Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

1. Bronze reconstruction of Myron’s group of Athena and Marsyas, once display- ed on the Acropolis, Athens (original ca. 450 B.C.). Frankfurt am Main, Städtische Galerie Liebighaus.

20 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004)

THE MYTH OF MARSYAS IN ANCIENT GREEK ART: MUSICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL ICONOGRAPHY

ELLEN VAN KEER

Centre Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

This paper considers the (few) textual and (many) visual sources of the ancient Greek myth of Marsyas from a combined musicological and mythological point of view. Its general aim is twofold: (a) to demonstrate the relative autonomy and mutual complementarity of textual and visual sources in the research of musical and religious history; and (b) to establish the reciprocity of the disciplines involved in studying visual representations of musical myths, notably of musical and mythological iconography. I will substantiate the complementarity of the approaches that researchers take to study the representations of the myth of Marsyas and the music of the aulos in ancient Greek culture and art. One researcher who dedicated much of his time and effort to examining the curse of the aulos and the blessing of mythological iconography in music history was the late and great Emanuel Winternitz, to whom this paper is dedicated.1 THE MYTH OF MARSYAS. According to ancient mythological tradition, the goddess Athena invented the aulos, the ‘double flutes’.2 Finding that blowing the instrument impaired her facial beauty, however, she threw it away. Marsyas, a satyr from Phrygia,3 found the flute and was quick to learn and play it, displaying an unusual talent. His great accomplishment enticed him to take up the challenge of a musical contest with Apollo, master of the lyre and ancient Greece’s pre-eminent musician-god.4 The winner was to decide on the fate of the loser. This was literally to cost Marsyas his skin. Following the Muses’ inevitable judgment against Marsyas, Apollo elected to have the presumptuous satyr flayed alive. His skin was transformed into an askos (flask, pouch) and hung up as a trophy in a cavern near Celaenae in Phrygia, where from his blood or the tears of the attendants of the contest sprang the river Marsyas, a tributary of the river Meander, which still flows through what we now know as Turkey.5 Like the majority of myths, the myth of Marsyas has come down to us in multiple variants and from heterogeneous sources. Literary texts, sculptures, and vases, show numerous and varying aspects and approaches of the myth in Greek antiquity. It also occurs time and again, and in many different ways, in Hellenic, Roman, Renaissance, Baroque and modern art forms, including literature, visual arts, music, and dance.6 Greek representations of the myth of Marsyas are mostly to be found in the visual arts, particularly in Attic and South Italian vase painting from the classical era (fifth to third centuries B.C.). However, the most influential representations are those provided in ancient literature, i.e. throughout the Greco-Roman period. Our knowledge of the myth derives largely from the lengthy but late descriptions given by writers such as Ovid (Fast. 6,969; Metam. 6,384), Apuleius (Flor. 3), Apollodorus (Bibl. 1,4,2) or Hyginus (Fab. 165). Texts have traditionally constituted our main source of information about classical myths. Mythology as a field of study is primarily text-oriented, just like classical studies and historical sciences in general.7 MYTHOLOGY. Mythological research is dominated by two major currents: historical approach and sym- bolic interpretation. The former, also called the ‘historico-genetic’ approach, focuses on the origin and evolu- tion of myths and their relationship with historical facts and circumstances. The myth of Marsyas made its appearance in the city of Athens about the middle of the fifth century B.C. Its breakthrough can be ascribed

© 2004 Research Center for Music Iconography CUNY 21 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography to the correlation between the controversial status of the flute in the myth and the real-life dispute arising about the instrument in the city at the time. The causes of the differing viewpoints included the Greek’s hos- tility towards the ‘barbarian’ East, kindled by the Persian wars; rivalry between Athens and Thebes, which sided with Sparta and posed a threat to Athens’ hegemony; the clash within Athens society between the established aristocracy and the nouveaux riches (under the influence of democracy and sophistry); and the musical and religious symbolism of the opposition between stringed and wind instruments (under the in- fluence of Pythagorism). Greek scholars and philosophers related the classical harmony of the heptachord lyre to the cosmic order, opposing the celestial spirituality of stringed music to the worldly effectivity of wind music. This opposition gained momentum when in Athens the sophisticated concert kithara became the instrument of preference in aristocratic circles, whilst the emerging bourgeoisie had a penchant for the more popular flute music. And not only was the flute the national instrument of the Thebans (Beotia) but it also originated from the Near East. In Greek religion and mythology, stringed instruments had of old been associated with Apollo, the most ‘Greek’ of the gods, and wind instruments with Dionysos, a ‘strange’ and a ‘foreign’ god. The original Eastern flute, however, was the elymos, one of whose two pipes ended in a horn. The aulos was its Hellenised variant.8 The Theban poet Pindarus (ca. 480 B.C.) ascribed the invention of the aulos to the Greek goddess Athena (Pind. Pyth. 12,6-30). The Athenian texts, by contrast, have her discard the instrument in disgust (cf. Athen. Deip. 14,161e), and the flute picked up by Marsyas (cf. Plut. De cohib. Ira 456b). Marsyas was therefore allegedly introduced into Greek mythology to account for Athena’s rejection of the flute and as an expression of the Athenians’ aversion of this instrument, which in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. was stronger than ever. An eminent statesman Alcibiades (ca. 450–404 B.C.) expresses the Athenian’s disdainful view of the flute splendidly. According to Plutarch: ‘he refused to play the flute, holding it to be an ignoble and illiberal thing “Flutes, then”, he said, “are for the sons of Thebes; they know not how to converse. We Athenians, as our fathers say, have Athena for foundress and Apollo for pa- tron, one of whom cast the flute away in disgust, and the other flayed the presumptuous flute player” (Alc. 2,4–6).9 The Athenians’ aversion of the flute and preference of the lyre was to find its supreme confirmation in the myth of Marsyas and Apollo, which soon enjoyed unprecedented popularity.10 For Herodotus (ca. 480–425 B.C.) and Xenophon (ca. 430–355 B.C.) this myth was not yet more than a local legend from Asia Minor. Herodotus (Hist. 7,26,3) refers to the ‘Phrygian story’ (Phrugoon logos) about Apollo pulling the satyr Marsyas’ skin over his ears at Celaenae. Xenophon (Anab. 1,2,8) refers to the local ‘narrative’ (legetai) of Apollo skinning Marsyas at Celaenae, near the source of the river that was subsequent- ly named after the unfortunate satyr. The old age and the geographic specificity of these extracts suggest a degree of historicity. The Marsyas-Apollo myth may originally have been a local legend from Celaenae, Phrygia, telling the story of a local cult figure. We do not know to what extent the Greek variant of the myth of Marsyas went back to a cult celebrated outside Greece in earlier times, nor are we aware of the original meaning of such an indigenous cult. The reason for this is that there are no indigenous contemporary sources of information on the Phrygian Marsyas cult, but only Greek and, particularly, Roman sources from later dates. Such sources naturally present Greek and Roman interpretations rather than faithful descriptions of the original Phrygian figure of Marsyas.11 Even distinctly Eastern elements in the myth of Marsyas cannot be said to be pre-Hellenic by definition. King Midas’ judgment in favour of Marsyas and the latter’s privileg- ed relationship with the goddess Cybele are absent in the earliest Greek sources and therefore seem to be late Hellenistic associations (for reasons that include their common geographical origin). By analogy, Marsyas’ consanguinity with the Phrygian flutists Hyagnis or Olympos and even his great musical skill itself may be Greek adaptations, inspired, for instance, by Phrygia’s legendary fame as the cradle of the flute and flute music. There is nothing to confirm that these elements were taken directly and entirely from ancient Phrygian cult rituals.12 The second major current is that of interpreting the myth in symbolic terms. Marsyas’ foreign ancestry (Phrygia), capacity (satyr), and other characteristics can also be seen as the intrinsically Greek expressions of his being ‘different’ and even ‘opposite’: ‘non-Greek’, ‘non-divine’, ‘non-civilised’, ‘presumptuous’, ‘ugly’. According to this so-called ‘symbolic-structural’ approach, the myth of Marsyas is not traced back to some tangible historical reality but rather taken to be a symbolic locus communis of a series of fundamental oppositions serving the Greeks to structure and give meaning to their material and immaterial existence: the

22 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004)

2. Athena plays flute. Attic black-figured panathenaic amphora of ca. 520–510 B.C. Private collection, Basel.

West versus the East, gods versus humans, punishment (nemesis) versus presumption (hybris), the Apollonian versus the Dionysian, celestial lyre music versus passionate flute music.13 All myths are polysemic and the story of Marsyas is no exception. Its musical references allegedly constitute the ultimate expression of the idea that flute playing is improper and string playing is laudable. On the one hand, this idea is reduced to a historical reality based on a number of political, social, cultural and musical circumstances. On the other, it is interpreted in symbolic terms according to a series of truths in the spheres of ethics, philosophy and religion. These two extreme positions, that of the so-called ‘reflectors’ and that of the ‘constructors’, are, of course, not mutually exclusive but complementary.14

23 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

3. Athena plays flute. Apulian red-figured neck-amphora of ca. 370–360 B.C. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. no. 00.348. Drawing from Annali dell’Istituto di corrispondenza archeologica XLI (1879), tav. D (G. Jatta).

