Music in Ancient Greece

The study of the history of Western music usually begins with the Middle Ages, a period in which textual, iconographic and instrumental evidence had afforded in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of its music, both sacred and profane. In recent years, however, in the field of classical studies there has been closer re-reading of sources, Greek in particular, favoured by the discovery of papyri. This has advanced our knowledge of ancient Greek music: literary contexts, rituals, philosophical and scholarly appreciation, its instrumental characteristics and melodies from the few preserved scores. After the fall of the Roman Empire and the triumph of Christianity, classical models collapsed, but today we have reasonable knowledge of an aesthetic element that was particularly appreciated by the ancients. Consequently, we can better understand the beginnings of medieval music, especially in the West.