Home / Series / BBC Documentaries / Aired Order / Season 2024 / Episode 25

Discovering the Music of Antiquity

When a music score is uncovered deep within the storerooms of the Louvre, musical historians scramble to realise the potential of this piece of papyrus. The text's grammatical features give us a clue to the composer's identity: Carcinus, an author cited by Aristotle in his Rhetoric. His name is engraved on a wall in the Parthenon, and the story of his life offers an insight into the history of Greek musicians, who were revered like gods and welcomed across the Mediterranean to take part in competitions modelled on the Olympic Games.

English
  • Originally Aired March 4, 2024
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Network GreatBritain BBC Four
  • Created March 4, 2024 by
    richdruitt
  • Modified March 8, 2024 by
    philh001