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Chapter 5 - Do Alexandrians Dream of Electric Sound?

Recording Music in the Early Ptolemaic Empire

from Part III - Technologies of Musical Memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2021

By
Yvona Trnka-Amrhein
Edited by
Lauren Curtis  and
Naomi Weiss
Lauren Curtis
Affiliation:
Bard College, New York
Naomi Weiss
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

This chapter explores two strategies for preserving the memory of live music in early Ptolemaic Egypt by reading Posidippus’ epigram (37 AB) on Arion’s lyre next to Hedylus’ epigram (4 GP) on an automated rhyton in the shape of the Egyptian god Bes. While Arion’s lyre captures the essence of a classic but long-dead virtuoso in amber, the rhyton performs its song on endless repeat. I suggest that the automated rhyton, as interpreted by Hedylus, represents an attempt to create an eternal first performance of a type of song that could represent the Graeco-Egyptian Ptolemaic empire: a hymn to the Nile.

Keywords

Hellenistic musicHellenistic poetryPtolemaic Egyptmusical instrumentsautomatonNile hymnPosidippusHedylusZephyriumCtesibius
Type
Chapter
Information
Music and Memory in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds , pp. 123 - 147
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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