Greek Music

Definition
Music (or mousike) was an integral part of life in the ancient
Greek world, and the term covered not only music but also
dance, lyrics, and the performance of poetry. A wide range of
instruments were used to perform music which was played on
all manner of occasions such as religious ceremonies, festivals,
private drinking parties (symposia), weddings, funerals, and
during athletic and military activities. Music was also an
important element of Greek education and dramatic
performances held in theatres such as plays, recitals, and
competitions.

MUSICAL ORIGINS
For the ancient Greeks, music was viewed as quite literally a gift
from the gods. The invention of specific instruments is
attributed to particular deities: Hermes the lyre, Pan the
syrinx (panpipes) and Athena the aulos (flute). In Greek
mythology the Muses personified the various elements of
music (in the wide Greek sense of the term) and were said to
entertain the gods on Mt. Olympus with their divine music,
dancing, and singing. Other mythical figures strongly associated
with music are the god of wine Dionysos and his followers the
Satyrs and Maenads. Amphion and Thamyres were both famed
for their skills playing the kithara (guitar) whilst Orpheus was
celebrated as a magnificent singer and lyre player.

The oldest surviving Greek musical instruments are bone auloi

which date from the Neolithic Age (7th-4th millennium BCE)
and were found in western Macedonia, Thessaly, and Mykonos.
The three major civilizations of the Bronze Age in the Aegean
(3000 to 1000 BCE), Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean, all
provide physical evidence of the importance of music in their
respective cultures. Marble figurines from the Cyclades
represent players of both the aulos and the harp. Cretan
hieroglyphic script has three symbols which are musical
instruments - two types of harp and a sistrum (or rattle,
originally from Egypt). An alabaster lyre decorated with swan
heads survives from Knossos and a fresco at Akrotiri on
Thera depicts a blue monkey playing a small triangular lyre.
The Minoan ‘Harvester Vase’ (1500-1450 BCE) from Hagia
Triada on Crete depicts a sistrum player and clay versions of
the instrument have been found in graves across Crete. There is
also some evidence that music may have been written down as
early as the Bronze Age if a Minoan Linear A text on a wall in
Hagia Triada is interpreted as such.

The combining of words and music, melodic and scalar systems,

and several of the most popular musical instruments such as the
aulos and lyre probably derived from the Near East. However,
the Greeks themselves considered the lyre, in particular, as a
‘Greek’ instrument whilst the aulos is often represented in
mythology as an inferior foreign competitor of Eastern origin.
Hence, the great Greek god Apollo, who was believed to be the
master of the lyre, defeated the Phrygian Satyr Marsyas and
his aulos in a musical competition judged by the Muses. The lyre
was also the musical instrument, above all others, which young
Greeks had to learn in their schooling and was recommended as
such by Plato in his Republic.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Greek musical instruments included stringed, wind, and
percussion. By far the most popular were the lyre, aulos
(usually double), and syrinx. Other instruments, however,
included the rattle (sistrum and seistron), cymbals (kymbala),
guitar (kithara), bagpipe (askaulos), conch and triton shells
(kochlos), trumpet (salpinx), horn (keras), tambourine
(rhoptron), shallow drum (tympanon), clappers (krotala),
maracas (phormiskoi), xylophone (psithyra), various versions of
the lyre such as the four-stringed lyre (phorminx) and the multi-
stringed and elongated barbiton, and various types of harps,
usually triangular shaped (e.g. the psalterion). Two unusual
instruments were the rhombos (a wind instrument) which was a
flat rhombus pierced with holes, strung on a cord, and played by
spinning the cord. The second was the hydraulis, a sophisticated
Hellenistic organ which used compressed air and water
pressure maintained by two pedals. Incidentally, stringed
instruments were always played with the fingers or a plectrum
rather than with a bow and in the Classical period, stringed
instruments were favoured over wind as they allowed the player
to also sing, and for the Greeks words were considered more
important than musical sounds.

MUSIC THEORY
There is evidence that the Greeks began to study music theory
as early as the 6th century BCE. This consisted of harmonic,
acoustic, scalar, and melody studies. The earliest surviving (but
fragmentary) text on the subject is the Harmonic Elements by
Aristoxenos, written in the 4th century BCE. Music also became
an element of philosophical study, notably, by the followers of
Pythagoras, who believed that music was a mathematical
expression of the cosmic order. Music was also held to have
certain therapeutic benefits, even medicinal powers over
physical and mental illnesses.

In addition, one of the unique contributions the Greeks made to

the history and development of music is that it can have a moral
and emotional effect on the listener and his or her soul; in
short, that music has an ethical role in society. For this reason,
Plato, considering them rather decadent , banned instruments
capable of producing all of the scales. Likewise, over-
complicated rhythms and music with too fast a tempo were
considered morally dangerous in the great philosopher’s ideal
republic.

