The Delphic Hymns are two musical compositions from Ancient Greece, which survive in substantial fragments. They are dated c.138 BC and 128 BC. The earlier of them, the First Delphic Hymn, is the earliest unambiguous surviving example of notated music from anywhere in the western world. Ancient Greece is the period in Greek history lasting for close to a millennium, until the rise of Christianity. ... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC - 130s BC - 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC Years: 143 BC 142 BC 141 BC 140 BC 139 BC - 138 BC - 137 BC 136 BC... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC - 120s BC - 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC Years: 133 BC 132 BC 131 BC 130 BC 129 BC - 128 BC - 127 BC 126 BC...

The First Delphic Hymn was written to Apollo. It was found inscribed in stone in Delphi in 1893 by a French archaeologist; all that is known about its composer is that it was written by an Athenian, around 138 BC, since the part of the inscription giving the name of the composer is difficult to read. The Second Delphic hymn is slightly more recent, and has been dated to precisely 128 BC; evidently it was first performed in the same year. The name of the composer has also survived, in a separate inscription: Limenius. The occasion of the later hymn was the Pythian Festival, and the earlier hymn was probably written for the boys choir at the Pythian Games in 138 BC. Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth century Greek original (Louvre Museum) In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; or Απελλων, Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros,[1] was the archer-god of medicine and healing and also a bringer of death-dealing plague; as... The amphitheatre, seen from above. ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína IPA: ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ... View of the stadium of the Delphi sanctuary, used for the Pythian Games. ...

The first portion of the First Delphic Hymn, to be played on the kithara; the next section, not shown, is to be played on the aulos.

Media:1st_delphic_hymn.mid Image File history File links First Delphic Hymn, 138 BC, by an anonymous Athenian for the Pythian Games. ... Image File history File links First Delphic Hymn, 138 BC, by an anonymous Athenian for the Pythian Games. ... The kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument. ... Satyr playing an aulos The ancient Greek aulos, often mistranslated as flute, was a double-piped reed instrument. ...

The First Delphic Hymn is monophonic, consisting of a single melodic line, and it is in the cretic meter, which is quintuple, and it is in the Dorian mode — not the Dorian mode as known in the present day, but rather as it originally was in Ancient Greece, roughly corresponding to the present day Phrygian mode (the names of the modes were mixed up by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, who translated ancient Greek theoretical writings into Latin in the 6th century, and the confusion has remained). In addition to being the earliest surviving substantial fragment of ancient music, the First Delphic Hymn is also the longest; unfortunately it is not a complete composition (the Seikilos epitaph, dated anywhere between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD, is the earliest surviving complete piece of music). In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague or informal way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ... Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... Due to historical confusion, Dorian mode can refer to two very different musical modes or diatonic scales. ... Due to historical confusion, Phrygian mode can refer to two very different musical modes or diatonic scales. ... Boethius teaching his students (initial from a 1385 Italian manuscript of the Consolation of Philosophy) Boethius redirects here. ... Music theory is a field of study that involves an investigation of the many diverse elements of a music, including the development and methodology for analyzing, hearing, understanding, and composing music. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... The Seikilos epitaph is famed as the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the western world. ...

Exact performance practice is unknown, but Limenius is mentioned in a separate Delphic inscription as a master player of the kithara; likely he accompanied a singer or singers. While the kithara was used for the first section of the first hymn, the second section is to be performed on the aulos; it is also considerably chromatic. Whether the performer played the same music as the singer(s) in unison, or embellished the melodic line in a heterophonic texture, or played a drone, or improvised some form of counterpoint, are unknown; reconstructions of ancient Greek music are highly controversial, and the sources are often contradictory. The kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument. ... Satyr playing an aulos The ancient Greek aulos, often mistranslated as flute, was a double-piped reed instrument. ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ... Look up heterophony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Drone can refer to many things: // In music A drone is a continuous note or chord. ... Counterpoint is a broad organisational feature of much music, involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ...

Photograph of the original stone at Delphi containing the second of the two hymns to Apollo. The music notation is the line of occasional symbols above the main, uninterrupted line of Greek lettering.

Image File history File links Delphichymn. ... Image File history File links Delphichymn. ...

References

• Warren Anderson/Thomas J. Mathiesen: "Limenius," Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed August 24, 2005), (subscription access)
• Harvard Anthology of Music. Two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1949. ISBN 0674393007

Recordings

• Ancient Greek Music, Atrium Musicae de Madrid (1979), Harmonia Mundi
• Music of Ancient Greece, Ensemble Kérilos, directed by Annie Bélis (1996), K617 Records

External links

• Delphi Historical Information, including a description of the hymns
• Information on some recordings of ancient Greek music
• Limenios: Paean and Processional: contains a photograph of the original engraved stone at Delphi.