MYTHOLOGICAL ICONOGRAPHY. Images and texts are complementary too. In spite of this, researchers have traditionally taken pictorial representations of mythological events to be mere illustrations accompany- ing the textual versions of myths, and even today the bias is towards relating developments in mythology primarily to literary history. The Athena-Marsyas myth may serve to illustrate this phenomenon. Towards the middle of the fifth century B.C., the myth enjoyed a sudden increase in popularity. The specific reason for this is said to have been the success of the dithyramb Marsyas, composed by Melanippides of Melos (ca. 480 B.C.). According to Athenaeus ‘Melanippides had ridiculed aulos-playing splendidly in his Marsyas, when he said of Athena: “Athena threw the instruments from her holy hand and said: ‘Away, shameful things, defilers of my body! I do not give myself to ugliness’” (Deip. 14,616e–f).15 This is in line with a sculpture we know from Plinius and Pausanias, in terms of both content and chronology. Pausanias (1,24,1), in describing the Acropolis of Athens, refers to a statue representing Athena in the act of striking Marsyas the silen for taking up the flute that the goddess wished to be cast away for good. Plinius (N.H. 34,57), in his summary description of the major works of the famous Greek sculptor Myron of Eleutherai (ca. 480–445 B.C.), refers to a satyr marvelling at the flute and an Athena. The connection between both extracts has led researchers to conclude that at some moment halfway the fifth century B.C. Myron created an Athena and Marsyas group that remained on the Acropolis of Athens for a long stretch of time. The group reoccurs in Roman copies [fig. 1]16 and possibly also in several fifth-century Attic red figure vase representations.17 They all show Athena casting away the flute and Marsyas shrinking from her. In the traditional hierarchy of historical sources, texts come before sculptures, which in turn come before vases. Thus, Myron’s group is usually taken to honour Melanippides’ play, with the vase representations being regarded as inspired by the statue group.18 More

24 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004) than one approach can of course be followed to explain the occurrence of common themes in works of literary and plastic art. Of the two positions at both ends of the scale, the first upholds that there is a direct link, for instance, in a sculpture commemorating a stage performance or a vase painting representing a scene from a play.19 According to the opposite view, there is no direct link and any common themes between tex- tual and pictorial representations must necessarily be ascribed to a unique historical coincidence or a more universal symbolism, for instance in the case of musical representations with ecstatic accents.20 In theory, either of these options can always be postulated but rarely refuted. Another viewpoint, which we share, maintains that texts and images autonomously derive from a common tradition and are indirectly linked to each other.21 They express, each in their own language, the many different aspects of the same socio-historical realities, including myths. Text and image require a proper methodology and represent autonomous, equivalent and mutually complementary historical and mythological sources.22 The surviving texts contain the first instance of Athena being associated with the flute through the de- grading context of the Marsyas myth, i.e. when in Melanippides’ dithyramb she horrified casts away the instrument. However, an earlier Attic black-figure vase shows the goddess playing the flute [fig. 2].23 This suggests that Athena’s notorious aversion of the flute should be qualified. She discards an instrument for which she felt a strong liking. Outside Athens, Athena maintained good relations with the flute. The Theban texts in particular praise her as the inventor of flute music on the occasion of Perseus’ victory over the Me- dusa (Pind. Pyth. 12, 6–30). They tell us how she provided the instrument to the humans by making it a gift at the wedding of Kadmos – Thebes’ founder – and Harmonia (Alcman ap. Ps.-Plut. De mus. 14, 1336a). They even have her teach the art of flute playing to Apollo (Corinna ap. Ps-Plut. De mus. 14, 1336b). However, the texts can differ substantially from the images. Athena is never shown playing the flute in any Beotian image- ry, although she is on an Attic vase [fig. 2], and beyond that also in Apulian ceramics [fig. 3].24 Hence, Athe- na’s exceptional love of the flute in Thebes also calls for qualifying.25 MUSIC HISTORY. Approached from a music historical perspective, the widely known incongruence in Athena’s attitudes towards the flute in Athens and Thebes, respectively, in fact seems to point to strongly contested musical developments that took place throughout the Greek world from the classical period on- wards, impelled by the great Theban schools of music and led by flute music. Unlike mythologists’ usual assumptions, the subject of Pindarus’ 12th Pythian ode, praising the flute, is not the aulos in general but more in particular the fact that the great degree of technical perfection and extensive harmony range of this instrument achieved in his city in his days were such that flute playing (auletics) was now capable of invok- ing all kinds of sounds and affections and apt for widely differing situations. The Theban poet ascribes these innovations to the goddess Athena, whom he does not praise as the inventor of the flute, the aulos, per se, but rather as the patroness of the art of flute playing and flute music, i.e. auletics. It was under her protection that the Thebans placed their technical-organological innovations of the flute, their new scales and rhythms for flute music, and their flute virtuosi. This new style of flute music triggered a major controversy, which seriously compromised the status of the flute throughout Greek society and left its mark on mythology.26 The agonistic and ambivalent myth of Marsyas epitomises this controversy in all respects. For example, in Athenian literature Marsyas is reprehended for his ugliness but also extolled for his invention of the phor- beia (cf. Plut. De cohib. ira 456b). The mouthpiece was one of the major improvements of the aulos, both techni- cally and aesthetically. It ensured less distortion of the flute player’s jaws, greater blowing ease and hence made the instrument more suitable for public performances (the flutist could play louder and longer).27 It was the very Melanippides, the composer of the earliest verses on Marsyas in the form of a dithyramb aimed to ridicule the flute, who introduced instrumental flute solos into this musical genre. Melanippides was one of the founders of the new (flute) music and a much disputed musician. “For before until the time of Mela- nippides the dithyrambic poet it was the custom of the flute players to be paid by the poets, because evident- ly the poetry was the more important part, and the flute players served the producers. Later this custom too was corrupted”, complained his contemporary fellow-townsman Pherecrates (ca. 430 B.C.) in a tone of reproach about him in his Cheiron (ap. Ps.-Plut. De mus. 1141c–d).28 As we can see, we should seriously qua- lify even Melanippides’ hostility and the Athenian’s overall aversion of flute music. They go hand in hand with an enormous expansion of the use and role of the flute in the Athenian and Greek societies.29

25 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

4. The contest between Marsyas and Apollo. Attic red-figured volute-krater of ca. 410 B.C. attributed to the Kadmos Painter. Ruvo, Museo Archeologico Nazionale Jatta, inv. no. 1093. From Monumenti inediti pubblicati dall’Instituto di corris- pondenza archeologica sotto la direzione dei signori Od. Gerhard e Teod Panofka (Roma; Paris, 1829–91), vol. 8, tab. 42.

The Thebans had raised the number of flute holes and introduced metal rings for complete or partial closure. In this way, a single instrument allowed for various harmonies. Until then, tuning had been fixed, with a different type of flute for each of the three great modes (Dorian, Lydian and Phrygian). To play a dif- ferent scale, the flutist had to change instruments, but now, in the new system, he needed only one instru- ment. Additionally, it enabled the player to make diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic music. There was a fusion of scales and musical genres. In the traditional forms of music, the harmonies and modes were fixed: Dorian harmony and diatonic mode for hymns, Phrygian harmony and enharmonic keys for dithyrambs, and so on. The composers had to strictly abide by the nomoi30 of tradition. Traditional compositions were lar- gely homophonous, without harmony or counterpoint, developing along a single melodic line that was tight- ly followed by the accompanying instruments. Traditional music, championed by string music, was linear, simple and sober. The new style of music, spurred on by flute music, was quite different. Complex composi- tions were now written for polyphonic instruments, requiring great technical skill. Moreover, the widened range of musical possibilities of the flute and the markedly increased technical difficulty of flute playing placed the virtuoso in the limelight. The instrumentalist now relegated the vocal element to the background, whereas traditionally the vocal line and lyrics had outweighed the instrumental accompaniment. This could not but arouse strong resistance, which was to find a symbolic expression in the winged words of the other-

