Pindare et l’économie numérique

Abstract

Pindar and the Digital Economy. Recent interpretations of Pindar’s poems have highlighted their inclusion in the world of the elites in the late sixth and early fifth century BC. These interpretations have been favored by Pindar’s own insistence on social exchanges : charis is the ubiquitous word which characterizes them, and which appears also behind the metaphors of “ expenditure” (dapanè) and “ charge” (ponos). Thus Pindar himself encouraged modern interpreters to understand with socio-economic terms the values system that accompanies epinikion and that he broadcasts. But new economic theories can also bring new light to the socio-cultural phenomenon that is Pindar’s epinikion : redefining the concepts of “ good”, “ consumption” and “ market”, they help us to avoid the assimilation of the Pindaric expenditure to degradation, destruction and annihilation. The link made by Pindar between expenditure and glory takes on new meaning, which will not disappoint the advocates of information economy or of digital economy.