Porphyry's Commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics
eBook - PDF

Porphyry's Commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics

A Greek Text and Annotated Translation

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Porphyry's Commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics

A Greek Text and Annotated Translation

About this book

Porphyry's Commentary, the only surviving ancient commentary on a technical text, is not merely a study of Ptolemy's Harmonics. It includes virtually free-standing philosophical essays on epistemology, metaphysics, scientific methodology, aspects of the Aristotelian categories and the relations between Aristotle's views and Plato's, and a host of briefer comments on other matters of wide philosophical interest. For musicologists it is widely recognised as a treasury of quotations from earlier treatises, many of them otherwise unknown; but Porphyry's own reflections on musical concepts (for instance notes, intervals and their relation to ratios, quantitative and qualitative conceptions of pitch, the continuous and discontinuous forms of vocal movement, and so on) and his snapshots of contemporary music-making have been undeservedly neglected. This volume presents the first English translation and a revised Greek text of the Commentary, with an introduction and notes designed to assist readers in engaging with this important and intricate work.

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Yes, you can access Porphyry's Commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics by Andrew Barker in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Ancient & Classical Philosophy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. Introduction
  8. Texts and Translations
  9. Porphyry's commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics Book I
  10. Porphyry's commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics Book II
  11. Bibliography
  12. Index of names
  13. General index