26 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004) wise obscure comedy poet Pratinas of Phlius (fifth century B.C.). Displeased by the way in which vocals and chorus had been made subservient to the instruments, particularly to the flute, he called for a rehabilitation of the traditional Dorian choral lyrics, in which both content and form of the songs are superior to the instru- mental accompaniment of the kithara: “It is song that the Muse made queen. Let the aulos dance after it, since it is a servant” (ap. Athen. Deip. 14,617d).31 Also this issue reappears in the Marsyas myth.32 Diodorus Siculus, an Hellenistic author, tells us that Apollo was defeated by Marsyas in the first round of the contest, but in the second round managed to over- come his opponent by singing to the music of his lyre, something that is impossible with the flute (Cyb. 3, 58–59). In addition to – or maybe rather than – the eternal antagonism between wind and string instruments, the contest between Marsyas and Apollo also represents the strife between the competing currents in Greek music. Actually we come across this idea in as early a writer as Xenophon, the first Greek author to mention the contest, describing it as a duel peri sophias, i.e. a competition in skills and arts (Anab. I.2.8).33 For the anci- ent Greeks Marsyas was a gifted musician and the importance of the art of flute playing was waxing. How- ever, in traditional music, which was intended to please Apollo, the aulos and auletics were supposed to be subservient to the chorus (song). In its own words, the myth of Marsyas warns against the temptations and dangers of the innovating polyphony of flute playing, as opposed to traditional string music, contrasting the two principal styles in the music history of ancient Greece.34 MUSICAL ICONOGRAPHY. Myths are of course not the main focus of historians of Greek music. From the outset, their emphasis has been on the tools (partitions, instruments) and reconstruction of ancient Greek music. The actual sound of music has not survived. But we do have texts and material remains which inform us about fundamental aspects such as its rhythm and instrumentation.35 Especially in connection with the music of prehistorical Greece, visual representations are a long time established source category in music history. They also represent an important source of information about the music history of the later periods. Music historians have all kinds of representations of music in art at their disposal. As myths are very com- mon subject in Greek art, they generally also study mythological representations of music.36 A first and ob- vious approach is organological, according to which musical representations are objective visualisations allowing the first-hand study of formal and technical aspects of musical instruments.37 A representation of a disappointed Marsyas listening to Apollo is particularly interesting because on the flute in Marsyas’ hands are depicted the holes. The few existing ancient Greek pictorial representations of flute holes do not allow for many conclusions about the developments in their position, size or number, but this particular visuali- sation does show that the holes were arranged in staggered rows, presumably for practical reasons, and that either pipe typically had four holes, to allow for pentatonic music.38 In another representation of the contest, in which Marsyas is playing the flute while Apollo is already tuning his instrument, we can see that the god, in doing so, rests his right hand on the yoke while holding his left hand between the strings to avoid vibra- tions.39 A further vase painting that shows among the audience two Muses holding a similar stringed instru- ment confirms that two different fixation systems were used side by side [fig. 4].40 The more recent perceptual approach considers the visual representations of music to be indicative of sound and rhythm and of their subjective effects. Thus, dynamic scenes represent up-tempo and relatively tempestuous music, as opposed to calm tableaux.41 It appears from the representations that the lyre is usually associated with serenity, whereas the flute is more often shown to arouse feelings of elation.42 In particularly buoyant scenes, the aulos is always present, while the kithara is a typical instrument in subdued situations. The aulos and the kithara therefore do not merely represent two subsequent styles in Greek music history but also two simultaneously existing musical genres evoking opposite moods among the audience. The concrete opposition of the two instruments that we can see from the scenes depicted on an uncommon Attic vase may well have been chosen on purpose [fig. 4]. The neck of the vase shows Marsyas playing the aulos to Apollo and a dancing satyr in high spirits. In the scene on the body, Marsyas, by way of exception, plays the kithara to Athena and Apollo, who quietly listen to the music. In other words, even though we can no longer actually hear Greek music, we can still sense it from the movements of the subjects of musical representations in ancient Greek art. It confirms the (mimetic) theory, which maintains that the listener imitates and partakes of the music through physical movements. This insight opens an important new perspective of musical iconography and Greek music history.43

27 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

5. Marsyas and Olympos. Attic red-figured panathenaic amphora of the end of the 5th century B.C. attributed to the Mei- dias Painter. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. no. 81401. Drawing originally from Monumenti inediti pubblicati dall’Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica sotto la direzione dei signori Od. Gerhard e Teod Panofka (Roma; Paris, 1829–91), vol. 2, tab. 37. Copy from Pitture di vasi fittili (1831–1837), Tom. CCCXXXII (F. Inghirami).

Musical representations have traditionally been a main source of information about the role of music in Greek society. According to the most traditional ‘historical’ approach, musical representations are objective visualisations of musical practices and customs illustrating the function of music in the fields of education (musical lessons), combat (battle scenes), entertainment (symposia), and religious practices (processions). From this point of view, scenes of Athena playing the flute are interesting because they refer to the presence of flute music in this goddess’ cult throughout the Greek world (fig. 1 is from Apulia; fig. 2 is from Athens). 44 Moreover, the depiction of flute-playing Athena on a panathenaic vase [fig. 2] bears a direct relation to the musical contests performed in her cult. Panathenaic vases (and their contents) were the awards for the winners of contests during games held in Athens in honour of Athena. It makes perfect sense that the flute- playing goddess on this vase is depicted facing Heracles, the athletic hero and epitome of the Greek compe- titor, who is playing the lyre. At panathenaic festivities there were both gymnastic competitions and musical contests for flute and for lyre. That is why on panathenaic vases serving as awards Athena can sometimes be seen playing the kithara and Heracles occasionally even playing the flute.45 The last but not the least important is the ‘cognitive’ approach, in which musical representations are regarded as visualisations of ancient Greek musical thought and beliefs as they are expressed in associations of musical instruments with religious behaviour, mythological figures or symbolic significance.46 This is where the major discrepancies between text and image become clear. In connection with the special ethical qualities that fifth-century scholars ascribed to the heptachord, for example, some are keen to suggest a linear increase of the number of lyre strings to the classical number of seven. However, eleven-string lyres were

28 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004) depicted as early as the fifth century, while we have fourth-century pictorial representations of five-string lyres.47 Literary sources also induce us to strictly oppose Apollonian to Dionysian music and to associate strings and string music with Apollo and wind instruments with Dionysos. Nevertheless, Greek visual arts do show strings in Dionysian contexts as well. The barbitos even proves to be a predominantly Dionysian in- strument used to accompany symposiums, songs at banquets, or komos dances. 48 On vases, the kithara, in lite- rature presented as the Apollonian instrument par excellence, can also be seen in Dionysian contexts. Even Dionysos could play it, just like the Muses could play the aulos to Apollo.49 It is clearly not only the kind of instrument that determines the Apollonian or Dionysian nature of musical representations. Many stringed instruments and wind instruments occur in both contexts.50 In music, the Dionysian-Apollonian distinction is not a fixed feature of instruments as a mere material fact. However, it does manifest itself in the context of music as a complex performative phenomenon. Diony- sian music often turns out to be purely instrumental and it is invariably highly rhythmic, prompting the audience to move and dance. Apollonian music, by contrast, rather invites to listen. It often involves singing (and lyrics).51 Yet Dionysos too liked instrumentally accompanied singing, while Apollo’s music could be danced to.52 Not at any moment did the mousikè technè – the arts under the protection of the Muses – imply exclusively instrumental play for the Greeks, but rather the combination of poetry (lyrics), music (sound) and dance (movement). These three elements were inextricably intertwined.53 In other words, Apollo’s music (lyrics and sound) and Dionysos’ music (sound and movement) were not only each other’s contrasts but also, and particularly, each other’s necessary complement. The flute and the lyre are at both ends of the gamut of Greek music, and together they evoke numerous aspects of what ‘music’ meant to the ancient Greeks. The synthesis of flute and lyre sums up Greek music as a whole. Such an interpretation leads us to Winternitz’ concept of musical iconology, according to which musical instruments and scenes are invested with symbolic meanings, beyond their physical qualities and immediate musical significance. This is obviously the case in mythological representations.54 MUSICAL ICONOLOGY. It goes without saying that any adequate study of mythological representations of music must necessarily account for mythology. Musical iconology requires that musicology and mytho- logy meet and this is at the benefit of both disciplines as well as of our understanding of the mythological images of music in ancient Greek art. To give an example: if we were to take a one-sided music historical approach, it would be impossible to recognize that the representation of Athena from Apulia, which at first glance suggests her love of the instrument, in fact points to all the controversy about the aulos in Greek music and society of those days [fig. 3]. One youth stands in front of Athena, holding up a mirror for her to see her facial distortions, which will cause her to cast away the flute in Athens before Marsyas’ feet. A satyr, far right, responds to Marsyas’ Attic iconography in the context of the Athena-Marsyas myth [fig. 1]. On the other hand, Athena lacks her typical military paraphernalia (helmet, lance). She looks quite affable and her only distinction is her shield, the aegis, bearing the head of the Gorgon Medusa with a hundred snakes for her hair. It refers to the Theban myth telling us of Athena’s invention of auletics on the occasion of Perseus’ victory over the Medusa through the composition of the nomos polycephalos, the song of the many heads, a piece played in Athena’s cult (Pind. Pyth. 12). In a language and modality of its own, this Apulian mythological representation depicts a complex controversy in Greek (music) history.55 Inversely, a one-sided approach of mythology would fail to grasp the full meaning of the unusual Attic representation of Marsyas playing the flute and Olympos playing the lyre [fig. 5].56 Despite the name inscrip- tions these identifications are disputed for a variety of reasons. One such reason is that the mythological joint staging of Marsyas and Olympos, as two eminent Eastern musicians, in Athens occurs only very rarely on its own. Another is that Marsyas (inscr. Marsuas) and Olympos (inscr. Olumpos) are surrounded by Dionysian figures only, while Athenian scenes of Marsyas usually show him in less respectable, Apollonian contexts. Moreover, the instrument Olympos is holding is a lyre and not, as we would expect, a flute. For all these reasons, many mythologists think that in fact Apollo is represented here, with the name inscription referring to Mount Olympos as the site of the god’s musical contest with Marsyas. However, this runs counter to all well-known mythographical traditions. What we do know from literary sources is Olympos playing the lyre and associated with Apollo (cf. Ps.-Plut. De mus 1137b). In this representation, the two are contaminated, much in the same way the maenads here bear the names of Muses: Thalia, Calliope and Urania.57 And that

