Mesomedes of Crete ( grc, Μεσομήδης ὁ Κρής) was a Greek

citharode A kitharode ( Latinized citharode) : ( translit. Greek) * citharode (Anglicised translit. Latin) * kitharode (Anglicised translit. Greek) : * citharede (rare) * citharoede (rare) : * citharist ( English translation Latin) * kitharist ( Eng ...

and lyric poet and composer of the early 2nd century AD in

Roman Greece Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian ...

. Prior to the discovery of the

Seikilos epitaph The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The epitaph has been variously dated, but seems to be either from the 1st or the 2nd century CE. The song, the melo ...

in the late 19th century, the hymns of Mesomedes were the only surviving written music from the ancient world. Three were published by

Vincenzo Galilei Vincenzo Galilei (born 3 April 1520, Santa Maria a Monte, Italy died 2 July 1591, Florence, Italy) was an Italian lutenist, composer, and music theorist. His children included the astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei and the lute virtuoso and ...

in his ''Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna'' (

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, 1581), during a period of intense investigation into music of the ancient Greeks. These hymns had been preserved through the Byzantine tradition, and were presented to Vincenzo by

Girolamo Mei Girolamo Mei (27 May 1519 – July 1594) was an Italian historian and humanist, famous in music history for providing the intellectual impetus to the Florentine Camerata, which attempted to revive ancient Greek music drama. He was born in Flor ...

Life and career

He was a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom ...

of the Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

, on whose favorite

Antinous Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; grc-gre, Ἀντίνοος; 27 November – before 30 October 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and probable lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his ...

he is said to have written a

panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of gr ...

, specifically called a ''Citharoedic Hymn'' (

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 Souida ...

). Two

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mill ...

s by him in the

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ' ...

(''Anthol. pal.'' xiv. 63, xvi. 323) are extant, and a hymn to

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The ...

. The hymn is one of four which preserve the ancient musical notation written over the text. Two hymns formerly assigned to

Dionysius of Alexandria Dionysius the Great ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξανδρείας) was the 14th Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria from 28 December 248 until his death on 22 March 264. Most information known about him comes from his large surviving correspo ...

, one to the muse

Calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muse ...

and one entitled ''Hymn to the Sun'', have also been attributed to Mesomedes. In an article published in 2003,

Annie Bélis Annie Bélis (born 1951) is a French archaeologist, philologist, papyrologist and musician. She is a research director at the French CNRS, specialized in music from classical antiquity, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Career A former student ...

proves that the Berlin musical papyrus (inv. 6870) contains a

Paean A paean () is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice ( monody). It comes from the Greek παιάν (also π� ...

to Apollo written by Mesomedes. A total of 15 poems by Mesomedes are known. Mesomedes continued in the

Musaeum The Musaeum or Mouseion of Alexandria ( grc, Μουσεῖον τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας; ), which arguably included the Great Library of Alexandria, was an institution said to have been founded by Ptolemy I Soter and his son Ptolemy II Ph ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

even after Hadrian's death (138); there the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the si ...

'' reports that during

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...

' reign (138–161) his state salary was reduced. The emperor

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor ...

(212–217) honored Mesomedes with a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

approximately 50 to 60 years after his death. See J. F. Bellermann, ''Die Hymnen des Dionysius und Mesomedes'' (1840); C. de Jan, ''Musici scriptores graeci'' (1899); S. Reinach in ''Revue des études grecques'', ix (1896); ''

'' s.v.

Hymns

Prayer to the Muse

The dialect of this hymn is different from the others (Ionian rather than Doric), and the style is also slightly different; for this reason J.G. Landels believes that it is probably not by Mesomedes.Landels, John G. 1999. ''Music in Ancient Greece and Rome''. London and New York: Routledge; p. 254.

Prayer to Calliope and Apollo

Hymn to the Sun

Literature

, ''Dialogo Di Vincentio Galilei Nobile Fiorentino Della Musica Antica, Et Della Moderna'' (Fiorenza, 1581)
google
, p. 97 * Johann Friedrich Bellermann, ''Die Hymnen des Dionysius und Mesomedes. Text und Melodieen nach Handschriften und den alten Ausgaben bearbeitet von Dr. Friedrich Bellermann'' (Berlin, 1840)
google
* ''Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. Neue Folge. Neunter Jahrgang'' (Frankfurt, 1854)
google
; p. 306–311: Theodor Bergk, ''Zu den Hymnen des Dionysius und Mesomedes'' *

Karl von Jan Karl von Jan (22 May 1836 – 3 September 1899) was a German classical philologist and musicologist. Life Born in Schweinfurt, Jan, the eldest son of the classical philologist and grammar school headmaster (1807–1869), turned to the specia ...

