This article discusses Pindar’s usages of the semantically complex noun αἰών. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the contexts in which the word appears, the author offers a classification of the key semantic motivations characteristic of Pindar’s imaginative uses of αἰών. The results of this semantic analysis are also discussed in diachronic context and compared primarily with early epic and Presocratic uses of the word. In the light of this comparison, the article also touches upon the question of possible background of Plato’s innovative philosophical usage of αἰών in Timaeus (37D-38C).