29 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

6. Marsyas, Apollo and Muses. Attic red-figured bell-krater of ca. 410 B.C. attributed to the Pothos Painter. Paris, Musée du Louvre, G490.

is not all, for the entire representation is highly ambivalent. The young man with the lyre, for instance, is wearing a laurel wreathe on his head, a typically Apollonian attribute. But he is accompanied by a swan, usually associated with Olympos. The swan may serve to emphasise the god’s rural origin, in Phrygia, which is necessary because the figure of a naked youth with a lyre gives Olympos a definitely Greek appearance. It might also serve to add erotic connotations to Olympos’ behaviour, and possibly the lyre can be taken to be a love gift to Marsyas, for the relationship between Olympos and Marsyas would acquire erotic overtones. However, this happened only in a few isolated cases, at a late stage, and initially only in Southern Italy. On the other hand, their relationship is never antagonistic or comparable to that between Marsyas and Apollo. In spite of this, the scene on the vase is usually assumed to represent an opposition of the two central figures. Firstly, because of the fundamental antithesis between strings and winds and their more universal sym- bolism. And secondly, more in particular, because of the panathenaic character of this vase. It was awarded to the winner of a contest held at the panathenaic festivities. The winning piece, in form or in content, staged the rivalry between competing musical genres and styles in Athens: Calliope is the Muse of epic lyricism, her attribute is the lyre; Thalia is the Muse of the comedy and dithyramb, her attribute is the flute. Together, they represent the old versus the innovating musical genres, just like Marsyas and Olympos. Marsyas’ career was in its heyday in Athens in the fifth century B.C., moving on the wings of the new (flute) music. Olympos was a mythological and semi-historical flutist associated with an early stage and early style in Greek music.58

30 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004)

7. Marsyas, Apollo, and Skyth. Marble bas relief sculpture from Mantinea of ca. 335 B.C. attributed to the circle of Praxiteles. Athens, Ethniko Arhaiologiko Mouseio, inv. no. 215.

He was supposed to be the author of musical pieces and harmonies for flute that with time would also be played using other instruments. Olympos was the legendary inventor of enharmonics and his name became synonymous with tragic music. In mythology, he was the son or beloved disciple of Marsyas, who was a tra- gic musician-hero par excellence. Olympos preferring the flute to the lyre is therefore a particularly far-reach- ing and comprehensive personification of Marsyas’ tragedy. Yet this scene cannot be regarded as a downright disqualification of flute music or a partial tribute to lyre music. The lyre is with Olympos, not with Apollo, even though the former was a follower of Marsyas and an Eastern musician of renown. It reminds us of the fact that also the lyre originated from the East and was transformed by the major musical innova- tions that took place during the classical period. As musical hero with the lyre, Olympos is the highly tragic harbinger of the ill-fated destiny of Marsyas and flute music, indicating a similar ending awaited string music and the heroes of the lyre. Many of these died a ghastly death: Orpheus was torn limb from limb by the maenads, or Linos was killed by his disciple Heracles. In mythology, Apollo, the god of the lyre, is allow- ed to overcome Marsyas, the hero of the flute. In real life, developments in the art of flute playing overtake the evolution of string music. Although the two instruments represent different genres and styles of music, they coincide in origin (the East) and fate (new music).59 This interpretation is in line with the actual situation in Athens in classical times, as far as the history of music is concerned. There were two dominant currents: Olympos’ (by then) traditional music and Marsyas’

31 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

(at the time still) progressive music. It also links up with the more universal antithesis between stringed and wind instruments, between Apollonian music and Dionysian music. Moreover, these sharp musical contrasts imply numberless subtle mythological ambivalences and complex religious realities, which were visualised in greater detail in Greek pictorial art. Stringed instruments are usually in the hands of Apollo or related characters, such as the Muses or Athena [fig. 6].60 The scenes represented on the amphora in figure 5 are an exception to this rule. On the body, it is Marsyas who is playing the kithara, while on the neck Apollo appears in an unusually lighthearted scene, with satyr dancing to Marsyas’ flute playing. Apollo is normally found in serene tableaux, with the characters depicted listening intently to musical performances on stringed instruments. Dynamic scenes, by contrast, are peopled with flute playing and dancing satyrs and mainly Dionysian characters. Most of the time, it is only Marsyas who appears playing the flute in quiet scenes, in the presence of Apollonian figures, as in figure 7. It will be clear that the terms ‘Apollonian’ and ‘Dionysian’ are quite ambiguous and cover multifarious and multivalent musical and religious realities and symbolisms that are not at any point wholly mutually exclusive. Neither musical instruments nor mythological and religious characters pertain exclusively to either sphere but instead appear in differing contexts. The aulos is associated with the most widely varying religious and mythological characters, including Marsyas, Athena, the maenads and the Muses. These associations originate from and give expression to the various aspects of this highly multivalent instrument.61 Marsyas is also associated with different musical instruments: aulos, syrinx, lyra, kithara. All these instruments were considered suitable for ‘his’ music.62 This music not only moved its maker into a position that was diametrically opposed to Apollo’s, but it also made Marsyas the leader of Dionysos’ retinue, the thiasos, even in Athens.63 The visual representations make explicit the implicitly omnipresent tension and ambivalence of Greek myths. Indeed, ambivalence is one of the main characteristics of ancient Greek mythological and religious thinking.64 The curse of the aulos is highly ambivalent too. Auletics is not merely doomed, improper, inferior or the complete opposite of the superior art of the kithara, in the way that Marsyas is not just the complete counterpart of Apollo. Nor is the latter merely the god of reason, harmony, music, medicine and justice. He gives and takes, cures and kills, is both merciful and vengeful, makes music and war, plays the kithara and listens to the aulos.65 Apollo with the kithara and Marsyas with the aulos are not mutually exclusive – quite the contrary, they are interdependent. It is the very acuteness of their antithesis that make them a balanced, harmonious and complete whole. Their synthesis moreover encompasses the various aspects of ancient Greek music and music history (origin, evolution, styles), both historically (words, movement, sound) and symbolically (aesthetics, ethics, religion, mythology). The famous Praxitelian representation of the Marsyas- Apollo contest thus visualises, in a language and modality of its own, the gamut of Greek music, from its material to its symbolic aspects, from its musicological to its mythological dimensions. Consequently, only an integrated approach to its study will offer perspectives for revealing their intertwinement and the multi- layerdness of this representation [fig. 7].66 CONCLUSION. Literary works have traditionally constituted the principal sources of information about Greek mythology. However, myths have come down to us not only in the form of texts but also, and above all, in visual arts. Iconography offers promising new perspectives for the study of the Greek Marsyas myth. The Athena-Marsyas myth is usually studied for its strong political content (historical). The Marsyas-Apollo myth is known above all as one of the main Greek agon and hybris myths (symbolic). Only rarely do mytho- logists focus on the musical aspects of the Marsyas myth. They are studied quite exclusively in terms of mu- sic history. The integration of these perspectives would open the door to a more comprehensive understand- ing of the mythological representation of music. Integrated study of the visual representations of the myth of Marsyas helps us to leave behind the conventional interpretation of this myth and gain a better insight into the rich variety that is so characteristic of Greek mythology. Indeed, this study of the representations of the myth of Marsyas and the music of the aulos in ancient Greek culture and art shows that not only iconography and philology, but also musicology and mythology, and even Dionysos en Apollo, are intrinsically complementary. Certain antagonisms have become almost proverbial characteristics of ancient Greek culture: logos and mythos, Apollonian and Dionysian, kithara and aulos. The myth of Marsyas refers to many of them. These opposites however do not appear as strict polarities. Many variations are indeed possible.

