Aristoxenus of Tarentum ( el, Ἀριστόξενος ὁ Ταραντῖνος; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Peripatetic Peripatetic may refer to: *Peripatetic school, a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece *Peripatetic axiom * Peripatetic minority, a mobile population moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade. *Peripatetic Jats There are several ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, and a pupil of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

. Most of his writings, which dealt with

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, have been lost, but one musical treatise, ''Elements of Harmony'' (Greek: Ἁρμονικὰ στοιχεῖα;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''

Elementa harmonica ''Elementa harmonica'' is a treatise on the subject of musical scales by Aristoxenus, of which considerable amounts are extant. The work dates to the second half of the 4th century BC. It is the oldest substantially surviving work written on the s ...

''), survives incomplete, as well as some fragments concerning

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

and

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

. The ''Elements'' is the chief source of our knowledge of

ancient Greek music Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greek ...

."Aristoxenus of Tarentum" in ''

Chambers's Encyclopædia ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia'' was founded in 1859Chambers, W. & R"Concluding Notice"in ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia''. London: W. & R. Chambers, 1868, Vol. 10, pp. v–viii. by William Chambers (publisher), William and Robert Chambers (publisher ...

''. London:

George Newnes Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet (13 March 1851 – 9 June 1910) was a British publisher and editor and a founding figure in popular journalism. Newnes also served as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for two decades. His company, George Newnes ...

, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 593.

Life

Aristoxenus was born at

Tarentum Tarentum may refer to: * Taranto, Apulia, Italy, on the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarentum (formerly the Greek colony of Taras) **See also History of Taranto * Tarentum (Campus Martius), also Terentum, an area in or on the edge of the Camp ...

, and was the son of a learned musician named Spintharus (otherwise Mnesias). He learned music from his father, and having then been instructed by Lamprus of Erythrae and

Xenophilus Xenophilus ( el, Ξενόφιλος; 4th century BC), of Chalcidice, was a Pythagorean philosopher and musician who lived in the first half of the 4th century BC. Aulus Gellius relates that Xenophilus was the intimate friend and teacher of Aristo ...

the

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

, he finally became a pupil of

, whom he appears to have rivaled in the variety of his studies. According to the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

'',Suda, ''Aristoxenos'' he heaped insults on Aristotle after his death, because Aristotle had designated

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...

as the next

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

of the

Peripatetic school The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...

, a position which Aristoxenus himself had coveted having achieved great distinction as a pupil of Aristotle. This story is, however, contradicted by Aristocles, who asserts that he never mentioned Aristotle but with the greatest respect. Nothing is known of his life after the time of Aristotle's departure, apart from a comment in ''Elementa Harmonica'' concerning his works.(ed. "No more of his life-history is known....")

Overview of his works

His writings were said to have consisted of four hundred and fifty-three books, and dealt with

and

. Although his final years were in the

, and he hoped to succeed Aristotle on his death, Aristoxenus was strongly influenced by

Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek col ...

, and was only a follower of Aristotle in so far as Aristotle was a follower of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samos, Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionians, Ionian Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher and the eponymou ...

. Thus, as Sophie Gibson tells us, “the various philosophical influences” on Aristoxenus included growing up in the profoundly Pythagorean city of Taras (Tarentum), home also of the two Pythagoreans Archytas and

Philolaus Philolaus (; grc, Φιλόλαος, ''Philólaos''; ) was a Greek Pythagorean and pre-Socratic philosopher. He was born in a Greek colony in Italy and migrated to Greece. Philolaus has been called one of three most prominent figures in the Pyt ...

, and his father's (Pythagorean) musical background, which he inculcated into his son. Gibson tells us that, after the influence of his father: However, Aristoxenus disagreed with earlier Pythagorean musical theory in several respects, building on their work with ideas of his own. The only work of his that has come down to us is the three books of the ''Elements of Harmony'', an incomplete musical treatise. Aristoxenus' theory had an empirical tendency; in music he held that the notes of the scale are to be judged, not as earlier Pythagoreans had believed, by mathematical ratio, but by the ear.

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...

in his ''

De architectura (''On architecture'', published as ''Ten Books on Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide f ...

'' paraphrases the writings of Aristoxenus on music. His ideas were responded to and developed by some later theorists such as

Archestratus Archestratus ( grc-gre, Ἀρχέστρατος ''Archestratos'') was an ancient Greek poet of Gela or Syracuse, in Sicily, who wrote some time in the mid 4th century BCE, and was known as "the Daedalus of tasty dishes". His humorous didactic poe ...

, and his place in the methodological debate between rationalists and empiricists was commented upon by such writers as Ptolemais of Cyrene. The Pythagorean theory that the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

is a 'harmony' of the

four elements Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simi ...

composing the body, and therefore mortal ("nothing at all," in the words of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

), was ascribed to Aristoxenus (fr. 118–121 Wehrli) and

Dicaearchus Dicaearchus of Messana (; grc-gre, Δικαίαρχος ''Dikaiarkhos''; ), also written Dikaiarchos (), was a Greek philosopher, geographer and author. Dicaearchus was a student of Aristotle in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains exta ...

