Search results
5 sty 2013 · 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 was used to perform music which was played on all manner of occasions such as religious ceremonies, festivals, private drinking parties (symposia), ...
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.
Music was essential to the pattern and texture of Greek life, as it was an important feature of religious festivals, marriage and funeral rites, and banquet gatherings. Our knowledge of ancient Greek music comes from actual fragments of musical scores, literary references, and the remains of musical instruments.
The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music.
During the Hellenistic period, Greek cultural influence reached its peak in the Mediterranean and beyond. Prosperity and progress in the arts, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy, and science characterize the era.
G reek music, or rather the wider Greek notion of mousikē (sc. tekhnē ‘the Art of the Muses’: cf. Murray and Wilson 2004), was a central aspect of Hellenic culture and identity. With this term the Greeks embraced the entire field of poetic performance, including lyrics and dance as well as music.
The term “music” derives from the Greek “Musa” (singular form for the 9 Muses of antiquity who embodied the arts). Originally, every artistic or spiritual activity was called music. In Plato’s “Politeia” (The Republic) he mentions that “Music is for the soul what gymnastics is for the body”.