32 Musicin Art XXX/1-2 (2004)

NorEs

1 EmanuelWintemitz , Musicallnstruments andTheir Symbo- Oxford Gwideto ClassicalMythology in tle Arts 1300-1990s(Ox- lisminWesternArf(New Haven:Yale University Press,1979)'25- ford: Oxford University Press,1993), vol. II, 638-643. 42:"TheYisual Arts as a Sourcefor the Historian of Music";15'l.,- 7 Cf. recently Robin Hard, Tlu RoutledgeHandbook of "The iust "Source L65: Curse of Pallas Athena". - The abbreviations in this GreekMythotogy (London: Routledge, 2004),L-20: for essayare in keeping with those used in the Oxford ClassicalDic- Greek Myths" only provides an alphabetical list of the most im- tionary@CD). portant classical authors (and works) in the study of ancient 2 The wotd aulosis difficult to hanslate since in our times Greek myth. 'Flute' "L'aulos thereis no identical instrument. or'flutes', the terms com- 8 Cf. particularly Annie B€Iis, phrygied', RA 93 monly used to refer to aulos, ate inaccurate because,unlike the (1986),21.40. fJ'r.aulos had a modem flute and like the oboe and the bassoon, e toig pbv dtrl,otg uuqroue 6t6coro-l'ot5 dnwrx65, td 6' On the other hand, there are significant diffe- reed mouthpiece. qu.l,eiv dqeuyev cbgcyewdg r,after Bemadette such as the syrinx (panpipes) and the salpinx(trumpet), but they Perrin, Plutarch'sLiaes (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University played only a minor role. That is why we continue to translate Press;London: William Heinemann, 1.91,4).According to Plu- 'flute'. aulosby After all, flute music was mainly azlosmusic. Cf. tarch, becauseof this the auloswas excluded from the arteslibe- "Musikinstrumente: FriederZaminer, V' Griechenand", DerN eue rales and was generally discredited. By consequence,also for Pauly : Enzykloptidie der Antike (Stuttgarg Weimar: Metzler, 2000), some present authors the attlos'did not belong to the mousike': vol. VIII,543-551. Alfred Sendrey,Music in the Socialand ReligiousLife of Antiquity 3 In Greek mythology, satyrs or silens - their distinction is (Rutherford: Dickinson University Press,1974),315.After all also unclear - are half man half beast (horse or goat), sprites ol vege- Plato (ca. 427-348B.C.) bans the instrument from his ideal state of tation demons roaming the woods and mountains. They were and prefers, as traditionally, Apollo and his music to that his Dionysos' high-spirited attendants, making music, dancing and Marsyas(Resp.3, 399d-e). Aristoteles (ca.384-3228.C'), on wisdom drinking to honour their god. The maenads were their female behalf, excludesflute playing from education and finds "Silenoi" and counterparts.Cf. Erika Simon, , kxicon iconographicum in the story told by the elders that Athena invented the flute mythologiae classicae (Ziirich: Artemis, 1997),v ol.Yn.1, 1108-1'133 discarded it (Pol.8, 6,134'l'a-b). for sourcesand recent bibliography. 10 For the historical approach to the myth of Marsyas cf. "Marsyas a The word'lyre' is the generic term for stringed instru- Robert Fleisher, und Achaios", OIH beibl.SO(1972- arrdlyra alike- 1975),103-'1,2;Wolfgang Schindler, Mytlns undWirklichkeitin der ments,including chelys,phorminx, barbitos, kithara "Athena The clrclys was the most rudimentary instrument in ancient Antike (Leipzig: Mann, 1987),115-1'46: und Marsyas". "History Inter- Greece.It originally consisted of the shell of a tortoise covered More general Carlo Brillante, and the Historical Ed- with animal skin. This sound-body had two necksmounted to it, pretation of Myth", Approaclrcsto GreekWth.Ed. Lowell which were interlinked by a cross-piece.The strings were attach- munds (Baltimore:JohnsHopkins University Press,1990), 93-138. ed between the cross-pieceand the body. The phonnin.rwas the tt Water and music apPearto be Marsyas principal charac- instrument of the bards, and was much bigger, heavier and so- teristics in Celaenae in Roman days (Apamea Kibotos) as he phisticated than the chelys.The kithara was a more elaborated appearson its coins with the fullhorm (corrutcopia)and the flute form of the plnrminr. It was a grand inshument often used in (aulos):A. Weis, Marsyas,368,nos.2 and 7 (illustrated).Water public performances.The lyra was a further elaboration of the could be Marsyas' oldest asPect.Several rivers flowing through clulysandhence not quite as big, heavy, and sophisticatedas the Phrygra, Lydia or Caria carried this etymologically obscure "Marsyas" kitlura.Thebarbitos was a basswhose strings were larger-sized, name.The natural allegoristMax Miiller, , OL21913, longer and lower-pitched. Cf. Reginald P. WinningtonJngram, 433436abeadyconnected the name with watet andstreamsand "Greece.Ancient", The New GroaeDictionary of Music and Mnsi- explained the myth of Marsyas on the basis of recurring natural "Der cians.Ed. by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001)2,vol. X, phenomena.The music historian Martin Vogel, Schlauch 348-372. der Marsyas", RhMrts'1.07(194),49-56, on the other hand,links s The'standard' version of the myth is found in most dic- the name and myth to an indigenous asscult and to the origin "Mat- the bagpipes. Everyone does agreeon the fact tionaries and encyclopedia. Cf. Wthl-ex Il.2 (1894),s'v. and evolution of "Mafsyas the satyr Marsyas are non-native Greek and syas",2439-2460 (O. Jessen);RE XIV.2 (1930),s.v. 6", that the name and " For the origins, content, significance and tggO-tggS(A. Burckhafit) ; EAA IV (1961 ), s.v. Marsia", 876-880 have eastem origins. "Matsyas cf. Maria Rilke Ma- (8. Paribeni); KlP, s.v. 3" (1969),1050-1051 (H. von many interpretations of the myth of Marsyas "Matsyas",1858 "Marsyas Mttsicology69 (2000),118- Geisau);LAW (1975),s.v. (K. Schauenburg); niates, Agonistes", Current "Matsy OCDI (1970),s.v. as",652(H. f. Rose& C. M. Robertson); 1.62. "Matsyasl",VU tt NeuePauly, s.v. (1999),955(E. Visser). King Midas judged in favour of Marsyas,for which Apol- theme may have o Cf. Ircne Aghion, Claire Barbillon & FranqoisLissarrague, 1opunished him by giving him ass'sears. This or Midas myth. The Hdroset dieuxde I' antiquitd: GuideiconographiEte (P afis:Flammari- been a late addition to the Greek Marsyas "Marsyas ca. 700 B.C. In Greek on,1.990),184;Anne H. Weis, l' ,LIMCIV.1,(1.992);366- historical King Midas of Phrygia lived his capture of Silenos. 376 with illustrations n LIMC lV '2, 1'83-'l'93;Jane D. Reid, Tlte mythology, he was known above all for