. This theory is comparable to the one offered by Simmias in Plato's ''Phaedo''.

''Elementa harmonica''

In his '' Elements of Harmony'' (also ''Harmonics''), Aristoxenus attempted a complete and systematic exposition of

. The first book contains an explanation of the

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

Greek music The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its History of Greece, history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek folk music, Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originat ...

, and also of their

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

; this is followed by some general definitions of terms, particularly those of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

, interval, and

system A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...

.Sir John Hawkins, (1868), ''A General History of the Science and Practice of Music'', Volume 1, pp. 66–7 In the second book Aristoxenus divides music into seven parts, which he takes to be: the genera, intervals, sounds, systems, tones or modes, mutations, and ''melopoeia''. The remainder of the work is taken up with a discussion of the many parts of music according to the order which he had himself prescribed. While it is often held among modern scholars that Aristoxenus rejected the opinion of the

Pythagoreans Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton, ...

that arithmetic rules were the ultimate judge of intervals and that in every system there must be found a mathematical coincidence before such a system can be said to be harmonic, Aristoxenus made extensive use of arithmetic terminology, notably to define varieties of

semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

s and dieses in his descriptions of the various genera. In his second book he asserted that "by the hearing we judge of the magnitude of an interval, and by the understanding we consider its many powers." And further he wrote, "that the nature of melody is best discovered by the perception of sense, and is retained by memory; and that there is no other way of arriving at the knowledge of music;" and though, he wrote, "others affirm that it is by the study of instruments that we attain this knowledge;" this, he wrote, is talking wildly, "for just as it is not necessary for him who writes an Iambic to attend to the arithmetical proportions of the feet of which it is composed, so it is not necessary for him who writes a Phrygian song to attend to the ratios of the sounds proper thereto." However, this should not be construed as meaning that he postulated a simplistic system of harmony resembling that of modern twelve tone theory, and especially not an equally tempered system. As he urges us to consider, "(a)fter all, with which of the people who argue about the shades of the

should one agree? Not everyone looks to the same division when tuning the

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...

or the

enharmonic In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...

, so why should the note a ditone from mesé be called lichanos rather than a small amount higher?" It is sometimes claimed that the nature of Aristoxenus' scales and genera deviated sharply from his predecessors. That Aristoxenus used a model for creating scales based upon the notion of a topos, or range of pitch location, is fact, however there is no reason to believe that he alone set this precedent, as he himself does not make this claim. Indeed, the idea of unfixed pitch locations that cover certain ranges, the limits of which may be defined by fixed points, is a notion that was popular until the modern fixation upon fixed pitch systems, as is indicated by Baroque theoretical systems of pitch and intonation. Another way of stating this, however perhaps less accurate, is that instead of using discrete ratios to place intervals, he used continuously variable quantities. The postulation that this resulted in the structuring of his tetrachords and the resulting scales having 'other' qualities of consonanceJohn Chalmers, (1993) ''Divisions of the Tetrachord'', Chapter 3, pp. 17–22. Frog Peak Music. . is one that can only be accounted for by the recourse to often repeated inconsistencies amongst his interpreters and modern confirmation bias in favour of simplified twelve tone theories. Aristoxenus himself held that "(...) two things must not be overlooked: first, that many people have mistakenly supposed us to be saying that a tone can be divided into three equal parts in a melody. They made this mistake because they did not realise that it is one thing to employ the third part of a tone, and another to divide a tone into three parts and sing all three. Secondly we accept that from a purely abstract point of view there is no least interval." In book three Aristoxenus goes on to describe twenty eight laws of melodic succession, which are of great interest to those concerned with classical Greek melodic structure.

On rhythmics and metrics

Part of the second book of a work on rhythmics and metrics, ''Elementa rhythmica'', is preserved in medieval manuscript tradition. Aristoxenus was also the author of a work ''On the Primary Duration'' (''chronos''). A five-column fragment of a treatise on meter ( P. Oxy. 9br>2687
was published in Grenfell and

Hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, e ...

's ''

Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...

'', vol. 1 (1898) and is probably by Aristoxenus.

