Pliny and the Silence of the Spheres

The Rejection of Heavenly Music in Pliny the Elder in Its Philosophical Context

Bibliographic Data

ID22029707
AuthorsMatteo Varoli (0009-0007-0792-415X, University of Genoa, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume12
Issue2
Pages295-318
Publication date2024-07-10
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGreek and Roman Musical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2212-974X • E-ISSN: 2212-9758
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/22129758-12341395
OpenAlexW4401175861
LanguageEN
References cited12

This article deals with two passages from the second book of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History , devoted to the topic of cosmic music. Pliny seems to reject a theory that was widely accepted in most contemporary sources as a commonplace. A close survey of these passages sheds some light on the reasons for Pliny’s scepticism: he looks well informed about the philosophical debate about the problems of acoustics that the theory raised as early as the time of Archytas, and his objections against the theory seem to refer to the early Pythagorean arguments reported by Aristotle in the treatise On the Heavens . Pliny’s position on cosmic harmony is also relevant for the understanding of his own cosmology and of his perspective on human knowledge, leading to a reconsideration of the role of sensory experience in his ‘scientific’ work

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Literature · Pythagorean theorem · Silence · Skepticism · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Philosophy

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