33 Ellen Van Keer, TheWth of Marsyasin Ancient GreekArt: Musical and Mythotogicallconography

He took her back to Dionysos, who awarded Midas with the gift Iatta,l7}8,end of the fifth century B.C.,circle of the PothosPain- "The that everything he touched was tumed to gold. From the fourth ter: Anne H. Weis, Marsyasof Myron: Old Problemsand century, he was given ass'sears by way of punishment. The nar- New Evidence", AJA 83 (1'979),2'16-217, pl. 31 hg. 0; Idem, " rative link with Apollo's resPonseto Midas' misjudgment in the Matsy as",370, no. 1.6. "Some contestwith Pan or Marsyas is of an even later date. Possibly, it 18First Boardman, Attic Fragments:Pots, Pla- John "Mar- was not until the Hellenistic or Roman period that the story of quesand Dithyrambs",lHS76 (1956),1.8-25;still A. Weis, Midas was integrated with the Marsyasmyth. In this period, Gre- syas",376. co-Romanand Eastem cultures were in close contact, resulting t' As commonly suggestedwhen scenicobjects are depict- in substantial exchange.This means that numerous Eastem ele- ed, such as a column with a tripod (a tripod was dedicated after ments from the ancient Marsyas mythology may well be from a "Midas", a performance), or when subjects are of an highly unusual or very late date. Cf. Margaret C. Miller, LIMC VIII.I exactly identical theme as in the texts. Cf. an Apulian calyx- $99n,846-851.A first blend of Greekand Eastemreligions and krater, Napoli, Museo Nazionale, H3370, first half of the fourth music occurredin the orientalising period (seventhcenturyB.C.). century 8.C., where Marsyas aPpears with the kithara. This It was already at this stage that the legendary Phrygtan flutist highly unusual theme is explained by the fact that this is a Olympos entered the Greek world. By contrast, Marsyas' in- 'Phlyax vase', a type of vasesthat is linked to local performances fluence was not felt unUl well into the classicalperiod' The rise in South Italy. Marsyas and Apollo wear theatrical costumesand of the two figures in Phrygia seemsto have been mutually inde- D. Trendall Phlyax "Olympos" a mask. A tripod stand between them: Arthur , pendent.Cf. Anne H. Weis, LIMC VIII.1 (L99n,38- Vases,BICS Suppl. 19 (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 45. The flute could also have originated independently. It is not 196n,40, no. 49,P1.4b;Heide Froning, Ditlryrambosund Vnsen- even sure that it actually originated in Phrygia. Its historical malereiinAthen.Beitrage zur Archa0logie2 (Wiirzburg:Triltsch, roots are unclear and already a matter of debatein ancient times. 1971),43,no.3 with further sources,discussion and bibliography. For Pausaniasit took roots in Troizen (2,31',3)but also Thebes "Le tu Cf. Pierre Somville, signe d'extaseet la musique", made a claim for it (Pind. Pyth 12). Ct. Martin L. West, Ancient Kernos5 (1,992),173-182.More generally:Gilbert Rouget,La mu- Mrrsi c (Oxford : Clarendon, 1,992),esp. 80-84 and 330-332, ut Greek siEreet Ia trnnse:EsEtisse d'une th1oriegdndrale des relations de Ia irrfro. musiqueet de la possession(Paris: Bibliothdque des scienceshu- lt For the symbolical-structural approach to the myth of maines, 1.980), 267 -3'1.5. Marsyascf. Vemant, La mort dans lesyeux: Figtres de "ut Jean-Pierre 21It was Horatio's remark pictura poesis" (asis paint- I'Autreen Gr\ceancienne (Paris: Hachette, 1985), esp. L3; Berna- "Marsyas, ing, so is poetry) that unintentionally higgered the debateon the dette Leclercq-Neveu, le martyr de l'aulos", Mdtis 4 "Mythes relationship between literary and pictorial representations'The (1989),251.-268.More general Marcel Detienne, grecset dispute gathered momentum when Leonardo da Vinci, in Para' analysestrucfurale: Controverses et probl0mes", II mitogreco: Atti gone,rar*ed the art of painting first, and Lessing, in Laokoott, delconaegnointernazionale (lJrbino, 6-'12maggio1173). Ed. by Bru- gave preference to the art of poetry. The battle continues until no Gentili & Giuseppe Paioni (Roma: Editore dell'Steneo e this very day. As far as the visual arts of ancient Greeceare con- Bizzarri, 1,97n,69 -89. the issue has polarised the community of researchers. ta cemed, Cf. Richard Buxton, lmaginaryGreece:The Contexts of W- Carl Robert was the first to make out a case,in his Bild und Lied tlrotogy (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press1,994), esp. 1 82- (1881),for abandoning the idea that vase painters did their jobs 193.The complementarity of the different approachesis substan- holding a papyrus roll in one hand and a brush in the other' tiated in an analysis of the myth of Oedipous by Jun Btemmet, however, in his Etudessur Ia tragddiegrecque dans "Oedipus Louis Sechan, and the Greek Oedipus Complex", lnterpretationsof sesrapports naec la cdramique(1926), demonstrated that certain GreekMythology. Ed. by J. Bremmer (London: Croom Helm, text-bound. The non-philological 't98n,47-59. vase scenesware undeniably approach at presently prevails. Cf. Oliver Taplin, ComicAngels tu uepi piv ydp cul,6v 6 pev ug 69q tbv Metrcvtnni"- and Other Approachesto Greek Drnma through Vase-Painting 6qv xc.\rirg iv tQ Mopouq 6tcoupowo tilv ou\nxi1v (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993),esp. 21'-23 with biblio graphy. A0qvog (fr. 2 B)' a piv' A0cvc t6pY- 22 There is a general growing awarenessabout this. Cf. eipqrcevcr uepi trlg "Image 'dppet' & PaulineSchmitt-Pantel, et histoire: ov' dpptryev0' iepag cud Xepdg eine t' c[o1ec, FrangoiseTh6lamon hnageet cdramiEte Actesfut ocbpon trupaipts 6' eyd rqrdrcrrt 6i6rrlpt. English transla- Illustration ou documertt?", Srecque: (25-26 Noaembre1982). Ed' by FranqoisLissar- tion from Andrew Barker,Greek MttsicalWritings: I ' TIrcMusicinn colloquede Rouen rague & FrangoiseThdlamon (Rouen:Presses de l'Universit6, an d H is A rf (Cambridge : Cambrid ge University Ptess,1984), 27 3' "Bild 1983),9-20;Lambert Schneider, und Text als Gegenstiinde 1oMyron's group was reconstructedon the basisof a statue historischerForschung und als Vermittler von Geschichte", Gytn- of Marsyasfrom Rome, Musei Vaticani, 9975(Lateran 379a)and nasium92 (1985),30-46;Theodore K. Rabb & ]onathan Brown, of Athena from Frankfurt, Liebighaus, 195: Pierre De- a statue "The Evidence of Art: Images and Meaning in History" , Art and margne,"Athena", LIMCII.1 (1984),L0l'5, no. 623a(illustrated); "Marsyas",369,no. History:Images andTheir Meaning.Ed.by Robert I. Rotberg,Theo- A. Weis, Ba (illustrated). dore K. Rabb & Jonhatan Brown (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- t7 Mar- The Attic vasesdepicting the myth of Athena and versity Press,1988), 1-6. They all argue that imagesare to be stu- syas.A red-figured choes,Betlin,Staatlichen Museen, Antiken- died as relatively autonomous sourcesvis-i-vis texts. Research -430 t)tters a ge sammlung, F 2418, ca.M0 B.C. : Karl Schefold,D ie G in this direction of ancient Greek culture and mythology is also in der klassisclenund lullenistischenKrmst (Mtinchen: Hirmer, Robin Osobome,eds., " expanding rapidly. Cf. Simon Goldhill & l.981 ), fi a hg. 231; A. Weis, Mar sy as",3 69,no' 9a. A red-figured Art and Text in Ancient GreekCulture (Cambridge: Cambridge fragment,Athens,Acropolis Museum, 632,ffid-fifth century B.C, University Press,1994); Keith N. Rutter & Brian Sparkes,eds., meurnerof the Phiale Painter: John D. Beazley,Attic Red-Figue Wordand Image in AncientGree ce (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univer- Vase-Painters(Oxford: Clarendon, 7963)2,1024,no.3; A. Weis, sity Press,2000), to mention just two recent English works. " Mat sy as",369, no. 9 (illustrated). A red-fi gurcd bell-kr ater, Ruvo, * Attic black-figured neck-amphora, Basel,private collec-

