Music, Politics and Society in Ancient Rome

Demonstrates the importance of music in ancient Roman political culture and social relations.

Harry Morgan (Author)

9781009232333, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 December 2022

297 pages, 31 colour illus.
25 x 17.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.7 kg

Music was everywhere in ancient Rome. Wherever one went in the sprawling city, the sound of singing and piping, drumming and strumming was never far out of earshot. This book examines the role of music in Roman politics and society, focusing on the period from the Roman conquest of Greece in the second century BCE to the end of the reign of Nero in 68 CE. Drawing on a wide range of literary texts, inscriptions and material artefacts, Harry Morgan uncovers the tensions between elite and popular attitudes towards music and shows how music was exploited as a tool by political leaders and emperors. Far from being a marginal aspect of daily life, music was fundamental to Roman political culture and social relations, shaping debates about class, gender and ethnicity. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of ancient music and Roman history.

Introduction
1. The games of L. Anicius Gallus and the cultural politics of music in the second century BCE
2. Popular music and popular politics in the late republic
3. Augustus, Apollo's lyre and the harmony of the principate
4. Nero and the age of musomania.

Subject Areas: Cultural studies [JFC], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Early music [up to c 1000 CE AVGC1]