so on); and melodic composition (melopoiïa, basically the use to which the notes are put in
melodies). The discussion of the last three topics has not been preserved in the treatise, but
can be reconstructed from later Aristoxenian writers such as K, B and
G, who in their handbooks gave a scholastic exposition of the master’s doctrines.
Of the Elementa Rhythmica we have only
a section of Book 2, but we can infer the
main topics of its missing portion from
later sources such as Bakkheios, A-
Q and the Byzantine
scholar Michael Psellos, as well as from
POxy 34 (1968) 2687 plus POxy 1 (1898) 9
(identified by scholars as an Aristoxenian
source). In this treatise, Aristoxenos
asserted that rhythm is a temporal struc-
ture imposed on a medium susceptible of
rhythmic formation (to rhuthmizomenon, i.e.
speech, melody, or bodily movement) to
which rhythm gives a particular arrange-
ment of khronoi. To be “rhythmic,” these
arrangements need a clear ratio between
arsis (ano ̄, the up-beat) and thesis (kato ̄, the
down-beat), and they are defined by refer-
ence to a minimal time-length, different
from the syllable, to which the performer
will match each of his notes, the “primary
duration” or pro ̄tos khronos. Thus, for the
first time in antiquity, rhythm is described
as something independent, not inherent in the syllabic structure, therefore no longer subject
to verbal prosody. Confirming its importance, Aristoxenos devoted an entire work (On the
Primary Duration) to this topic, as attested by Porphurios.
Ed.: R. Da Rios, Aristoxeni Elementa Harmonica (1954); F. Wehrli, Aristoxenus (1967); Barker (1989)
119 – 189; L. Pearson, Aristoxenus, Elementa Rhythmica. The fragment of book II and the additional evidence for
Aristoxenean rhythmic theory (1990).
L. Laloy, Aristoxène de Tarente, disciple d’Aristote, et la musique de l’antiquité (1904; repr. 1973); A. Bélis,
Aristoxène de Tarente et Aristote: le Traité d’Harmonique (1986); M. Litchfield, “Aristoxenus and empiricism:
a reevaluation based on his theories,” JMT 32 (1988) 51–73; A.D. Barker, “Aristoxenus’ harmonics
and Aristotle’s theory of science,” in Bowen (1991) 188–226; Mathiesen (1999) 294–344; A. Visconti,
Aristosseno di Taranto. Biografia e formazione spirituale (1999); A.D. Barker, The science of harmonics in classical
Greece (2007) 113–259.
E. Rocconi
Aristullos (300 – 265 BCE)
Astronomer cited in P, Alm. 7.3 for the undated measurement of the declinations
of six fixed stars. Ptolemy (Alm. 7.1) reports that H had access to a few such
measurements by Aristullos and T and that, on such a basis, he conjectured the
precession of the equinoxes. It is doubtful that Aristullos’ measurements were made with
this question in mind. A better hypothesis would be that they were part of an effort to
Aristoxenos: the Great Perfect System © Rocconi
ARISTULLOS