34 Music in ATIXXIX/I-2 (2004)

the flute becauseit has nothing to do tion, ca.520-510 B.C.: P. Demargne,op. cit.,1014,no' 617 (illus- dessof wisdom, discardsof "Herakles with the mind, rather than out of horrification with her ugly face trated); |ohn Boardman, Musikos" , LIMC IV'1 (1988), (Pol' 8,6,1341b). 811,no. 1.M1.;ut infra. while playing the instrument 33 Plato's writings, when he comPa- 2a Apulian neck-amphora, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, This idea also occursin not only becauseof their physical re- 00348,ca.370-360 8.C., Painter of Boston 00348:Arthur D' Tren- res Socratesto Marsyas, their similar enthralling effects on their dall & Alexander Cambitoglot, RedFigtre Vasesof Apulia (Ox- semblancebut also for ford: Clarendon, 1978),vol. I, 267, no. 48; P. Demargne 1'984, audience(Symp. 215b-c). "Olympos" 3a 101.4,no. 620(illustrated); A. Weis, ,39,no'4;utinfra' For the music historical approach to the myth of Marsyas "Musik im archaischenund klassischen ts Also literature indicates that Athena was not unfavour- cf. in Frieder Zaminer, Musik desAltertums. Ed. by FriederZaminer able to the flute in south ltaty. The dithyrambic poet Telestesof Griechenland", Die (Laaber:Laaber-Verlag, 1989), 17 0-17 4; selinus (fourth century B.C.) could not believe that the clever & Albrecht Riethmiiller in AncientGreece nnd Rome (London: Rout- goddessAthena, frightened by her ugliness,disposed of the flute, JohnG. Landels, Mrtsic so that it could becomethe glory of Marsyas.How could beauty ledge,7999),153-159. tu have beenof any concem to Athena? Telestesconsiders this story The preservedtexts with musicalnotation are discussed as a jealous imputation of stupid bards against a clever att (ap. inEggertPohlmannc Martin L. West,Doaunents of AncientGreek Athen, XlY, 61'6f-617a). t4uiii: TheExtant Melodiesand Fragnenfs(Oxford: Oxford Uni- " remains of musical instruments 26ZozieP apadopoulou& Vincianne Pirenne-Delfot ge, ln- versity Press,2001). Preserved D. Anderson, Music and Mttsiciansirt venter et r6inventerl'aulos: autour de la XIIe Pythiquede Pin- are discussedin warren Comell University Press,1997),171'-1'86: dare",Clunter lesDieux: Musique et religiondans I' Antiquit' grecque AncientGreece (Ithaca: 'Fifth Resources";El6ni Andrikou e'a', etrornaine.Actes du colloquesdes16,17 et18 decembre 1999 iRennes Century Instrumental et dansedanslaGtDce ancienne. Expo- et Lorient.Ed. by Pierre Brul6 & Christophe vendries (Rennes: eds.,Donsdes Muses: Musique d'histoire26p.-25fip.003 (Athdnes: Pressesuniversitaires, 2001'),37 -58. sitionaux Musies Royaux d'art et 27 "La Ministdre de la culture de la r6publique Hel16nique,2003),155- Cf. particularly Annie B6lis, phorbeia", BCH 110 " 203: cataloguedes instruments de musique" with bibliography (1986),205-21.8. and illustrations. 2E rd y&p uq.l,qtdv, 6ro9 ei.g Metrqvumi"6qv tdv rriv 'u As doesMax Wegner,MusikundTanz. Archeologica Ho- nor4'rqv, ouFPePrSe toir5 ou\t&5 nop& triv 6t0up&pprov merica. Die Denkmiiler und das Friihgriechische Epos' Ed' by npcotcrYovtstoDorls uoqtrilv l,oppavew toirg ptoOot5, Friedrich Matz & Hans-Giinther Buchholz. vol. III:U (C6ttingen: 6ql,ovort t4g uoqoerog, t

35 Ellen Van Keer, The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography

38 Campanian oinochoe, Adolphseck, Schloss Fasanerie, 165, . Arthur D. Trendall, The Red-Figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and 47 D. Paquette, op. cit, 8. Sicily (Oxford: Clarendon, 1967), 288, no. 453; D. Paquette, op. cit., 48 Cf. Martha Maas & Jane McIntosh Snyder, Stringed Instru- 44, no. A20 (illustrated). ments of Ancient Greece (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 39 Paestan lekanis, Paris, Louvre, K 570, mid-fourth century 113-138: “The Barbitos in Classical Athens”. B.C., Assteas: Arthur D. Trendall, Paestan Pottery (London: British 49 A satyr plays kithara to Dionysos on an early Attic black- School at Rome, 1936), 116, no. 51; D. Paquette, op. cit., 146, no. figured hydria, London, British Museum, B302, ca. 520–510 B.C., C47 (partly illustrated); Annie Queyrel, “Mousai”, LIMC VI.1 manner of the Lysippides Painter: ABV², 261, no. 40; Thomas H. (1992), 670, no. 109; Linda Lopinto, La musica degli dei: Gli stru- Carpenter, Dionysian Imagery in Archaic Greek Art: Its Development menti musicali nell’iconografia di Apollo sulla ceramica italiota (Fasa- in Black-figure Vase Painting (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 114 pl. 32; no: Schena, 1995), 108, no. 49P (fully illustrated). D. Castaldo “Il pantheon”, 218, no. 115 with further sources and 40 Attic red-figured volute-krater, Ruvo, Jatta, 1093, ca. 410 discussion. Dionysos plays the kithara on an Attic red-figured 2 B.C., Painter of Kadmos: ARV , 1184, no. 1; D. Paquette, op. cit, fragment, Orvieto, Faina collection, 64, ca. 530–520 B.C., Andoni- 158, no. L21 (partly illustrated); A. Weis, “Marsyas”, 373, no. 43 kes Painter: ARV², 3, no. 5; A. Zschätzsch, op. cit., 79, no. 1, pl. 8b (fully illustrated). with further sources and discussion. A Muse plays the aulos to 41 For this approach cf. Tilman Seebass, “The Power of Apollo on an Attic bell-krater, Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Music in Greek Vase Painting: Reflections on the Visualization of 697, Danaë Painter, ARV², 1075, no. 11, G. Kokorou-Alewras Rhythmos (Order) and Epaoidè (Enchanting Song)”, Imago musicae “Apollo von Frauen Umgeben”, LIMC II.1 (1984), 270, no. 697c VIII (1991), 11-37. (illustrated) with further sources and discussion. It appears that 42 In images of dance or symposia the aulos is typical, while the other way around the maenads can play on the kithara to the kithara is strikingly absent. In ancient Greece, the aulos is Apollo. Here we detect a huge discrepancy between image and originally the most typical musical instrument of satyrs, being text. In literature we know Apollo with his kithara besides as a played in their exalted processions. On the contrary, in proces- musagetes (leader of the Muses), also as leader of the nymphs sions of gods typically only the kithara is present, in particular to (nymphegetes) and of the moires (moiragetes). It is only in Attic art characterize Apollo. Cf. Anemone Zschätzsch, Verwendung und that, from the end of the fifth century B.C. onwards, he is quite Bedeutung griechischer Musikinstrumente in Mythos und Kult (Rha- often surrounded by the maenads, playing mostly on the small den: Leidorf, 2002), 88-89 (satyrs) en 35-38 (Apollo). lyra, and sometimes on their most characteristic krotala (castanet- 43 Mimetic corporeal responses to sound and rhythm might tes) and exceptionally the kithara. 50 be at the (biological) origins of music more generally André Cf. Donatella Restani, “Dionysos tra aulos e kithara: Un Schaeffner, Origine des instruments de musique: Introduction ethno- percorso di iconografia musicale”, Dioniso: Mito e misteri. Atti del logique à l’histoire de la musique instrumentale (Paris: Payot, 1963), convegno internazionale, Comacchio, 3–5 novembre 1989. Ed. by Fede 13-35: “origines corporelles”. More particularly Daniela Castaldo, Berti (Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1991), 379-395; Daniela Il Pantheon musicale: Iconografia nella ceramica attica tra VI e IV secolo Castaldo, “Dionysos and the Music: Notes on the Musical Ico- (Ravenna: Longo, 2000), esp. 166-167. nography”, Journal of Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Archaeology 44 For this approach cf. Gullög C. Nordquist, “Instrumental 1 (2003), online at . ternational Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, Organised by the Swedish 51 In the thiasos (the retinue of Dionysos) the horde typically Institute at Athens and the European Cultural Centre of Delphi (Delphi, dances on the tones of the aulos (often played by satyrs) and to the 16–18 November 1990), Kernos suppl. 8. Ed. by Robin Hägg (Liège: rhythm of the krotala (characteristic instrument of the mainades), Centre d’étude de la religion grecque antique, 1992), 143-68; Anna cf. an Attic black-figured kylix Mississippi University, 1977.3.105, Maria Di Giulio, “Iconografie degli strumenti musicali nell’arte ca. 480 B.C., Makron: ARV², 462, no. 42, Carlo Gasparri, “Diony- Apula”, La musica in Grecia: Atti del Convegno internazionale sulla sos”, LIMC 463–464 no. 469 (illustrated) with further sources and musica Greca.Urbino, 18–20/10/1985. Ed. by Bruno Gentili & discussion. The musicians accompanying Apollo as kitharode Roberto Pretagostini (Bari: Laterza, 1988), 108-120. typically consists of the Muses, who might sing to the God’s 45 Athena plays the kithara on an Attic black-figured (pseu- music, as is indicated by the presence of a scroll cf. an Attic do)panathenaic amphora, Berlin, Staatlichen Museen, Antiken- lekythos Hannover, Kestner-museum, 1961.24, ca. 440 –430 B.C., sammlung, F 2161, ca. 500 B.C., Nixenos Painter: ARV², 221.7; P. Phiale Painter: ARV² 1021, no. 107bis, G. Kokorou-Alewras, op. Demargne, op. cit., 1011, no. 585 (illustrated). Cf. further D. Castal- cit., 269, no. 690a (illustrated) with further sources and discussion. do, “Il pantheon”, 268–269, no. 29-30; A. Zschätzsch, op. cit., 15, Also when poets sing their poetry to their stringed instrument in no. 1–6 with a discussion of the music of the aulos in Athena’s cult. mythological contexts, they are typically listened to by Apollo Heracles plays the pipes on a red-figured Attic stamnos, Firenze, and the Muses. This is always the case when mythical poets such Museo Archeologico, 4227, second quarter fifth century B.C., Po- as Musaios or Thamyras perform. The latter, for that matter, even lygnotos: ARV², 1028, no. 11; J. Boardman, “Herakles”, 814, no. engaged in a singing contest with the Muses, which of course he 1477 (illustrated) with further sources, discussion and bibliogra- lost. phy. Cf. also A. Zschätzsch, op. cit., 117-121, no. 1-57. 52 Dionysos sings to his music on a famous Attic red-figured 46 For this approach cf. Luigi Beschi, “La prospettiva mitica kylix, Paris, Cabinet des Medailles, 576, ca. 500–480 B.C., Byrgos della musica greca”, Religion, mythologie, iconographie: Actes du Painter: ARV², 371, no. 14; C. Gasparri, op. cit., 463, no. 465 (illus- colloque international de Rome, 19 mai 1989, MEFRA 103. Ed. by trated); A. Zschätzsch, op. cit., 79, no. 4; all with further sources Lilly Kahil & Pascale Linant de Bellefonds (Roma: École française and discussion. Apollo dances to his music on an early Attic de Rome, 1991), 35-50; Donatella Restani, “Music and Myth in black-figured kylix, Allard Pierson Museum, 13.367, sixth century Ancient Greece”, Music and Anthropology II (1997), on-line at B.C., Taras Painter, Gerda Jurriaans-Helle e.a., Mythen, mensen en muziek: Een expositie over muziek in de oudheid (Amsterdam: Allard