Other works

The edition of Wehrli presents the surviving evidence for works with the following titles (not including several fragments of uncertain origin): * ''Life of Pythagoras'' (Πυθαγόρου βίος): fr. 11 Wehrli * ''On Pythagoras and his pupils'' (Περὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ τῶν γνωρίμων αὐτοῦ): fr. 14 Wehrli * ''On the Pythagorean life'' (Περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγορικοῦ βίου): fr. 31 Wehrli * ''Pythagorean maxims'' or ''Pythagorean negations'' (Πυθαγορικαὶ ἀποφάσεις): fr. 34 Wehrli * ''Educational customs'' or ''Rules of education'' (Παιδευτικοὶ νόμοι): fr. 42–43 Wehrli * ''Political laws'' (Πολιτικοὶ νόμοι): fr. 44–45 Wehrli * ''Mantinean character'' (Μαντινέων ἔθη): fr. 45, I, lines 1–9 Wehrli * ''Praise of Mantineans'' (Μαντινέων ἐγκώμιον): fr. 45, I, lines 10–12 Wehrli * ''Life of Archytas'' (Ἀρχύτα βίος): fr. 47–50 Wehrli * ''Life of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

'' (Σωκράτους βίος): fr. 54 Wehrli * ''Life of Plato'' (Πλάτωνος βίος): fr. 64 Wehrli * ''On tonoi'' (Περὶ τόνων): a brief quotation in Porphyry'
commentary
on Ptolemy's ''Harmonics'', p. 78 Düring (not edited by Wehrli) * ''On music'' (Περὶ μουσικῆς): fr. 80, 82, 89 Wehrli * ''On listening to music'' or ''Lecture course on music'' (Μουσικὴ ἀκρόασις): fr. 90 Wehrli * ''On Praxidamas'' (Πραξιδαμάντεια): fr. 91 Wehrli * ''On melodic composition'' or ''On music in lyric poetry'' (Περὶ μελοποιίας): fr. 93 Wehrli * ''On musical instruments'' (Περὶ ὀργάνων): fr. 94–95, 102 Wehrli * ''On aulos'' (Περὶ αὐλῶν): fr. 96 Wehrli * ''On auletes'' (Περὶ αὐλητῶν): fr. 100 Wehrli * ''On the boring of aulos'' (Περὶ αὐλῶν τρήσεως): fr. 101 Wehrli * ''On choruses'' (Περὶ χορῶν): fr. 103 Wehrli * ''On tragic dancing'' (Περὶ τραγικῆς ὀρχήσεως): fr. 104–106 Wehrli * ''Comparisons of dances'' (Συγκρίσεις): fr. 109 Wehrli * ''On tragic poets'' (Περὶ τραγῳδοποιῶν): fr. 113 Wehrli * ''Life of Telestes'' (Τελέστου βίος): fr. 117 Wehrli (according to whom this Telestes is the

dithyramb The dithyramb (; grc, διθύραμβος, ''dithyrambos'') was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god. Plato, in ''The Laws'', while discussing ...

ic poet) * ''Miscellaneous table talk'' or '' Sympotic miscellany'' (Σύμμικτα συμποτικά): fr. 124 Wehrli * ''Notes'' or ''Memorabilia'' (Ὑπομνήματα), ''Historical notes'' (Ἱστορικὰ ὑπομνήματα), ''Brief notes'' (Κατὰ βραχὺ ὑπομνήματα), ''Miscellaneous notes'' (Σύμμικτα ὑπομνήματα), ''Random jottings'' (Τὰ σποράδην): fr. 128–132, 139 Wehrli

Editions and translations

* Barker, Andrew (1989). ''Greek Musical Writings'', vol. 2: ''Harmonic and Acoustic Theory'' (Cambridge), pp. 119–89, English translation with introduction and notes, * Macran, Henry Stewart (1902). ''The Harmonics of Aristoxenus'' (Oxford), Greek text with English translation and notes
archive.orgInternet Archive
* Marquard, Paul (1868). ''Die harmonischen Fragmente des Aristoxenus'' (Berlin), Greek text with German translation and commentary
archive.orgGoogle Books
* Pearson, Lionel (1990). ''Aristoxenus: Elementa rhythmica. The fragment of Book II and the additional evidence for Aristoxenean rhythmic theory'' (Oxford ), Greek texts with introduction, translation, and commentary, * Wehrli, Fritz (1967). ''Die Schule des Aristoteles'', vol. 2: ''Aristoxenos'', 2nd. ed. (Basel/Stuttgart), Greek text (excluding the harmonic fragments, rhythmic fragments, ''On the Primary Duration'', and ''On tonoi'': see p. 28) with commentary in German * Westphal, Rudolf (1883–1893). ''Aristoxenus von Tarent: Melik und Rhythmik des classischen Hellenenthums'', 2 vols. (Leipzig)
vol. 1vol. 2
* Westphal, Rudolf (1861). ''Die Fragmente und die Lehrsätze der griechischen Rhythmiker'' (Leipzig), pp. 26–41, Greek text of ''Elementa rhythmica'' and ''On the Primary Duration''
Internet Archive

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aristoxenus 4th-century BC Greek people 4th-century BC writers 4th-century BC philosophers 4th-century BC scholars Aesthetics Ancient Greek aesthetics Ancient Greek biographers Ancient Greek ethicists Ancient Greek music theorists Ancient Greek musicologists Ancient Greek philosophers of art Ancient Greek writers Ancient Tarantines Aristotelian philosophers Moral philosophers Natural philosophers Peripatetic philosophers Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of Magna Graecia Philosophers of music Pythagoreans Pythagoreans of Magna Graecia Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown