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Polymnestus of Colophon in the later seventh century is credited with further nomoi, rhythmic innovations, a type of Lydian mode ('the tonos now called Hypolydian'), and compositions that used the unusual intervals mentioned above. Both he and Klonas apparently composed words as well as music, but Polymnestus was the more celebrated of the two, being mentioned by Alcman and Pindar.21 |
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Polymnestus himself mentioned the Cretan Thales or Thaletas, who reputedly came to Sparta in accordance with the advice of the Delphic oracle and ended a plague, or civic discord, by means of his paeans and choral dance-songs. Thaletas is said to have enlarged the kind of simple strophic form used by Archilochus, and to have introduced the paeonic and 'cretic' (5/8) rhythms into vocal music. According to the fourth-century historian Ephorus, the Cretans attributed their paeans and other native songs to Thaletas, and many of their customs and rituals as well. The Spartans too used dance-songs of his at certain festivals, or ascribed to him dance-songs that they used.22 |
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Thaletas seems, like Olympus and Terpander, a little larger than life. The Greeks abhorred the anonymous, and always tended to assume that the first person remembered as having done something was the first person who ever did it. When it came to assigning the credit for their cultural heritage, the few names of lawgivers, poets, and musicians remembered from early times had to do duty for all. The individual achievements of these men may therefore have been exaggerated. But they will not have been immortalized for nothing. |
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Regional traditions are an important aspect of early Greek musical history, as of early Greek cultural history in general. In the light of the evidence at our disposal, Lesbos and Sparta stand out as the great centres of musical excellence in the seventh century. In Sparta's case it was largely a matter of organizational encouragement. The establishment of musical contests at the Karneia festival and the provision of fine choral displays at other festivals (young men dancing in armour, girls' dances, etc.) manifested the Spartan interest in public musical entertainment and attracted musicians from other parts of Greece. The Lesbian (or Cymaean) Terpander was reputedly the first Karneian winner, followed by a series of other |
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21 Alcm. PMG 145, Pind. fr. 188; other testimonia in Campbell (as n. 6), 310, 322, 330-4. Cf. Kassell-Austin on Cratinus fr. 338. |
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22 For sources see Campbell, op. cit. 320-8, adding Porph. Vita Pythagorae 32. Cf. above, p. 33. |
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