Music and Memory in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds

Combines multiple theoretical perspectives and diverse media to examine the relation between music and memory in ancient Greece and Rome.

Explores the deep connection between music and memory in Graeco-Roman culture, and how this connection was understood and experienced by ancient authors, artists, performers, and audiences. Reveals how musical memory formed a fundamental part of social, cultural, ritual, and political life in ancient Greek- and Latin-speaking communities.In Greek mythology, the Muses are Memory's daughters. Their genealogy suggests a deep connection between music and memory in Graeco-Roman culture, but how was this connection understood and experienced by ancient authors, artists, performers, and audiences? How is music remembered and how does it memorialize in a world before recording technology, where sound accumulated differently than it does today? This volume explores music's role in the discourses of cultural memory, communication, and commemoration in ancient Greek and Roman societies. It reveals the many and varied ways in which musical memory formed a fundamental part of social, cultural, ritual, and political life in ancient Greek- and Latin-speaking communities, from classical Athens to Ptolemaic Alexandria and ancient Rome. Drawing on the contributors' interdisciplinary expertise in art history, philology, performance studies, history, and ethnomusicology, eleven original chapters and the editors' Introduction offer new approaches for the study of Graeco-Roman music and musical culture.