Knowra Ancient Greek music Ancient Greek music Ancient Greek music combined melody, poetry, and dance in religious rites, theater, education, and civic life. It used distinctive instruments and a theory of scales, rhythm, and modes.
Kithara : A large ancient Greek lyre, played with a plectrum and associated especially with professional performers. Its resonant strings accompanied solo song and competitive performances.
Tetrachord : A group of four pitches spanning a perfect fourth in ancient Greek music theory. Tetrachords were the basic units from which larger scales were assembled.
Ancient Greek theater : A dramatic tradition performed at festivals, combining spoken verse, acting, music, and dance. Choral song and instrumental accompaniment were integral to theatrical performance.
Pythagoras : An ancient Greek thinker traditionally associated with mathematical accounts of musical intervals. Pythagorean tradition linked consonant intervals to numerical ratios.
Ancient Roman music : The musical practices and instruments of ancient Rome, shaped by local traditions and Greek influence. Roman music inherited Greek ideas but developed within different civic and performance settings.
Lyre : A stringed instrument with a soundbox and a pair of arms supporting a crossbar. Its plucked strings were central to Greek musical education and song.
Greek genera : The diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic divisions of the Greek tetrachord. Changing a genus altered the internal intervals and expressive color of a scale.
Ancient Greek dance : A varied tradition of choreographed movement performed at Greek rituals, festivals, theater, and social gatherings. Music and dance commonly formed a single coordinated performance.
Plato : An Athenian philosopher whose dialogues discuss music's ethical and educational effects. His arguments reveal how music was judged as a force shaping character.
Byzantine music : The liturgical singing tradition of the Byzantine Empire, centered on unaccompanied Christian chant. Its medieval vocal practice differs sharply from the poetry-and-instrument performance of ancient Greece.
Show all 27