Music in Ancient Greece and Rome

Music in Ancient Greece and Romeis a comprehensive introduction to the study of music from Homeric times to the Roman emperor Trajan. John G. Landels offers the first scholarly overview of the practical and performance elements of music, rather than the moral and aesthetic discussion typified by the works of Plato. Illustrated with transcriptions of surviving musical scores, diagrams and line-drawings of instruments and performers, the book explores the contexts in which music played a role, such as mythology and poetry.

Detailed discussion is also given to the instruments, including the aulos, the kithara and the lyre, as well as the ingenious notation system devised by the Greeks which enables us to read the few surviving scores.