Fact Check - 5. Music, Temperament, and Social Concord
From The Observatory
Query: 5. Music, Temperament, and Social Concord
Fact Check
Quoted text:
Most artists were public servants (Greek demiourgoi, literally “workers for the demos”), and as such dependent on the civil state, palace, or temple for their livelihood. Some were outright slaves.[1]
Supervising them were various officials such as the choregos (originally in charge of the chorus, later the person who financed it), and the aesymnetes who beat the time for the choral dances. (I will discuss these officials in greater detail below.)
They were Greek demiourgoi, from the many blind men who were trained as musicians to the metic foreign “guest workers.”The logic here is confusing; the first paragraph describes the demiourgoi; the second paragraph says the demiourgoi were supervised by choregos and aesymnetes; and the third paragraph says the choregos and aesymnetes themselves were the demiourgoi. Can you help?
Suggest an edit or addition for this query. Join the research!
- ↑ The blind musician is a familiar character from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. It was because they were blind that they were turned over to the temples or other public institutions, which trained them in music, gardening, or other craft for which eyesight was not essential. See Samuel Noah Kramer and John Maier’s Myths of Enki, The Crafty God, for Sumerian practice. This spread to classical Greece.
