Ancient Greek warrior playing the salpinx, late 6th–early 5th century BC, Attic black-figure (lekythos)
Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. This played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks. There are some fragments of actual Greek musical notation,[1][2] many literary references, depictions on ceramics and relevant archaeological remains, such that some things can be known—or reasonably surmised—about what the music sounded like, the general role of music in society, the economics of music, the importance of a professional caste of musicians, etc.
The word music comes from the Muses, the daughters of Zeus and patron goddesses of creative and intellectual endeavours.
Concerning the origin of music and musical instruments: the history of music in ancient Greece is so closely interwoven with Greek mythology and legend that it is often difficult to surmise what is historically true and what is myth. The music and music theory of ancient Greece laid the foundation for western music and western music theory, as it would go on to influence the ancient Romans, the early Christian church and the medieval composers.[3]: x Our understanding of ancient Greek music theory, musical systems, and musical ethos comes almost entirely from the surviving teachings of the Pythagoreans, Ptolemy, Philodemus, Aristoxenus, Aristides, and Plato.
Some ancient Greek philosophers discussed the study of music in ancient Greece. Pythagoras in particular believed that music was subject to the same mathematical laws of harmony as the mechanics of the cosmos, evolving into an idea known as the music of the spheres.[3]: 130–131 The Pythagoreans focused on the mathematics and the acoustical science of sound and music. They developed tuning systems and harmonic principles that focused on simple integers and ratios, laying a foundation for acoustic science; however, this was not the only school of thought in ancient Greece.[3]: 132 Aristoxenus, who wrote a number of musicological treatises, for example, studied music with a more empirical tendency. Aristoxenus believed that intervals should be judged by ear instead of mathematical ratios,[4] though Aristoxenus was influenced by Pythagoras and used mathematics terminology and measurements in his research.
^Henderson, p. 327.
^Ulrich and Pisk, p. 16.
^ abcLandels, John G. (2001). Music in Ancient Greece and Rome (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9780415248433. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
^Bélis, Annie (2001). Aristoxenus. Oxford Music Online. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.01248.
and 28 Related for: Music of ancient Greece information
Music was almost universally present in ancientGreek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like...
AncientGreece (Greek: Ἑλλάς, romanized: Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries...
overview of and topical guide to ancientGreece: AncientGreece – Towns ofancientGreece List ofancientGreek cities Regions ofancientGreece Peloponnese...
discussion of the musicofancientGreece, theoretical, philosophical or aesthetic, is fraught with two problems: there are few examples of written music, and...
tibia (Greek aulos), a woodwind instrument, was played at sacrifices to ward off ill influences. Under the influence ofancientGreek theory, music was thought...
Major centers ofAncientmusic developed in China (the Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties), Egypt (the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms), Greece (the Archaic...
significant aspect of Hellenic culture, both within Greece and in the diaspora. Greek musical history extends far back into ancientGreece, since music was a major...
Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancientGreek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland...
A theatrical culture flourished in ancientGreece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political...
their pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of beauty that strongly influenced Western art. The first great ancientGreek civilization...
The AncientGreek accent is believed to have been a melodic or pitch accent. In AncientGreek, one of the final three syllables of each word carries an...
Hellenistic period of AncientGreece, education in a gymnasium school was considered essential for participation in Greek culture. The value of physical education...
AncientGreek architecture came from the Greeks, or Hellenics, whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and...
The ancient Olympic Games (AncientGreek: τὰ Ὀλύμπια, ta Olympia) were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were...
influence ofancientGreece refers to the influence ofAncientGreece on later periods of history, from Medieval times up to the current modern era. Greek culture...
Ceremonies ofAncientGreece encompasses those practices of a formal religious nature celebrating particular moments in the life of the community or individual...
sculpture ofancientGreece is the main surviving type of fine ancientGreek art as, with the exception of painted ancientGreek pottery, almost no ancient Greek...
durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record ofancientGreece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded...
Pederasty in ancientGreece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an older male (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos) usually...
a common aspect ofancientGreece. In the more important cities, and particularly the many ports, it employed a significant number of people and represented...
status and characteristics ofancient and modern-day women in Greece evolved from the events that occurred in the history ofGreece. According to Michael Scott...
and the whole system of Byzantine music which is closely related to the musicofancientGreece. Greek folk music includes Demotika, Cretan and Nisiotika...
The history ofancientGreek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods: the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic...
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancientGreeks, and a genre ofancientGreek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology...
Turkish music). The early Arabs translated and developed Greek texts and works ofmusic and mastered the musical theory of the musicofancientGreece (i.e...
Church music Gospel Worship Hymns Jesus Music Liturgical music Spirituals Gregorian chant Islamic music Modern pagan musicMusicofancientGreece New-age...
Global Information