[Lemma] φιλόμουσος
[Traduzione] «music lover»
[Fonte] Ael. NA 12, 45; 1, 315 s. Hercher
[Altre occorrenze] With a meaning less specifically related to music, but more generally to intellectual refinement, in Ar. Nub. 358 (λόγοι φιλόμουσοι); in a broader sense, in reference to the arts of the Muses, Plat. Phdr. 259 and Resp. 548, and Xen. Cyr. 5, 1, 1; with reference only to the Muses, Theocr. 14, 61; in a more technical sense (“competent in musical matters”), in Plut. Quaest. conv. 668c, in the superlative, and id. Soll. An. . 668c, al superlativo, e id . Soll. An. 984c, in the form of the neuter noun τὸ φιλόμουσον, for φιλομουσία. Both the adjective φιλόμουσος and the verb φιλομουσέω are present respectively in Philod. Mus. 4, 115, 2-3 the first, in 4, 47, 3 and 4, 136, 12 the second (see additions by Delattre 2007). The verb is also present in At. 633.
[Edizioni di riferimento] (Arion) PMG 939.8.
[Breve discussione]
The love of song and music is a widespread literary topos in ancient Greek literature (cf., for example, the compound φιλόμολπος in Pind. Nem. 7, 9). The compound φιλόμουσος in question is attributed, according to Aelian, by Arion to dolphins, recognized by the ancients as animals that love music (cf. ὁ φίλαυλος…δελφίς in Eu. El. 435-436).
[Bibliografia]
On the fragment and its historical-literary placement, see M. ERCOLES, ‘L’inno a Poseidone attribuito ad Arione (PMG 939)’, Paideia 64, 2009, in which the scholar deals with the topic of the dating of fr. 939 PMG («to a poet active around 400 BC», p. 314) and P. LEVEN, The Many-Headed Muse. Tradition and Innovation in Late Classical Greek Lyric Poetry , Cambridge 2014, 48 with bibliography at no. 38. On dolphins, at the centre of our fragment, see F. ANGIÒ, ‘Nota su alcuni epiteti del delfino nella poesia greca’, Myrtia 28, 2013, 64.
[Parole chiave]
Amore per la musica, musicofilia
[Francesco Buè]