Regarding written music, 52 pieces of Greek music survive,

albeit in a fragmentary form. For example, a musical excerpt
from Euripedes’ play Orestes survives, as does an inscription of
music from the Athenian Treasury at Delphi. The most
complete surviving piece of Greek music is the song of Seikilos
from a 2nd century BCE tombstone found at Tralleis near
Ephesos.

MUSICIANS
Greek musicians were very often the composers and lyricists of
the music they performed. Known as the ‘makers of songs’ or
melopoioi, they created melos: a composition of words, tune,
and rhythm. There is evidence that musicians enjoyed an
elevated status in society as indicated by their particular robes
and presence on royal household staff lists. There was even a
specific symbol for musicians in the Cretan hieroglyphic script
and the later Linear B. Professional musicians were male,
although an exception were the courtesans or hetairai who
performed at symposia. However, there are depictions in art of
female musicians, notably the clay dancing lyre players from
Palaikastro. Other professional musicians included the trieraules
who set the beat for the rowers in triremes and trumpet players
and choral singers who accompanied marching soldiers.

MUSIC & RELIGION

Music and dancing accompanied processions on special religious
occasions in various Greek cities and, amongst the most
famous in the Greek world, were the Panathenaia and Great
Dionysia festivals of Athens. Certain religious practices were
usually performed to music, for example, sacrifices and the
pouring of libations. Hymns (parabomia) and prayers
(kateuches) were also sung during processions and at the altar
itself. These were provided by choral groups of professional
musicians, notably aulos players, often attached to particular
sanctuaries, for example, the paeanists in Athens and the aoidoi
and epispondorchestai in the sanctuary of Asklepius at
Epidaurus.

Music, dance, poetry and drama recitals were also a competitive

activity in events such as the pan-Hellenic festivals held at
Isthmia, Delphi and Nemea. However, as with the athletic
competitions, the music contests were of a religious nature in
that excellence was offered to honour the gods. There were two
types of such musical contest: stephanites (sacred with a
symbolic wreath as the prize) and chrematites or thematikoi
(with more tangible prizes such as money or precious goods).
Sparta, Argos and Paros held the earliest such competitions
from the 7th century BCE. In Hellenistic times, musical festivals
and competitions became so common that musicians and
performing artists began to organize themselves into guilds or
Koina.

MUSIC & EDUCATION

Plato informs us that the first schools dedicated to musical
education were created by the Cretans. However, the heyday of
music in the classroom was during the 6th and 5th centuries
BCE when schools of music were established in Athens where
pupils aged between thirteen and sixteen were taught to play
the lyre and kithara and to sing, accompanied by their teacher
on the aulos. Music taught discipline and order and allowed the
educated to better appreciate musical performance. Athletics
and other sporting activities, another major element of the
Greek education, were also done accompanied to music,
particularly in order to increase synchronization.
MUSIC FOR PLEASURE
Music was a staple element of the symposium or all-male
drinking party. After eating, the men each sang a song (skolia)
with an aulos, lyre, or barbiton providing backing music. Often
they sang amusing satirical songs (silloi). Finally, at the end of
the evening, it was common for the group to take to the streets
as a komos (band of revellers) and sing and dance their way
through the town.

Women too could enjoy music in the privacy of their homes.

Usually women played stringed instruments and recited poetry
to music. In addition, household chores such as weaving and
baking were done to music. Children too sang songs (agermos)
at people’s doors to receive small-change and sweets just as
carol-singers do today.

In the theatre, performances of tragedy, comedy, and drama

were all accompanied by music, and singing was provided by a
designated chorus which consisted of as many as 24 singers in
theatre performances of the 5th century BCE.

MUSIC IN ART
Musicians and musical instruments were a popular subject on
frescoes, in sculpture, and on Greek pottery, particularly in the
Geometric, black-figure and red-figure styles. Aside from all of
the major mythological figures previously mentioned, a notable
addition to the subject of music on Greek pottery is the
greatest of heroes Hercules. Late Archaic and Early Attic
pottery often portray the hero with a kithara, and perhaps this
symbolizes the association between physical and musical
exercise which are necessary for a properly balanced education.
Other great heroes such as Achilles, Theseus, and Paris are
also sometimes portrayed playing a musical instrument (usually
a lyre), once again reinforcing the dual aims of an aristocratic
education and the virtue of music. Also, many school scenes on
5th century BCE pottery depict students with both a lyre and a
book-roll, illustrating once again the importance of music in
education. Finally, Lekythoi, slim jars for holding perfumes, are
commonly found in grave contexts and often have music as the
subject of their decoration, perhaps in an attempt to ensure that
the deceased was accompanied by music on their journey into
the next life.