Of weddings and games: a reading of the proemium to Pindar's Olympian 7

This article seeks to examine the proemium (1-19) to Pindar's Olympian 7, so as to highlight the opening strategy of the epinician song and the poet's arrival to the celebration of the acclaimed victorious athlete, the boxer Diagoras of Rodes. The analysis focus on the bond between the world of gamos -the wedding - and the world of nike - of the athletic victory built by means of the long initial simile (1-10) which prepares the announcement of Pindar's disembark - of his voice - in the island of his laudandus.