Sounds from under the Ashes: The Music of Cults and Mysteries in the Ancient Vesuvian Land

In the Roman period, the communities inhabiting the land dominated by the threatening Mount Vesuvius (Fig. 1) still regarded the Greek heritage as their own. It was in fact on the island of Pithekoussai (now Ischia, near Naples) that the first Greeks landed in the beginning of the eighth century BCE. They had sailed across the Mediterranean Sea in quest for new lands to settle, bringing with them a cultural heritage that included a pantheon and music. The sonorous horizon of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the villas of Stabiae and Oplontis, built some centuries later are the fruits of a melting pot in which the Greek tradition had fused with the themes and the customs of the Italic and Etruscan communities. In the year 79 CE the volcano erupted, sealing the Vesuvian area along with its rich culture under layers of ash and lava.