The Science of Harmonics in Classical Greece

The ancient science of harmonics investigates the arrangements of pitched sounds which form the basis of musical melody, and the principles which govern them. It was the most important branch of Greek musical theory, studied by philosophers, mathematicians and astronomers as well as by musical specialists. This book examines its development during the period when its central ideas and rival schools of thought were established, laying the foundations for the speculations of later antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It concentrates particularly on the theorists’ methods and purposes and the controversies that their various approaches to the subject pro- voked. It also seeks to locate the discipline within the broader cultural environment of the period; and it investigates, sometimes with sur- prising results, the ways in which the theorists’ work draws on and in some cases influences that of philosophers and other intellectuals.

Andrew Barker is Professor of Classics in the Insititute of Archae- ology and Antiquity at the University of Birmingham.