Professional Musicians in Ancient Greece

J. A. Kemp

doi:10.1017/S0017383500015552

Professional Musicians in Ancient Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009

J. A. Kemp

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The music of the ancient Greeks, apart from a dozen or so fragments from the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman period, is lost to us. It is unlikely that we shall ever be in a position to appreciate it as we can appreciate their architecture, sculpture, and literature. We can only conjecture as to the extent of our loss from the high regard in which it was held by the Greeks themselves. From Homer onwards Greek authors give an honourable place to it. In lyric poetry, drama, and dithyramb it was a vital element, and Plato and Aristotle were deeply concerned about its use in education and its effect on character. The music teacher (κιθαριστ⋯ς) provided an important part of every boy's education. In some states musical education was compulsory (e.g. in Arcadia up to the age of thirty and in Crete). Without a knowledge of music the Greek was considered uneducated.

Type: Research Article
Information: Greece & Rome , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , October 1966 , pp. 213 - 222

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017383500015552 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1966

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^{page 213 note 1} Plato, Laws 812; id. Protog. 326 a–b; cf. Aristoph., Clouds 961 ff.

^{page 213 note 2} Polyb. iv. 20.

^{page 213 note 3} Aelian, Var. Hist. ii. 39.

^{page 213 note 4} Cf. Wasps 989 and Plato, , Laws 654 bGoogle Scholar ‘the well educated man would be able to sing and to dance well’. See also Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 2. 4.

^{page 213 note 5} Pol. viii. 3 and 5–6.

^{page 213 note 6} See Pickard-Cambridge, A., Dramatic Festivals of Athens (Oxford, 1953), ch. vii.Google Scholar

^{page 214 note 1} Od. viii. 69–73.

^{page 214 note 2} Od. xxii. 347 ff.; viii. 488.

^{page 214 note 3} Od. xxii. 345–6.

^{page 215 note 1} Od. xvii. 383–5.

^{page 215 note 2} e.g. Od. viii. 496, where καταλ⋯ξῃς is used; cf. Od. xi. 367 and 368. This and other topics relating to musicians in Homer are discussed at length in the following books and articles: Chadwick, H. M., The Heroic Age (Cambridge, 1912)Google Scholar, ch. xi; Diehl, E., Rhein. Mus. 89 (1940), 81 ff.Google Scholar; Pagliaro, A., Ricerche tinguistiche ii (1951), 1 ff.Google Scholar; Patzer, H., Hermes 80 (1952), 314 ff.Google Scholar; Sealey, R., Rev. Ét. Grec. 70 (1957), 312–55Google Scholar; Schadewaldt, W., Von Homers Welt und Werk (Leipzig, 1944)Google Scholar. See also relevant articles in Pauly-Wissowa.

^{page 215 note 3} Plut. de mus. 3–4; Strabo, xiii. 2. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 216 note 1} Paus, . x. 7. 4–5.Google Scholar

^{page 216 note 2} Pyth. xii.

^{page 216 note 3} Frg. 79 in Anth. Lyr. Graec, ed. E. Diehl (1925).

^{page 216 note 4} A good account of music festivals is contained in Reisch, E., De musicis Graecorum certaminibus (Vienna, 1885)Google Scholar, and more recently there is an account of the Panathenea by Davison, J. A. in JHS 78 (1958), 23–42.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 217 note 1} in Meid. 13–14.

^{page 217 note 2} Xen. Symp. ii. i; ibid. ix. 3; Plato. Protag, 347 c–d.

^{page 217 note 3} Isocr. Antid. 387; Aristoph. Wasps 1371; Athen. i. 27 d; xii. 532 c; Theophr. Char. xi. 7, xx. 10.

^{page 217 note 4} Plut. Lys. 15; Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 23; Paus. iv. 27. 7.

^{page 217 note 5} Paus. v. 7. 10, vi. 14. 10; Plut. de mus. 26.

^{page 217 note 6} Athen. xii. 535 d; Plut. Alcib. 32; Dem. de Cor. 129.

^{page 217 note 7} Nat. Anim. vi. 31; xvii. 18.

^{page 217 note 8} de aud. poet. 2.

^{page 217 note 9} Thuc. v. 69–70; Lucian, de salt. 10; Plut. Lyc. 21–22; id. de mus. 26.

^{page 217 note 10} See Ehrenberg, V., The People of Aristophanes (Oxford, 1951)Google Scholar, Plate XI (b); cf. Athen. xii. 518 b, which, however, relates to Etruscans, not Greeks.

^{page 218 note 1} Athen. iv. 184 d.

^{page 218 note 2} Paus. ix. 12. 4.

^{page 218 note 3} Paus. iv. 27. 7.

^{page 218 note 4} Athen. xii. 535 d; Plut. Alcib. 32.

^{page 218 note 5} e.g. Diog. Laert. vii. 125.

^{page 218 note 6} Plut. Per. 1.

^{page 218 note 7} Pol. viii. 6.

^{page 219 note 1} Dio Chrys. xlix. 12; Apul. Florid. 4.

^{page 219 note 2} Plato, , Laws 812 b.Google Scholar

^{page 219 note 3} Athen. iv. 184d; xiv. 617 b.

^{page 219 note 4} Plato, , Alcib. 1. 106 e.Google Scholar

^{page 219 note 5} Plut. Pelop. 19

^{page 219 note 6} Plato, , Rep. 399 dGoogle Scholar; Arist. Pol. viii. 6. 5.

^{page 219 note 7} Aristoph. Clouds 968 ff.; id. Frogs 1314; Pherecrates ap. Plut. de mus. 30; Plato, , Laws 700 ff.Google Scholar, 812 b; Aristox. ap. Athen. xiv. 631 f.

^{page 219 note 8} Akad. der Wiss. in Wien (Phil.-hist.) 199 (1923), Abh. 3 entitled Zur Geschichte des musikalischen Zunftwesens.

^{page 220 note 1} de astral. 2; cf. id. Harm. 1.

^{page 220 note 2} Poetics 26; Rhet. iii. 11. 132. 6.

^{page 220 note 3} adv. indoct. 9.

^{page 220 note 4} Xen., Ath. Pol. i. 13.

^{page 220 note 5} Plato, , Rep. 373 b.Google Scholar

^{page 220 note 6} Pol. iii. 1. 13.

^{page 220 note 7} Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 953; Plut. Phoc. 30.

^{page 220 note 8} But N.B. Dem. in Meid. 58, where Sannio had been disfranchised, but still carries on as chorus trainer for a tragedy.

^{page 220 note 9} See Pickard-Cambridge, , op. cit. 89–92.Google Scholar

^{page 220 note 10} xiv. 617 b.

^{page 221 note 1} Ath. Pol. 50.

^{page 221 note 2} CIA ii. 2. 965.

^{page 221 note 3} Hesperia, 24 (1955), 305–19.

^{page 221 note 4} See Bieber, M.'s article in Ath. Mitt, xxxvi (1911), 273Google Scholar; also in Jahrb. des deutschen Arch. Inst. xxxii (1917), 65 f.

^{page 221 note 5} See Pickard-Cambridge, , op. cit. 164–5.Google Scholar

^{page 221 note 6} i 24.

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