Revisiting the Thetic Approach to Ancient Greek Harmonics and Melody

Abstract The music notation of Vienna Papyrus G 29825 a/b recto ( DAGM № 9) is used to recontextualize Claudius Ptolemy’s thetic (‘positional’) view of music as an integral component of a two-sided music system where octave species and instrument tunings are used in conjunction with notation keys and modulations as part of a consistent musical tradition that lasted at least six centuries. This thetic approach is applied to a comprehensive modal analysis of surviving ancient Greek melodies to demonstrate that mesē by position is the most commonly used note in a substantial proportion of ancient Greek music, resulting in more detailed practical definition of Greek ‘mode’ than has been previously understood.