Pindar's Eighth Pythian Ode was, after Ovid's Metamorphoses (illustrated by Picasso in 1931) and Aristophanes's Lysistrata (1934), the third and last text from classical antiquity which Picasso illustrated. At the request of P.A. Benoit, Picasso executed four drypoints on celluloid for Pindar's text. He cut three pieces out of one of the plates and engraved two figures and a face on them. Picasso's engravings illustrate three aspects of the athletic contest, a wrestling competition at the Pythian Games in Delphi: a young athlete about to begin the match; the triumphant athlete radiating beauty and strength, and, finally the defeated athlete of Pindar's Ode, a short, stocky man with folded arms and dark face. The drypoint mounted on the front cover might be an imaginary portrait of the poet. (Patrick Cramer Pablo Picasso The Illustrated Books, 1983, p. 270)