Integrating Music and Religion in the Study of the Ancient Greek Aulos and Mousikè
Musical Perceptions - Past and Present. On Ethnographic Analogy and Experimental Archaeology in Music Archaeological Research. 6th Symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archaeology, 2004
1 Pages Posted: 12 May 2013
Date Written: September 9, 2008
Abstract
The aulos has a reputation for being rejected by the classical Greeks. However, this is perception is primarily text-based and a matter of discourse, which can be qualified by studying its equally significant presence in the archaeological, the iconographical, and, especially, in the mythological evidence. The primarily ‘historical’ orientation of the study of ancient Greek music explains why this academic perspective has never fully engaged in the ‘mythical’ dimension of the ancient Greeks’ musical conceptions, even though such a dimension is fundamental. “Mousikè”, after all, literally means “of the Muses”. Music anthropology and ethnomusicology offer approaches and notions to study the ancient Greek Mousikè and aulos in their full complexity and context properly.
Keywords: ancient Greek music, Aulos
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation