Music and Image in Classical Athens (review)
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Bundrick has written a clear account of the depictions of music in sixth- and fifth-century b.c. Athens. She uses vase paintings to show the role music had in education, state functions, cult, and private life. Her major theme concerns the revolution in music from elite art in the sixth century to democratized craft in the fifth, and the concomitant rise of the professional musician and "New Music."
The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces her subject and admonishes us not to interpret either text or image too literally—each had its own agenda. Chapter 2 presents the major instruments (especially the kithara, lyre, and aulos). The kithara was the formal instrument appropriate only for men, while the lyre (chelys lyre) was the "quintessential instrument of the amateur musician" (14), both male and female. The aulos, contrary to consensus, was a multivalent instrument, appropriate for many occasions (from symposion to theater) and for both women and men.
Chapter 3 concentrates on mousikê, "the art of the Muses . . . the backbone of a traditional education" (49). After the author traces the development of the Muses, she then looks at who plays what musical instrument and in what context. To her, the well-known cup by Douris (62–63, figs. 1, 2) emphasizes that, while lyre instruction might not have been "characteristic for a large segment of the population," nonetheless its depiction in the early fifth century "suggests a link with the rise of democracy." Her section on the musical instruments depicted on white ground lekythoi (66–71) emphasizes that they have become a marker for the educated deceased. Another section, on music and the gymnasium (74–80), points out how music (presumably through rhythm rather than melody) is appropriate for athletic training (gymnastikê); this symmetría is explored in chapter 5 on "harmony." Bundrick closes this chapter with two sections. The first looks at music at the symposion and its increasing performance there by professional women (hetairai) under the growing democracy. The second discusses women musicians in general; it is obvious that, while texts give us no information about a woman's musical education, the vases are emphatic that (citizen) women were so educated.
Chapter 4 concerns music's character (êthos) and its effect on (personal) character. After a short introduction Bundrick concentrates on the depictions of music with Dionysos, Orpheus, Thamyris, and Marsyas. Since three of these mythological figures have a well-defined character (Dionysos and ecstasy, Orpheus and enchantment, Thamyris and hybris), their discussions are straightforward. Of Marsyas, however, Bundrick gives a more nuanced reading; she points out that there are two major stories concerning Marsyas, Athena and the aulos and Apollo and the lyre, and that the presumed sculptural group by Myron (Athena, Marsyas, and the aulos) is problematic (but see the red figure oinochoe, fig. 81). In any case, there are vase depictions of Marsyas playing auloi or a kithara with an appreciative audience. Bundrick does not try to reduce Marsyas to a characteristic, but one might see in him the passionate qualities of a true musician.
Chapter 5, "Harmonia and the Life of the City," is the longest and most interesting. Bundrick applies the concept of musical harmonia to a wide variety of civic and personal situations including preferred qualities (sophrosynê in the citizen, eunomia in the state), Apollo's role as guarantor of civic harmony, music in cult, athletic games (a long section on the Panathenaia), and theater, and music at the wedding as a metaphor for marital harmony. [End Page 462]
The last chapter is short and mostly summarizes Bundrick's main points, but it does hint at the great changes in music's social roles in the fourth century.
Bundrick's text is clear and her discussions lucid; she cites hundreds of vase depictions by musical category. Since classicists and ancient art historians are not usually versed in ancient music, Bundrick's book should be a must-read for every student of ancient Athens from...
