 BC.
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.
Gelon also known as Gelo, son of Deinomenes, was a Greek tyrant of the Sicilian cities Gela and Syracuse, Magna Graecia, and first of the Deinomenid rulers.
The Battle of Himera, supposedly fought on the same day as the Battle of Salamis, or at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae, saw the Greek forces of Gelon, King of Syracuse, and Theron, tyrant of Agrigentum, defeat the Carthaginian force of Hamilcar the Magonid, ending a Carthaginian bid to restore the deposed tyrant of Himera. The alleged coincidence of this battle with the naval battle of Salamis and the resultant derailing of a Punic-Persian conspiracy aimed at destroying the Greek civilization is rejected by modern scholars. Scholars also agree that the battle led to the crippling of Carthage's power in Sicily for many decades. It was one of the most important battles of the Sicilian Wars.
Himera, was a large and important ancient Greek city in Magna Graecia, situated on the north coast of Sicily at the mouth of the river of the same name, between Panormus and Cephaloedium in the comune of Termini Imerese.
Theron, son of Aenesidemus, was a Greek tyrant of the town of Acragas in Sicily in Magna Graecia from 488 BC. According to Polyaenus, he came to power by using public funds allocated for the hire of private contractors meant to assist with a temple building project, to instead hire a personal group of bodyguards. With this force at his disposal, he was able to seize control of the town's government. He soon became an ally of Gelo, who at that time controlled Gela, and from 485 BC, Syracuse. Gelo later became Theron's son-in-law.
The Greek lyric poet Pindar composed odes to celebrate victories at all four Panhellenic Games. Of his fourteen Olympian Odes, glorifying victors at the Ancient Olympic Games, the First was positioned at the beginning of the collection by Aristophanes of Byzantium since it included praise for the games as well as of Pelops, who first competed at Elis. It was the most quoted in antiquity and was hailed as the "best of all the odes" by Lucian. Pindar composed the epinikion in honour of his then patron Hieron I, tyrant of Syracuse, whose horse Pherenikos and its jockey were victorious in the single horse race in 476 BC.
Pherenikos was an Ancient Greek chestnut racehorse victorious at the Olympic and Pythian Games in the 470s BC. Pherenikos, whose name means "victory-bearer", was "the most famous racehorse in antiquity". Owned by Hieron I, tyrant of Syracuse, Pherenikos is celebrated in the victory odes of both Pindar and Bacchylides.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Melia, a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, was the consort of Apollo, and the mother, by Apollo, of the Theban hero and prophet Tenerus. She was also the mother of Ismenus, god of the Theban river of the same name. Melia was an important cult figure at Thebes. She was worshipped at the Ismenion, the Temple of Apollo at Thebes, and was associated with a nearby spring.
The History of Greek Sicily began with the foundation of the first Greek colonies around the mid 8th century BC. The Greeks of Sicily were known as Siceliotes.
Olympian 3, 'For Theron of Acragas', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 4, 'For Psaumis of Camarina', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 5, 'For Psaumis of Camarina', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 6, 'For Hagesias of Syracuse', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 7, 'For Diagoras of Rhodes', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 8, 'For Alcimedon of Aegina', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 9, 'For Epharmostus of Opus', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
Olympian 13, 'For Xenophon of Corinth', is an ode by the 5th century BC Greek poet Pindar.
