Aristoxenus
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	Topics Aristoxenus Topic Home Aristoxenus (Greek Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th century BC or early 8th century BCE.... : ???st??e???) of Tarentum Taranto Taranto is a coastal city in Puglia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....  (4th century BC) was a Greek peripatetic Peripatetic The Peripatetics were members of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived from their founder, the greek philosophy Aristotle and Peripatetic is a name given to his followers....  philosopher, and writer on music and rhythm. He was taught first by his father Spintharus, a pupil of Socrates Socrates Socrates was a Classical Greece Philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students....  and also a musician, and later by the Pythagoreans Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionians Ancient Greeks mathematician and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. He is often revered as a great mathematician, mysticism and scientist; however some have questioned the scope of his contributions to mathematics and natural philosophy.... , Lamprus of Erythrae and Xenophilus, from whom he learned the theory of music. Finally he studied under Aristotle Aristotle Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....  at Athens Athens Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years.... , and was deeply annoyed, it is said, when Theophrastus Theophrastus Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos Island, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. His interests were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics....  was appointed head of the school on Aristotle's death. His writings, said to have numbered four hundred and fifty-three, were in the style of Aristotle, and dealt with philosophy Philosophy Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language.... , ethics Ethics Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong....  and music. Discussion Ask a question about 'Aristoxenus' Start a new discussion about 'Aristoxenus' Answer questions from other users Full Discussion Forum Encyclopedia Aristoxenus (Greek Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th century BC or early 8th century BCE.... : ???st??e???) of Tarentum Taranto Taranto is a coastal city in Puglia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....  (4th century BC) was a Greek peripatetic Peripatetic The Peripatetics were members of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived from their founder, the greek philosophy Aristotle and Peripatetic is a name given to his followers....  philosopher, and writer on music and rhythm. He was taught first by his father Spintharus, a pupil of Socrates Socrates Socrates was a Classical Greece Philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students....  and also a musician, and later by the Pythagoreans Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionians Ancient Greeks mathematician and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. He is often revered as a great mathematician, mysticism and scientist; however some have questioned the scope of his contributions to mathematics and natural philosophy.... , Lamprus of Erythrae and Xenophilus, from whom he learned the theory of music. Finally he studied under Aristotle Aristotle Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....  at Athens Athens Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years.... , and was deeply annoyed, it is said, when Theophrastus Theophrastus Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos Island, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. His interests were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics....  was appointed head of the school on Aristotle's death. His writings, said to have numbered four hundred and fifty-three, were in the style of Aristotle, and dealt with philosophy Philosophy Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language.... , ethics Ethics Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong....  and music. The empirical tendency of his thought is shown in his theory that the soul is related to the body as harmony to the parts of a musical instrument. We have no evidence as to the method by which he induced this theory (cf. Theodor Gomperz Theodor Gomperz Theodor Gomperz , Austrian philosopher and classical scholar, was born at Brno .He studied at Brno and at Vienna under Hermann Bonitz. Graduating at Vienna in 1867 he became Privatdozent, and subsequently professor of classical philology .... , Greek Thinkers, Eng. trans. 1905, vol. iii. p. 43). In music he held that the notes of the scale are to be judged, not as the Pythagoreans held, by mathematical ratio, but by the ear. The only work of his that has come down to us is the three books of the Elements of Harmony, an incomplete musical treatise. Grenfell and Hunt's Oxyrhynchus Papyri (vol. i., 1898) contains a five-column fragment of a treatise on metre; probably this treatise of Aristoxenus. Vitruvius Vitruvius File:Vitruvius.jpgMarcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Ancient Rome writer, architect and engineer , active in the 1st century BC. By his own description Vitruvius served as a Ballista , the third class of arms in the military offices....  in De architectura De architectura File:De Architectura027.jpg is a treatise on architecture written by the Ancient Rome architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus as a guide for Caesar Augustus#Building projects....   paraphases the writings of Aristoxenus on music. Translated by Morris H. Morgan, Ph.D, LL.D. Late Professor of Classical Philology in Harvard University. The full text of this translation is available from the Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works, as founder Michael Hart said "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks.".... His Elementa harmonica contain an important passage concerning the interpretation of Plato Plato Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world.... 's metaphysical doctrine:
	???t??? ?s?? ?st? t? p??d?e??e?? t?? t??p?? t?? p?a?µate?a? t? p?t’ ?st??, ??a p???????s???te? ?spe? ?d?? ? ßad?st??? ??d??? p??e??µe?a e?d?te? te ?at? t? µ???? ?sµ?? a?t?? ?a? µ? ????µe? ?µ?? a?t??? pa??p??aµß????te? t? p???µa. ?a??pe? ???st?t???? ?e? d???e?t? t??? p?e?st??? t?? ????s??t?? pa?? ???t???? t?? pe?? t??a??? ????as?? pa?e??· p??s???a? µ?? ??? ??ast?? ?p??aµß????ta ???es?a? t? t?? ??µ???µ???? t??t?? ?????p???? ??a??? ???? p???t??, ???e?a?, ?s???, t? ???? e?da?µ???a? t??? ?a?µast??· ?te d? fa?e??sa? ?? ????? pe?? µa??µ?t?? ?a? ????µ?? ?a? ?e?µet??a? ?a? ?st??????a? ?a? t? p??a? ?t? ??a??? ?st?? ??, pa?te??? ??µa? pa??d???? t? ?fa??et? a?t???, e??’ ?? µ?? ?p??atef?????? t?? p???µat??, ?? d? ?ateµ?µf??t?. t? ??? t? a?t???; ?? p???desa?, ???’ ?spe? ?? ???st???? p??? t????µa a?t? ?p??e????te? p??s?esa?· e? d? ?? t?? ??µa? p??e?et??e? t? ????, ?pe????s?e? ?? ? µ????? ????e?? ? e?pe? ??es?e a?t? d??µe?e? ?? ?? t? e???µµ??? ?p????e?. p????e?e µ?? ??? ?a? a?t?? ???st?t???? d?’ a?t?? ta?ta? t?? a?t?a?, ?? ?f?, t??? µ?????s?? ?????s?a? pa?’ a?t??, pe?? t???? t’ ?st?? ? p?a?µate?a ?a? t??. ß??t??? d? ?a? ?µ?? fa??eta?, ?a??pe? e?p?µe? ?? ????, t? p??e?d??a?.		It is surely better to begin by stating the nature of the inquiry, and what it involves, so that with this foreknowledge we may proceed more easily on our chosen way, and recognize what stage we have reached and not unwittingly deceive ourselves about the matter. As Aristotle was wont to narrate, this was what happened to the majority of the people who heard Plato's lecture On the Good. Each came expecting to learn something about the things which are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength, and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came, including numbers, geometrical figures and astronomy, and finally the statement Good is One seemed to them, I imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected it. And what was the reason? They did not know what was coming but went along, like argumentative people, at the mere word. But if someone begins with a summary of his lecture, then, I hold, everyone who came to listen is free either to give up, or, if he likes, to stay, with the understanding he has already gained. Hence Aristotle himself, for these very reasons, as he said, used to give his prospective audience a summary of what he intended to say, and in what manner. Likewise it seems to me better, as I said at the beginning, to have foreknowledge.

Further reading

• Andrew Barker, "Aristoxenus" in Greek Musical Writings, vol. 2: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 119-189.