A Voice without a Muse
Primates and the Ancient Phonosphere in Greek and Roman Cultures
In: Greek and Roman Musical StudiesSearch for other papers by Marco Vespa in
Current site
Google Scholar
Ancient sources often describe non-human primates as imitative animals, i.e., living beings able to reproduce, with different degrees of perfection, gestures and movements carried out by human beings. Indeed monkeys are often characterized as mimeloi, mimetikoi, terms coming from the same semantic field of the noun mimos (< *mim-).
But what about the world of sounds? Are non-human primates regarded as good imitators and performers also when it comes to music and singing? Ancient evidence clearly indicates that other animal species (like nightingales or partridges), and not monkeys, were mainly regarded as excellent singers worthy of imitation by human beings. Through a detailed analysis of ancient Greek sources, especially some passages in Galen, this paper aims at investigating why non-human primates were not considered good singers. In particular, this survey tries to shed a new light on some cultural associations, according to which the small and weak voice of monkeys (µικροφωνία) and the voice of other figures in ancient society (like actors, musicians, kids, eunuchs and so on) were described in a similar way.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Arbò A. & Arbò A. , 'Les animaux sont-ils musiciens? Autour d’un thème de la reflexion musicale antique ', in O. Mortier-Waldschmidt (ed), Musique et Antiquité , (Paris 2006 ) 209 -243 .
-
Aricò G. , 'Lo «stridor» di Alcesti ', in Studi offerti ad Alessandro Perutelli , (Roma 2008 ) 57 -61 Arduini, P. (cur.) .
-
Ax W. , 'Ψόφος, φωνή und διάλεκτος als Grundbegriffe aristotelischer Sprachreflexion ' (1978 ) 56 Glotta : 245 -71 .
-
Bajoni M.G. , 'Orfeo e la scimmia ‘musicista’ in un mosaico di Sousse (Louvre, inv. mnc 1145; cat. Ma 1798) ' (2002 ) 11 Scholia : 80 -8 .
-
Barker A. , Greek Musical Writings I: The Musician and his Art , (Cambridge 1984 ).
-
Barker A. , 'Words for Sounds ', in C.J. Tuplin & T.E. Rihll (eds), Science and Mathematics in Ancient Greek Culture , (Oxford 2002 ) 22 -35 .
-
Barker A. , 'Phōnaskia for singers and orators. The care and training of the voice in the Roman empire ', in La musica dell’Impero romano. Testimonianze teoriche e scoperte archeologiche , (Pavia 2010 ) 11 -20 Rocconi, E. (cur.) .
-
Belardi W. , Il linguaggio nella filosofia di Aristotele , (Roma 1975 ).
-
Bettini M. , Antropologia e cultura romana. Parentela, tempo, immagini dell’anima , (Roma 1986 ).
-
Bettini M. , Voci. Antropologia sonora del mondo antico , (Torino 2008 ).
-
Bettini M. , 'Comparazione ', in Con i Romani. Un’antropologia della cultura antica , (Bologna 2014 ) 23 -44 Bettini, M., Short, W. (cur.) .
-
Brillante C. , 'La voce che affascina: Elena e Cleopatra ' (2008 ) 59 md : 53 -75 .
-
Calame-Griaule G. , Ethnologie et langage, la Parole chez les Dogon , (Paris 1965 ).
-
Calame-Griaule G. , 'La nasalité et la mort ', in N. Revel & D. Rey-Hulman (eds), Pour une anthropologie des voix , (Paris 1993 ) 23 -33 .
-
Carson A. , 'The Gender of Sound ' (1994 ) 1 Thamyris : 10 -31 .
-
Cèbe J.-P. , La caricature et la parodie dans le monde romain antique dès origines à Juvénal , (Paris 1966 ).
-
Bestie, filosofi e altri animali , (Milano 2016 ) Cimatti, F., Gensini, S., Plastina, S. (cur.) .
-
Crippa S. , 'Bruissements, gestes vocaux, cris. Pour une réflexion sur le contexte sonore des rituels ‘magiques’ ', in Contesti magici. Contextos mágicos , (Roma 2012 ) 289 -297 Piranomonte, M., Simón, F.M. (cur.) .
-
Crippa S. , La voce. Sonorità e pensiero alle origini della cultura europea , (Milano 2015 ).
-
De Martino F. , 'La voce degli autori ', in Lo spettacolo delle voci , (Bari 1995 ) 17 -59 De Martino, F., Sommerstein, A. (cur.) .
-
Dieterlen G. , 'Masks and Mythology among the Dogon ' (1989 ) 22 African Arts : 34 87 -43 88 .
-
Dieu E. , 'Vocalisme et consonantisme expressifs dans le vocabulaire des sons inarticulés en grec ancient ' (2015 ) 98 Pallas : 15 -30 .
-
Forster E.S. , 'The Pseudo-Aristotelian Problems: Their Nature and Composition ' (1928 ) 22 cq : 163 -166 .
-
Franco C. , 'Callimaco e la voce del cane ', in Animali, animali fantastici, ibridi, mostri , (Ferrara 2007 ) 45 -68 Andrisano, A.M. (cur.) .
-
Garezou M.-X. , (1994 ) 7 Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : 81 -105 s.v. Orpheus .
-
Garofalo I. , 'The Six Classes of Animals in Galen ', in J.A. López Férez (ed), Galeno. Obra, pensamiento e influencia , (Madrid 1991 ) 73 -87 .
