Characteristics of ancient Greek music art

There is a certain gap between the ancient Greeks' musical concept and that of modern people. For the Greeks, music is the unity of art, science and philosophy. It can be used for entertainment and also plays an important role in people's political, social and religious life. For example, Plato pays attention to the influence of music on behavior in the book "The Country" and how various types of music are used in civilized society. In Politics, Aristotle expounded the educational function of music and pointed out the influence of music on the development of human personality. Quintilian, after realizing the important role of music, determined the theoretical and practical rules of music, which included both technology in a narrow sense and philosophy in a broad sense. For another example, in ancient Greek myths and legends, Apollo and other gods were regarded as the inventors of musical instruments and the earliest practitioners of music. Therefore, based on the relationship between music and god, the music forms and activities of ancient Greeks are often inseparable from various religious ceremonies to worship god; At the same time, the ancient Greeks endowed music with a certain "divinity" and thought it had mysterious characteristics that influenced the movement of human soul.

Influenced by this concept, ancient Greek music theory includes two aspects. One is the discussion of music technology, involving the theory of scales and modes; The second is the discussion of the nature of music, which is closely related to philosophy, aesthetics and other disciplines. As far as music technology is concerned, there is an ethical view of harmonious learning and integration.