epinīkion

epinīkion (Lat. epinīcium), epinician ode, a form of Greek choral lyric composed in the grand manner in honour of a victory in one of the great Games in Greece, and publicly performed usually upon the victor's return to his city. The principal epinician poets whose odes are still largely extant are Pindar and Bacchylides. Of Simonides' epinicians only a few lines survive. Virtually all the odes adhere to a standard pattern: they are usually written in triads, they eulogize the victor and his family and city, they narrate a myth, and they relate the victory to life in general, often by means of moral reflections and exhortations which may seem sombre in the context of victory and celebration.