-
Goblot-Cahen C. , 'Le héraut à la frontière entre les genres ', in V. Sébillotte Cuchet & N. Ernoult (eds), Problèmes du genre en Grèce ancienne , (Paris 2007 ) 261 -275 .
-
Grant R.L. , 'Antyllus and his Medical Work ' (1960 ) 34 bhm : 154 -174 .
-
Hjelmslev L.T. , 'La stratification du langage ' (1954 ) 10 Word : 163 -88 .
-
Kaimio M. , Characterization of Sound in Early Greek Literature , (Helsinki 1977 ).
-
Labarrière J.-L. , Langage, vie politique et mouvement des animaux. Études aristotéliciennes , (Paris 2004 ).
-
Lachenaud G. , Les routes de la voix: l’Antiquité grecque et le mystère de la voix , (Paris 2013 ).
-
Lestel D. , Paroles de singes. L’impossible dialogue homme-primate , (Paris 1995 ).
-
Lestel D. , Les origines animales de la culture , (Paris 2001 ).
-
Liatsi M. , 'Aristoteles De Generatione animalium ', in Buch V. Einleitung und Kommentar , (Trier 2000 ).
-
Mâche F.-B. , Musique, mythe, nature ou les dauphins d’Arion , (Paris 1991 ).
-
Manetti G. , Theories of the Sign in Classical Antiquity , (Bloomington/Indianapolis 1993 ).
-
McDermott W.C. , The Ape in Antiquity , (Baltimore 1938 ).
-
Normand H. , Les rapaces dans les mondes grec et romain. Catégorisation, représentations culturelles et pratiques , (Bordeaux 2015 ).
-
Perrot S. , 'Le sifflement du serpent, du langage inarticulé à la mise en musique ' (2012 ) 47 Anthropozoologica : 345 -361 .
-
Petrucci F.M. , 'Una traccia della dialettica scolastica del primo Peripato: le sezioni musicali dei Problemata Physica (XI e XIX) ', in Studi sui Problemata Physica aristotelici , (Napoli 2011 ) 175 -238 Centrone, B. (cur.) .
-
Pretagostini R. , 'L’omosessualità di Agatone nelle Tesmoforiazuse di Aristofane e la figura del κελητίζειν ', in ΜΟΥΣΑ. Scritti in onore di Giuseppe Morelli , (Bologna 1997 ) 117 -122 D’Alessandro, P. (cur.) .
-
Rocconi E. , Le parole delle Muse. La formazione del lessico tecnico musicale nella Grecia antica , (Roma 2003a ).
-
Rocconi E. , 'The Development of Vertical Orientation in the Spatial Representation of Sound ', in E. Hickmann, A. Kilmer & R. Eichmann (eds), The Archeology of Early Sound: Origin and Organization , (Rahden/Westf. 2003b ) 389 -392 .
-
Rocconi E. , 'Patterns of Sound Classification in Greek Antiquity. The Quality of Ligyrotēs ', in R. Eichman, L.-Ch. Koch & J. Fang (eds), Sound-Object-Culture-History , (Rahden/Westf. 2016 ) 35 -42 .
-
Sébillotte-Cuchet V. , 'Cris de femmes, cris d’hommes. Éléments de critique pour l’interprétation du cri en Grèce ancienne ', in D. Lett & N. Offenstadt (eds), Haro ! Noël ! Oyé ! Pratiques du cri au Moyen Âge , (Paris 2003 ) 205 -216 .
-
Stramaglia A. , 'Le voci dei fantasmi ', in Lo spettacolo delle voci , (Bari 1995 ) 193 -230 De Martino, F., Sommerstein, A. (cur.) .
-
Trager G.L. , 'Paralanguage: A First Approximation ' (1958 ) 13 Studies in Linguistics : 1 -12 .
-
Vendries C. , 'Harpistes, Luthistes et Citharôdes dans l’Égypte romaine. Remarques sur certaines singularités musicales ' (2002 ) 80 rbph : 171 -198 .
-
Wackernagel W. , Voces variae animantium. Ein Beitrag zur Naturkunde und zur Geschichte der Sprache , (Basel 1867 ).
-
West M.L. , Ancient Greek Music , (Oxford 1992 ).
-
Zucker A. , Les classes zoologiques en Grèce ancienne d’Homère à Élien (VIIIe av.-IIIe ap. J.-C.) , (Aix-en-Provence 2005 ).
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 323 | 77 | 6 |
| Full Text Views | 335 | 9 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 175 | 19 | 1 |
A Voice without a Muse
Primates and the Ancient Phonosphere in Greek and Roman Cultures
In: Greek and Roman Musical StudiesSearch for other papers by Marco Vespa in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Ancient sources often describe non-human primates as imitative animals, i.e., living beings able to reproduce, with different degrees of perfection, gestures and movements carried out by human beings. Indeed monkeys are often characterized as mimeloi, mimetikoi, terms coming from the same semantic field of the noun mimos (< *mim-).
But what about the world of sounds? Are non-human primates regarded as good imitators and performers also when it comes to music and singing? Ancient evidence clearly indicates that other animal species (like nightingales or partridges), and not monkeys, were mainly regarded as excellent singers worthy of imitation by human beings. Through a detailed analysis of ancient Greek sources, especially some passages in Galen, this paper aims at investigating why non-human primates were not considered good singers. In particular, this survey tries to shed a new light on some cultural associations, according to which the small and weak voice of monkeys (µικροφωνία) and the voice of other figures in ancient society (like actors, musicians, kids, eunuchs and so on) were described in a similar way.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 323 | 77 | 6 |
| Full Text Views | 335 | 9 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 175 | 19 | 1 |