Originally released as a short EP length album in 2015, in August 2023, I decided to re-record in higher quality, extended length arrangements of 5 of the original tracks & 3 new additional tracks for this full LP album length re-release.
This album is the sequel to my album, "The Lyre of Apollo - The Chelys Lyre of Ancient Greece". Both of
Originally released as a short EP length album in 2015, in August 2023, I decided to re-record in higher quality, extended length arrangements of 5 of the original tracks & 3 new additional tracks for this full LP album length re-release.
This album is the sequel to my album, "The Lyre of Apollo - The Chelys Lyre of Ancient Greece". Both of these albums are part of an exciting collaboration between myself and Lutherios Ancient & Modern Music Instruments for their inspirational "Lyre 2.0 Project" - dedicated to reintroducing the beautiful lyre of antiquity back into our much aesthetically poorer, bland modern world.
Their vision is one I share and which continues to inspire me - maybe, someday soon, the beautiful lyre of antiquity will once again resonate the 21st century and beyond, with its haunting, ancient beauty.
"Lutherios" is comprised of members of the Koumartzis family of specialist musical instrument makers, who are based in Thessaloniki, Greece. Their "Lyre 2.0 Project” recently featured in an article in "Lifo Magazine" - one of the most widely read cultural magazines in Greece. The lyre featured in this album is their handcrafted “Lyre of Apollo III" model, a chelys form of lyre. The literal translation of the ancient Greek word "chelys" means "tortoise shell lyre"; the lyre made with a resonator fashioned from a tortoise shell carapace over which a soundboard of taut leather was stretched.
However, as well as an actual tortoise shell carapace , the term 'chelys' could also refer to a lyre with a resonator made of wood, but carved into the general form of a tortoise. Indeed, the latter would have produced a much richer, resonant tone, as wood is a far lighter and resonant material to construct a musical instrument from, than a much denser tortoise shell parapace, in addition to its irregular thickness. The 'Lyre of Apollo III' was therefore constructed in accordance with the latter form of chelys.
The definitive proof that in antiquity, the chelys was also sometimes made out of wood fashioned in the accurate portrayal of a tortoise shell, can be found in this fascinating passage by Philostratus the Elder, in his writings "Imagines": “All the wood required for the lyre is of boxwood, firm and free from knots – there is no ivory anywhere about the lyre, for men did not yet know wither the elephant or the use they were to make of its tusks. The tortoise-shell is black, but its portrayal is accurate and true to nature in that the surface is covered with irregular circles which touch each other and have yellow eyes”.
The word 'chelys' was said to have been invented by Hermes. Hermes, the messenger of the Olympian gods, is the son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, daughter of Atlas and one of the Pleiades. According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (475) he was attracted by sounds of music while walking on the banks of the Nile, and found they emanated from the shell of a tortoise across which were stretched tendons which the wind had set in vibration. The story is recounted here, in a passage from 'Encyclopedia Mythica', which goes on to describe how the chelys became forever associated with Apollo, the ancient Greek god of music:
"According to legend, Hermes was born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Zeus had impregnated Maia at the dead of night while all other gods slept. When dawn broke amazingly he was born. Maia wrapped him in swaddling bands, then resting herself, fell fast asleep. Hermes, however, squirmed free and ran off to Thessaly. This is where Apollo, his brother, grazed his cattle. Hermes stole a number of the herd and drove them back to Greece. He hid them in a small grotto near to the city of Pylos and covered their tracks. Before returning to the cave he caught a tortoise, killed it and removed its entrails. Using the intestines from a cow stolen from Apollo and the hollow tortoise shell, he made the first lyre. When he reached the cave he wrapped himself back into the swaddling bands. When Apollo realized he had been robbed he protested to Maia that it had been Hermes who had taken his cattle. Maia looked to Hermes and said it could not be, as he is still wrapped in swaddling bands. Zeus the all powerful intervened saying he had been watching and Hermes should return the cattle to Apollo. As the argument went on, Hermes began to play his lyre. The sweet music enchanted Apollo, and he offered Hermes to keep the cattle in exchange for the lyre. Apollo later became the grand master of the instrument, and it also became one of his symbols"
MY EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING "THE LYRE OF APOLLO"
Inspirationally authentic - this was my first observation! In particular, the unique, exotic timbre of this lyre is mainly thanks to the much more authentically 'bench-shaped' bridge - much wider at the top and flatter than the standard guitar-style "A-shaped' bridges which feature on my other lyres.
The shape of the lyre bridge is really significant in the creation of the unique tone of the lyre, for whereas the modern guitar-style 'A-shaped' bridge is designed to be buzz-free, creating a pure, harp-like tone almost all detailed illustrations of ancient lyres seem to show the flatter, bench-shaped bridge, which creates a completely different tone!
The wider top of these 'bench-shaped' bridges creates a subtle but very pleasant 'buzz' to the overall timbre - rather like that of a sitar, or a much more subtle version of the begena, a lyre still played today in Ethiopia, where the inherent buzz of the archaic flatter lyre bridge has become the primary feature of the particular tone of this bass register 10-string lyre.
Every detail of this beautiful lyre has been designed with authenticity in mind, even down to the incredibly useful and aesthetically pleasing braided 'telamon' - the strap traditionally used to play the lyre with two hands simultaneously, which contrary to the prevailing prejudice for a belief in the 'urban myth' of the monotony of monophony in the ancient world, this is exactly how these beautiful instruments were indeed designed to be played in antiquity, as illustrated in countless actual ancient depictions of lyre players. All of these beautiful lyres, lovingly hand-crafted by Luthieros are indeed, divine artefacts, reintroduced into the modern world...
