Pindar

Pindar (518–438 B.C.), ancient Greek lyric poet, inventor of the Pindaric ode, a poetic form in which complex rhythms in a series of stanzas hailed the victors in national athletic contests such as the Olympics. His odes were actually sung by a choir. The Pindaric ode influenced later English poetic forms developed by poets such as John Dryden and Thomas Gray.