Commentarius in Claudii Ptolemaei Harmonica

Porphyry’s Commentary on Ptolemy’s “Harmonics” is a unique document of Neoplatonic thought on music. Not only does it contain a thorough discussion of the perception and appreciation of pitched sounds, but it also gives us a hint of how the technicalities of music theory might have been taught to non specialised readers with a philosophical background; moreover, it is a treasure of quotations from lost authors and works. The apparatus of this new edition includes all the emendations and conjectu