Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

contexts; percussion instruments (which included cymbals,
castanets, and hand-held drums) were used in entertainment
and in ecstatic religious worship.
Our knowledge of how Greek music actually sounded
comes largely from numerous ancient works on music theory,
based on the tuning of stringed instruments. Th e fundamen-
tal unit of the Greek scale was the tetrachord: four tones, with
the top and bottom forming an interval of a fourth and the
other two varying. An octave scale or mode could be built
up of two tetrachords, with varying combinations possible,
named aft er their alleged national origin (for example, Dorian,
Lydian, or Phrygian). Th e sequence of intervals in most was
diff erent from our major and minor scales. Th e Dorian, for
example, roughly corresponded to a scale played entirely on
the white keys of a piano starting on E. Th e modes, however,
had varying tonal centers: In a modern scale, the lowest note
is the tonic, with the function of other notes determined in
relation to it; for a Greek mode the tonal center might lie
elsewhere. Tuning of instruments was also diff erent: Octaves
were not necessarily divided into equal parts as in modern
equal-temperament systems. Furthermore, the size of inter-
vals could vary: Modern systems use only the whole tone and
the semitone, but the Greeks made frequent use of quarter

tones and other small intervals (non-Western musical tradi-

tions and some innovative jazz and modern composers make

use of such intervals).

Greek music was almost entirely melodic rather than har-

monic; that is, in most cases only one note was played or sung

at a time. Choruses sang in unison or in octaves; although

the musical accompaniment may have played a diff erent note

from the sung one, there was no counterpoint or complex

harmony. Th e rhythm of Greek music was complex and tied

closely to the rhythms of Greek poetry, which it frequently ac-

companied. Th ere exist nearly 50 examples of Greek musical

notation; recreations of Greek music based on these examples

tend to sound exotic to Western ears, sometimes reminding

listeners of Indian or Middle Eastern music.

Audiences for musical performances ranged from a few

guests at a symposium (a drinking party in someone’s home)

to 30,000 or so spectators in a theater. Most musical genres

were also poetic genres. Epic poetry was accompanied by the

phorminx (a type of kithara), lyric by a lyre or kithara. Per-

haps the most signifi cant and certainly the most spectacular

genre was choral poetry, in which a group of performers sang

and danced (the word chorus means “dance”) to the accom-

paniment of an aulos. Th is was a diverse genre, ranging from

the victory odes of the poet Pindar to the choral sections of

tragedy (a dramatic form that developed when individual

performers were added to engage in dialogue with the cho-

rus). In typical Greek fashion both choral poetry and solo

performances of songs with kithara accompaniment became

objects of competition at major festivals: Musicians as well as

athletes could be Olympic victors. Literary sources describe

(not always with approval) the virtuosity and innovation of

composers and musicians in this highly competitive environ-

ment.

Music was an important part of education, and to be an

accomplished lyre player was a valued sign of upper-class

status. Moreover, music was thought to have important ef-

fects on moral character. Plato, drawing on the work of earlier

theorists, rejected musical modes that supposedly promoted

excessive emotion and approved of only those believed to en-

gender courage and moderation (the Dorian and Phrygian).

Similarly he condemned the aulos for its overly expressive

nature. Aristotle’s Politics contains an extended discussion

of the eff ects of music on the souls of citizens. For the math-

ematician-philosopher Pythagoras the harmonies present in

music, based on mathematics, were a sign of the harmony of

the world as a whole—a mystical line of thought followed by

many other ancient Greek philosophers.

ROME

BY AMY HACKNEY BLACKWELL

Ancient Romans loved music. Music was a part of most so-

cial gatherings, from dinner parties to parades. Farmers sang

folk songs as they worked in the fi elds, women sang as they

went about their daily chores, and admired performers were

Th e Greek god Apollo with a kithara, a stringed instrument similar
to a lyre (Alison Frantz Photographic Collection, American School of
Classical Studies at Athens)

770 music and musical instruments: Rome