Immagini della musica e archeologia. Percorsi e prospettive di ricerca

This paper examines the myth and iconography of Orpheus between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC, analyzing how Attic and Magna Graecian pottery reflects the power of music in ritual and the transition to the afterlife. By investigating scenes of Orpheus’ singing and his death, the study highlights the evolution of stringed instruments (lyra and kithara) and their symbolic significance in funerary contexts in Sicily and Southern Italy. This interdisciplinary approach, combining archaeology and musicology, reconstructs the role of music as a mediator between the human and divine spheres in the ancient Mediterranean.