Chrestos Terzes

Abstract: "In an eight-verse epigram, written in Byzantine twelve-syllable verse, and which appears in twelve Byzantine manuscripts, a certain Dionysios pays tribute to the emperor K�nstantinos Porphyrogen�tos. Dionysios dedicates to the emperor a music-theoretical treatise by the title Eisag�g� techn�s mousik�s (Introduction to the art of music), written by Bakcheios Ger�n, also adding a chapter of his own, without a title, at the end of Bakcheios� treatise, promoting the kanonik� theory of music. These two works have been transmitted together. The first one was last published by Carl von Jan in 1895, who worked from four manuscripts, while the second one was published by F. Bellermann in 1841 (first and last edition), who collated five manuscripts. The aim of the present study is the critical edition of- and commentary on Dionysios� treatise, under the light of eighteen new manuscripts that have been discovered since 1841. The book is divided into three parts: Prolegomena, Text-Translation, Commentary. Chapters I-III constitute the Introduction to the critical edition; Chapter IV presents the ancient text, the critical apparatus, and a translation in modern Greek; Chapter V comprises the critical notes based on the selected manuscript readings; and Chapter VI is an explanatory commentary on all the issues raised by Dionysios. The edition of Dionysios' treatise was a much needed step forward in the domain of text criticism, and archaeomusicology. It provides, alongside the Greek text and its critical apparatus, a translation of the text into modern Greek, a full philological discussion of the manuscripts readings, a comprehensive commentary of the musicological issues raised by the author, an extensive introduction to all aspects related to the treatise and its content, a large number of illustrations on the topics discussed in the work, and a complete series of indices (verborum, scriptorum, auctorum antiquorum, auctorum recentiorum, locorum). In addition, a number of issues were settled: a. The authorship of the treatise by Dionysios is proven on palaeographic grounds, based on two of the oldest manuscripts. The first editor of this treatise, F. Bellermann (1841), had wrongly attributed the work to Bakcheios. b. The date of the treatise is settled as the 10th Ct (during Konstantinos Porphyrogenn�tos' reign), based on a metrical analysis of the 8-line epigram in Byzantine twelve-syllable verse composed by the author, which appears at the end of the work in the manuscripts. c. It is shown that the treatise is the only integral source of information on the so called �canonic theory of music' (kanonik�), and that the floruit of this branch of harmonic science occurred in the period 1st BC - 1st AD. d. The three anonymous �canonic divisions� edited by Adolf Stamm in 1881 are here for the first time dated as the 6th Ct, based on a comparison of these with the other extant �divisions', those by Eukleid�s, Thrasyllos, Adrastos, and Panaitios. e. A new date for Panaitios' (the Younger) floruit is proposed, transfering his terminus post quem from the 1st Ct BC to the 1st Ct AD, based on intertextual arguments.