Ptolemais of Cyrene

Ptolemais of Cyrene (Greek Πτολεμαῒς ἡ Κυρηναία ) was an ancient Greek Musiktheoretikerin. Your unspecified determinable life time can be narrowed down to the period between 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD.

Life and work

Besides their origin from Cyrene, a Greek city in what is now Libya, is about the life of Ptolemais not known. It is the only known author of antiquity, who wrote about music theory.

She wrote a textbook entitled " Pythagorean elementary theory of music" ( Πυθαγορικὴ τῆς μουσικῆς στοιχείωσις Pythagorikḗ tēs Mousikes stoicheíōsis ). Of which only extracts have been preserved, handed down the Neoplatonist Porphyry in his commentary on the harmony of Ptolemy. From them it is evident that the plant was built in the question -and-answer style.

The excerpts deal with the concept of the musical canon and its etymology, the subject of the eponymous science kanonikḗ ( the harmonics ) and the relationship between theory and practice in music teaching. Ptolemais distinguish between different positions or approaches that are based mostly primarily on an empirical musical findings, some place the main emphasis on mathematical conclusions:

• The opinion of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. Although this direction go first by the perception and then formulate on this basis a theory later, however, the theory would decoupled from the perception and you also hold on to her when she is no longer supported by the empirical research. Then, the perception will be discarded as unreliable.
• The position of a radical direction of the Pythagoreans, the only "reason " (logos), that is, let the mathematical theory apply and do not accept perception as a criterion of truth, but they consider to be inconsequential. You mean a rational system is superior to all contemporary empirical principle. These theorists throws Ptolemais inconsistency before, because even with them the theory 'm originally from the perception, but what they would forget later.
• The setting of the practicing musician, who hold to the perception and mathematical music theory grant no or only minor importance.
• The view of Aristoxenus, which the perception and the theory accorded the same weight. He was of the view that neither the perception without rational interpretation enables an understanding nor reason on its own, ie without perception as a starting point, could determine something. One can prove any conclusion as true, if they do not agree with the empirical finding.
• The opinion of some music theorists are based on Aristoxenus. For them, the perception is just like the theory indispensable, but are not these instances equivalent, but in case of conflict come to the perception of priority. It is not expected that the perceptions are always with the demands of the theory consistent. The theory is only a tool that can be use as needed.

From Ptolemais ' report on the various music-theoretical concepts is not clear that they belonged to a particular school of thought itself. The title of her work suggests that it considered itself to be Pythagoreerin, but their criticism of an over-emphasis on the mathematical theory at the expense of musical empirical studies show their rejection of radical variants of Pythagoreanism. Your sympathy is not apparently prevailing in the school of Aristoxenus approach.

Text editions and translations

• Andrew Barker (ed.): Greek Musical Writings. Volume 2: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989, ISBN 0 - 521-30220 -X, pp. 239-242 (English translation of the fragments )
• Ingemar Düring (ed.): Porphyry, Commentary on the Harmony of Ptolemy. Olms, Hildesheim, 1978 ( reprint of Gothenburg 1932), ISBN 3-487-06667- X, pp. 22-26 ( critical edition of the Greek text of the fragments )