(Latin: Carolus Janus), ''Musici scriptores graeci. Aristoteles Euclides Nicomachus Bacchius Gaudentius Alypius et melodiarum veterum quidquid exstat. Recognovit prooemiis et indice instruxit Carolus Janus. Annexae sunt tabulae'' (Lipsia, 1895)
google-US
, p. 454ff. ** ''Musici scriptores graeci. Recognovit prooemiis et indice instruxit Carolus Janus. Supplementum, melodiarum reliquiae'' (Lipsia, 1899)
google-US
* ''Revue des études grecques. Tome IX. Année 1896'' (Paris, 1896)
google-US
; p. 1–22: Théodore Reinach, ''L'hymne a la Muse'' *Landels, John G. (1999). ''Music in Ancient Greece and Rome''. Routledge.

*Pöhlmann, Egert; West, Martin L. (2001). ''Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments'', edited and transcribed with commentary by Egert Pöhlmann and Martin L. West. Oxford: Clarendon Press. . In anthologies: *

Richard François Philippe Brunck Richard François Philippe Brunck (30 December 1729 – 12 June 1803) was a French classical scholar. Biography Brunck was born in Strasbourg, France, educated at the Jesuits' College in Paris, and took part in the Seven Years' War as milita ...

, ''Analecta veterum poetarum graecorum. Editore Rich. Fr. Phil. Brunck. Tom. II.'' (Argentoratum; ''ed. IV.'': Argentoratum, 1785)
google
''ed. IV.''
google
, p. 292f. **

and

Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs (October 6, 1764 – March 30, 1847) a German classical scholar, was born at Gotha. After studying philology and theology at Jena and Göttingen, in 1785, Friedrich Jacobs (as he is known), became a teacher in ...

, ''Anthologia graeca sive poetarum graecorum lusus. Ex recensione Brunckii. Tom. III. Indices et commentarium adiecit Friedericus Iacobs'' (Lipsia, 1794)
google
, p. 6f. *

Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie (12 August 17748 September 1857) was a French classical scholar. Life He was born in Paris. In 1792 he entered the public service during the administration of General Dumouriez. Driven out in 1795, he was ...

, ''Ποιητῶν ἑλληνικῶν συλλογή. τόμ. ιεʹ. – Poetarum graecorum sylloge. Tom. XV. — Ἀλκαῖος Σαπφώ Σιμωνίδης σύνεσιος λυρικοὶ διάφοροι. – Lyrici graeci curante Jo. Fr. Boissonade'' (Paris, 1825)
google
, p. 49ff. * (Lipsia, 1827)
google
, p. 70f. * ''Anthologia graeca sive delectus poesis elegiacae melicae bucolicae. Scholarum in usum adornavit Nicolaus Bachius'' (Hannovera, 1838)
google
, p. 128 * James Donaldson, ''Lyra Græca: Specimens of the Greek Lyric Poets, from Callinus to Soutsos. Edited, with critical Notes, and a biographical Introduction, by James Donaldson'' (Edinburgh & London, 1854)
google
, p. 96f. *

Theodor Bergk Theodor Bergk (22 May 181220 July 1881) was a German philologist, an authority on classical Greek poetry. Biography He was born in Leipzig as the son of Johann Adam Bergk. After studying at the University of Leipzig, where he profited by the ins ...

, (Lipsia, 1854)
google
, p. 403f. ** (Lipsia, 1868)
google
, p. 522ff.

Notes

References

* * Egert Pöhlmann: "Mesomedes", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 November 2005)
(subscription access)

External links

"Hymn to the Muses"
(PDF) an
"Hymn to Nemesis"
(PDF) in Greek with brief glosses/commentary

in English translation with Greek original
Homepage of the Ensemble Musica Romana for ancient music (English and German)

Ensemble Kérylos
a music group directed by scholar

and dedicated to the recreation of ancient Greek and Roman music. Its recording ''D'Euripide aux premiers chrétiens'' contains the 5 known works by Mesomedes (tracks 9 to 13).
Prayer to Calliope and Apollo
Sung to the lyre by Stefan Hagel.
Hymn to the Sun
Petros Tabouris Ensemble.
Hymn to Nemesis
Ensemble de Organographia.
Hymn to Nemesis
Petros Tabouris Ensemble. {{Authority control Ancient Cretan poets Ancient Greek lyric poets Ancient Greek composers 2nd-century poets 2nd-century Greek people 2nd-century Romans Ancient Greek slaves and freedmen Emperor's slaves and freedmen Roman Crete Roman Alexandria Ancient Greeks in Rome Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Doric Greek poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown