Soothing Lyres and epôidai: Music Therapy and the Cases of Orpheus, Empedocles and David

The psychagogic efficacy of music, namely its power to act on the soul in such a way as to influence characters and behaviors, and even health, is based in ancient Greek thought on a likeness between soul and musical harmony. This idea involves also a “harmonious” order distinguishing human physis as being a part of the world order (kosmos), as it is possible to notice at least since the time of the pre-Socratics. From many of the surviving fragments of their works we learn of the shift of the term harmonia (Bonaventura-Meyer 1932; Lippman 1963; Lambropoulou 1995–1996; Franklin 2002) from material aspects of human life to the kosmos. A strong bridge between the pre-Socratic harmonia and musical healing is built by Aristotle in his Politics (1340b7–19), where he states that “the modes and rhythms of music have an affinity (συγγένεια) [with the soul], as well as a natural sweetness. This explains why many thinkers connect the soul with harmony — some saying that it is a harmony, and others that it possesses the attribute of harmony” (trans. by Barker 1995). Beginning from such an affinity, Aristotle deals with the use of music in the education of young people, that is, with its role in the making of the Greek man, and also with the therapeutic — and in no way ethic — effects of the aulos on people performing rites, including enthusiastic music. These people, affected by ἔλεος ‘pity’ and φόβος ‘fear’ at an exceedingly high degree, seemed, after the rites were carried out, as if they underwent ἰατρεία ‘medical therapy’ and κάθαρσις ‘purification’, since the music performed with the aulos and the κίνησις ‘movement’ induced by it healed excessive emotions.