# Arkesilas — Victory Odes character guide

> Arkesilas in Victory Odes by Pindar.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Arkesilas of Kyrene, king Arkesilas

**First appearance:** 0001-victory-odes

## Snapshot

King of Kyrene, descendant of the huntress-nymph Kyrene and Apollo, Arkesilas rules a city of chariots and flocks whose victories Pindar is called to celebrate.

## Who they are

Arkesilas sits at the center of a court where myth and politics intertwine: his ancestor Kyrene wrestled lions bare-handed before Apollo carried her off, and that wild lineage now governs a wealthy North African kingdom. The tension in his odes is the gap between divine descent and human fragility, between the glory of the race and the exile of a nobleman Pindar hopes to reconcile. He matters because his patronage links the poet to a dynasty whose mythic past is the raw material of some of Pindar's most vivid storytelling.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/victory_odes_se/chapters/iv)

Victorious in the chariot race, eighth in the line of Battus.

### [V For Arkesilas of Kyrene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/victory_odes_se/chapters/v)

The victor celebrated in this ode; praised for his wealth, justice, and divine favor from Kastor and Apollo.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/victory_odes_se/chapters/endnotes)

King Arkesilas of Kyrene, recipient of a peace-offering ode.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/victory_odes_se/characters/arkesilas_of_kyrene
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/victory_odes_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/victory_odes_se/characters