Music

The music of ancient Greece was inseparable from poetry and dancing. It was entirely monodic, there being no harmony as the term is commonly understood. The earliest music is virtually unknown, but in the Homeric era a national musical culture existed that was looked upon by later generations as a “golden age.” The chief instrument was the //phorminx,// a lyre used to accompany poet-singers who composed melodies from //nomoi,// short traditional phrases that were repeated. The earliest known musician was tarpender of Lesbos (7th cent. B.C. ). The lyric art of Archil, Sapphon, and Anacreon was also musical in nature