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The Monochord in Ancient Greek Harmonic Science

This book brings together for the first time all the evidence for the monochord down to Claudius Ptolemy (2nd c. AD) into a single historical and scientific account of an instrument whose role in shaping ancient ideas about the relationships between music and mathematics was profound and long-lasting. The breadth and complexity of the material required considerable differences in approach and expertise, and because the evidence was drawn from texts in ancient arithmetic, geometry, acoustics, harmonics, astronomy, philosophy, history and poetry, considerable investment in acquiring knowledge of these specialist areas was necessary.