36 Music in Art XXIX/1–2 (2004)

Pierson Museum, 1999), 34, no. 5, 24 fig. 64. 669, no. 103 (illustrated). 53 As such the word ‘music’ only turns up in the course of 61 Note that the aulos had been contested long before the the fifth century B.C. (Pind. Ol. 1, 14-15). Many words related to appearance of the new music. Pausanias tells us that during the music of course already existed much longer, such as the names first Pythian games which were organised in Olympia at the be- of musical instruments, of particular songs, and so on. Cf. S. Mi- ginning of the sixth century B.C. the flute player Saccadas had chaelides, op. cit., 213-216 for the sources, a discussion and further been able to take away the resentment against the flute since Mar- bibliography. syas (2,22,8-9). Yet the purely instrumental musical contests for 54 E. Winternitz, op. cit, esp. 37. the flutes (auletikos) were dropped as soon as the next games 55 For the purely mythological aspects of the music of the because this music was perceived of as to sad (10,7,3-5). 62 aulos cf. Françoise Frontisi-Ducroux, “Athéna et l’invention de la In fact from the beginning of the fifth century B.C., the so- flûte”, Musica e storia 2 (1994), 239-268; Francesco Molina, “Quin- phisticated kithara became the preferred instrument of the pro- teto para Dioses músicos en la mitología Griega” EClás 40/113 fessional musicians to demonstrate their virtuosity in musical (1998), 7-35. contests held at religious festivals. These contests between kithara 56 Attic red-figured panathenaic amphora, Napoli, Museo players reached their zenith in the course of the fifth century B.C. Archeologico, 81401, end of the fifth century B.C., Meidias Pain- and their rising popularity was simultaneous with a declining ter: ARV², 1316, no. 1; A. Weis, “Olympos”, 39, no. 3 (illustrated). number of ceramic representations of the instrument, and parti- cularly in association with Apollo, who was increasingly depicted 57 This integration, which is made explicit here, is also im- playing the smaller lyre. Like the aulos, the kithara fell victim to plicitly present in many other representations. In fact in the the new music, and hence from Apollo’s grace into Marsyas’ course of the fifth century B.C. the maenads and the Muses be- hands. Cf. Susanna Sarti, “La kithara greca nei documenti ar- come in general less distinguishable because they get to share cheologici”, RBPhH 81 (2003), 47-68. more and more characteristics. They both play lyra and the krotala, 63 with which they often appear in the presence of Apollo the Marsyas leads the thiasos playing with his flute music on musician. Because of this assimilation also the same iconographi- an Attic bell-krater, Paris, Louvre G 421, ca. 440–430 B.C., Peleus- cal schemes get to be used in Apollonian as well as Dyonisian or Hector Painter: ABV², 1073, no. 1, Brinna Otto, “Marsyas ins contexts cf. Anne Queyrel, “Scènes apolliniennes et dionysiaques Thiasos”, JbBadWürtt 12 (1975), 21-38 with further sources and du peintre de Pothos”, BCH 108 (1984), 123-159. discussion; E. Simon, op. cit., 1115, no. 46 (illustrated). 64 58 The oldest representation of Olympos might be found on Jean Rudhardt, Du mythe, de la religion grecque et de la a black-figured (pseudo)protopanathenaic amphora, Athens, compréhension d’autrui. Cahiers Vilfredo Pareto: Revue Européen- National Museum, 559, ca. 570 B.C.: ABV², 85, no. 1; Alan H. ne des Sciences Sociales (Génève: Droz, 1981), esp. 177-187. 65 Shapiro, “Mousikoi Agones: Music and Poetry at the Panathe- Precisely as Dionysos does. Dionysos himself never plays naia”, Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens. the aulos, although it was the accompanying instrument for his Ed. by Jenifer Neils (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), main cult song, the dithyramb. Apollo neither plays the aulos. 66 fig. 41; A. Weis “Olympos”, 43, no. 45. Here Olympos appears Nevertheless this instrument was used to accompany his princi- as flute player independent of and long before the myth of pal cult song as well, the pean. A. Zschätsch, op.cit, 29-62 (Apollo) Marsyas gained popularity in Athens. and 79-98 (Dionysos). 66 59 For the purely music historical aspects of the mythology Marble sculptured basis found in Mantinea (1888), now in of the aulos cf. Hanelore Thiemer, Der Einfluss der Phryger auf die Athens, National Museum, 215, ca. 335 B.C., Praxitelian: A. Weis, altgriechische Musik (Bonn: Verlag für systematische Musikwissen- “Marsyas”, 370, no. 24 (illustrated). Between Marsyas and Apollo schaft, 1963); Peter Wilson, “The Aulos in Athens”, Performance stands the Skyth who will skin the satyr by order from the god. Culture and Athenian Democracy. Ed. by Simon Goldhill & Robin (Hyg. Fab. 165). The bibliography on this work of art is enormous. Osborne (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 58-95. The reliefs are studied from many different scientific angles: art In particular Alexandra Goulaki-Voutira, “Observations on history (as it is a highly valued sculpture from the circle of Praxi- Domestic Music Making in Vase Paintings of the Fifth Century teles), cultural history (as the representations contain information B.C.”, Imago musicae VIII (1991), 73-94 observes that the only about the Greek attitudes towards Phrygians and Skythians), his- invariable fact is that the flute and the lyre are never played si- tory of religions (as indicating the importance of musical contests multaneously, also in mythological representations. Even scrolls in the cult of Apollo in the Greek world), mythology (as a repre- (indicating words and songs) appear with lyre players as well as sentation relating to the mythological musical contest between with flute players. Muses with scrolls even show up in represen- Marsyas and Apollo), musicology (as varying many musical in- tations of Marsyas playing the flute, and thus indicating that he struments are depicted). I hope to have shown that the musical engaged in an aulodic contest, not just an instrumental auletic significance of this representation on itself is also very complex contest [fig. 6]. and that a one-sided reductionist ‘anti-Marsyas’ or ‘anti-flute’ 60 Attic red-figured bell-krater, Paris, Louvre, G490, ca. 410 approach does injustice to it. B.C., Pothos Painter: ARV², 1190, no. 21; A. Queyrel, “Mousai”,

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