Heracles, Rhadamanthys and justice

An interpretation of Pindar's Fr 169a Maehler

Abstract

This text sets forth a new interpretation for Pindar’s controversial fr. 169a Maehler, a poem widely referred to in Antiquity because of the maxim with which it might have begun: νόμος ὁ πάντων βασιλεύς. After reviewing the main readings so far proposed and revisiting the complex treatment that Pindar gave to the Heracles myth, the text goes on to suggest that Pindar referred to a statute attributed to legendary legislator Rhadamanthus, who was also a character in the hero’s myth. It is argued that Pindar states that the order of the world accepts a type of regulated violence that, in spite of appearances, actually promotes justice.