A papyrus of the period 280–240 bce, discovered at Hibeh in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. It contains an anonymous diatribe against those who claim to be harmonicists (harmonikoi) but make random critical comparisons and handle theory haphazardly. They are said to believe that ‘different types of music’ produce different ethical states, including justness. A brief and erratic rebuttal deals exclusively with the genera; it includes the assertion that the enharmonic genus was used throughout performances of tragedy. The self-styled experts are also accused of maintaining that certain types of music (melē) have associations with laurel or with ivy, and even that (?)mimesis in music is obviously excellent. The text breaks off with a phrase about satyrs dancing to aulos accompaniment.
Grenfell and Hunt, following the suggestion of Friedrich Blass, conjectured that Hippias of Elis (later 5th century bce) might be the author, but Crönert and others argued against this attribution. Stylistic criteria suggest that the author was a contemporary of Isocrates (and perhaps a follower) and, taken with other evidence, that the text dates from around 390 bce. Alcidamus has been suggested (by Brancacci, followed by West). In any case, the general position attacked is that of the school of Damon, but the real targets are enthusiasts who went to absurd extremes or were thought to have done so. The theory of ethos ridiculed here is not in every respect Platonic, as the mention of justness and the failure to consider modality show. The doctrine of mimetic excellence reappeared in Plato's late thought as the criterion of ‘rightness’ in music. The arguments are unconvincing and narrowly empirical throughout. As music criticism, the Hibeh discourse is valuable as a vivid comment on the musical scene in Plato's day.
See also Ethos, and Greece, §I.
B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt, ed. and trans.: The Hibeh Papyri (London, 1906), pt.i, no.13, pp.45–8 [incl. text and trans.]
H. Abert: ‘Ein neuer musikalischer Papyrusfund’, ZIMG, viii (1906–7), 79–83
C.-E. Ruelle: ‘Le papyrus musical de Hibeh’, Revue de philologie, xxxi (1907), 235–40
W. Crönert: ‘Die Hibehrede über die Musik’, Hermes, xliv (1909), 503–21
L. Carpi: ‘Il papiro musicale di Hibeh’, RMI, xx (1913), 487–93 [incl. trans.]
A.J. Janssens: ‘De muziekaesthetische papyrus van Hibeh’, Philologische Studien, xi–xii (1934–5), 90–111
L. Richter: Zur Wissenschaftslehre von der Musik bei Platon und Aristoteles (Berlin, 1961), 40ff
W.D. Anderson: Ethos and Education in Greek Music (Cambridge, MA, 1966), 147ff, 188–9 [incl. trans.]
G. Sörbom: ‘Hibeh-papyrus om musik’, STMf, lxiv (1982), 59–60 [incl. trans.]
A. Barker, ed.: Greek Musical Writings, i: The Musician and his Art (Cambridge, 1984), 183–5
A. Brancacci: ‘Alcidamante e PHibeh 13 “De musica”: musica della retorica e retorica della musica’, Aristoxenica, Menandrea, fragmenta philosophica (Florence, 1988), 61–84 [incl. rev. Gk. text]
M.L. West: ‘Analecta musica’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, xcii (1992), 16–23 [incl. rev. Gk. text]
WARREN ANDERSON/THOMAS J. MATHIESEN