Ptolemais of Cyrene () was a

music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...

, author of ''Pythagorean Principles of Music'' (Πυθαγορικὴ τῆς μουσικῆς στοιχείωσις). She lived perhaps in the 3rd century BC, and "certainly not after the first century AD." She is the only known female music theorist of antiquity.

Life

Almost nothing is known about her life; her work is known only from references in Porphyry'
commentary
on Ptolemy's ''Harmonics''. She shares the same place of origin (

Cyrene, Libya Cyrene, also sometimes anglicization of names, anglicized as Kyrene, was an ancient Greeks, ancient Greek Greek colonization, colony and ancient Romans, Roman Cities of the Roman Empire, city near present-day Shahhat in northeastern Libya in Nor ...

) as

Arete of Cyrene Arete of Cyrene (; ; ) was a Cyrenaic philosopher who lived in Cyrene, Libya. She was the daughter of Aristippus of Cyrene. Life and teachings Arete learned philosophy from her father, Aristippus, who had himself learned philosophy from Socrates ...

(a female philosopher of the

Cyrenaic The Cyrenaics or Kyrenaics (), were a sensual hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century Common Era, BCE, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are believed to have been formalized b ...

school, whose doctrines included

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

elements) and

Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; ; – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a Greek mathematics, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theory, music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of A ...

(whose many interests included music theory). She is one of several women writers associated with Pythagoreanism.

Work

In her work, written in the form of a

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

, she commented on the music-theoretical debate concerning the proper roles of

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

and sensory experience in the study of

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

. Despite her apparent adherence to Pythagoreanism, a school whose theorists (the ''canonici'') put music on a

rational Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ...

and

mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

basis, there is no apparent hostility in her citations of the

empiricist In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

followers of

Aristoxenus Aristoxenus of Tarentum (; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Peripatetic school, Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musi ...

(the ''musici''); perhaps the methodological division was not a stark absolute during her period or from her

point of view Point of View or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronoun used in narration * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or ...

.Rocconi 2003, pp. 104-5 Ptolemais also makes reference to musicologists who gave equal importance to

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

and reason, preferring to see Aristoxenus himself (as opposed to his followers) in this light, and even stressing the compatible role of perception in the Pythagorean theory: In this same passage, Ptolemais criticizes the extreme partisans of both schools, "the Pythagoreans who enjoyed disputing with the musici" for dismissing perception entirely (despite their contradictory "adoption of something perceivable in the beginning"), and "some of the musici who follow Aristoxenus" for adopting their master's "theory based upon thought" but proceeding "through expertise on musical instruments" and "regard ngperception as authoritative, and reason as accompanying it, and for necessity only."

Notes

References

* * Eleonora Rocconi, "Un manuale al femminile: LIntroduzione pitagorica alla musica'' di Tolemaide di Cirene," in ''Ars/Techne'', ed. Maria Silvana Celentano, Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso, 2003, pp. 99–114

Life

Work

Notes

References

Further reading