The Routledge Handbook of Music and Dance Performances in the Ancient Mediterranean: An Interpretive Approach

The Routledge Handbook of Music and Dance Performances in the Ancient Mediterranean: An Interpretive Approach brings together research from the subdiscipline of archaeomusicology, or music archaeology, with new perspectives from art history, the archaeology of performance, and sensory studies, to provide a comprehensive overview of music and dance in the ancient Mediterranean world. Through an archaeological approach to performance that places musical and dance activities within an actual or symbolic space, the book utilizes the study of instruments and sound objects to provide a valuable investigation that can shed light on the ritual meaning and social function of sonic events, as well as on the role of musicians and dancers in antiquity. Including Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Etruria, and Rome, this handbook emphasizes the evidence from material culture for both ritual and everyday contexts. Providing a useful reference for anyone coming to this field of research for the first time, this volume introduces the varied modes of inquiry that have directed the study of ancient music and dance, and offers new possibilities for future study.