THE TRACKS
All of the tracks in this album are composed in a selection of the original ancient Greek modes, in the wonderfully pure just intonation of antiquity. The tracks are inspired by the unique characteristics of some of the Nymphs of ancient Greek mythology:
Naiads (Water Nymphs) - a spontaneous improvisation for replica ancient Greek chelys lyre in the dreamy, soft and feminine sounding ancient Greek Hypolydian Mode (equivalent intervals as F-F on the white notes of the piano and misnamed the 'Lydian' mode in the Middle Ages), in the wonderfully pure just intonation of antiquity. In this improvisation, I wish to conjure through music, an evocation of the beautiful painting, “Hylas and the Nymphs” by John William Waterhouse.
Anthousai (Nymphs of the Flowers) - a spontaneous improvisation for solo chelys (tortoise shell form) replica ancient Greek lyre, in the warm & exhilarating ancient Greek Hypophrygian mode, (equivalent intervals as G-G on the white notes of the piano and misnamed the 'Mixolydian' Mode in the Middle Ages), in the just intonation of antiquity.
Dryads (Nymphs of the Forest) - a spontaneous improvisation for solo chelys (tortoise shell form) replica ancient Greek lyre in the intense and mystical sounding ancient Greek Dorian mode (equivalent intervals as E-E on the white notes of the piano and misnamed the 'Phrygian' Mode in the Middle Ages) , in the just intonation of antiquity.
Nephelai (Nymphs of the Clouds) - a spontaneous improvisation for solo chelys (tortoise shell form) replica ancient Greek lyre, in the intense ancient Greek Hypodorian mode (equivalent intervals as A-A on the white notes of the piano and misnamed the 'Aeolian' Mode in the Middle Ages), in the just intonation of antiquity.
Asteriai (Nymphs of the Stars) - a spontaneous improvisation for solo chelys (tortoise shell form) replica ancient Greek lyre, in the profound and timeless ancient Greek Phrygian mode, (equivalent intervals as D-D on the white notes of the piano and misnamed the 'Dorian' Mode in the Middle Ages) in the just intonation of antiquity.
Lampades (Nymphs of Hades) - this track is a spontaneous improvisation for solo chelys (tortoise shell form) replica ancient Greek lyre, in the ancient Greek Chromatic Phrygian Mode (equivalent intervals as DEFG#ABCD) - this unsettling mode can also be heard in an actual surviving fragment of written music from ancient Greece, in a dramatic fragment from Ajax, known as "Tecmessa's Lament".
Nereids (Nymphs of the Sea) - In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides are sea nymphs, the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors.
In this piece, I use the dark & intense ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode in the pure focus of just intonation, to convey a feeling of the darkness of the oceanic depths.
This album attempts to evoke through meditative music for recreated ancient lyre, the philosophical quest to achieve the ancient Greek ideal of Ataraxia – a feeling of total inner harmony & freedom from anxiety, which is one of the core criteria required to bring a sense of meaning to our own lives.
In a frenetic, ever changing modern world of
This album attempts to evoke through meditative music for recreated ancient lyre, the philosophical quest to achieve the ancient Greek ideal of Ataraxia – a feeling of total inner harmony & freedom from anxiety, which is one of the core criteria required to bring a sense of meaning to our own lives.
In a frenetic, ever changing modern world of uncertainty, shallow, materialistic goals & a lack of anything of aesthetic value or spirituality, this age-old philosophical quest for each of us to strive to seek some long-forgotten inner peace & harmony, has even more relevance today than it did back in the heyday of classical Greece!
Other ancient Greek philosophical ideas I explore throughout the album, which are also part of the spiritual & intellectual voyage to achieve this inner harmony, include musical evocations of the Stoic ideal of Apatheia (freedom from negative emotions), the Aristotelian ideal of Eudiamonia (the ideal of seeking a flourishing life, by seeking a life of virtue & reason – the highest functions of human consciousness) and learning to live with the difficult truth advocated by sceptical ancient Greek philosophers such as Pyrrho, that the only thing certain, is uncertainty.
Putting these threads together, the album aims to musically express this progression to the ancient Greek ideal of "Ataraxia" (the inner harmony we strive to attain, once we achieve freedom from distress) - an inner peace which can only come, when we learn to live with the difficult truth that the only thing certain in the enigma of our conscious experience, is uncertainty. Only once we can swallow this truth, can we finally appreciate the mystery!
This perfect contentment, “inner harmony”, was first expressed in ancient Greece by the philosopher, Pyrrho, as 'Ataraxia'; a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety - tranquillity. The hallowed state of Ataraxia, according to Pyrrho, can only to be achieved by finally accepting the hard but timeless truth, that the only thing we can ever know for certain, is uncertainty!
Translating this incredible philosophical insight to our modern times, we can only find our own state of Ataraxia; our personal inner harmony, by learning to appreciate the cosmic mystery of the very existence our conscious experience, as actual sentient beings, instead of becoming too obsessed in the futile quest to try to understand everything; which will only bring us struggles, unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Indeed, we can only ever have a finite understanding of this infinite universe!
To sum up this cosmic enigma, so famously described by the late astronomer, Carl Sagan, we are literally forged of star dust - that briefly became conscious of the stars...
Back in classical antiquity, the Pythagoreans likened a just and well-ordered society to a well-tuned lyre - while each note retains its individuality, all are proportionally linked together in a larger whole to form a musical scale and all are interdependent in terms of their reliance on one another. This beautiful analogy between a well-ordered society and a well-tuned lyre is famously described by Plato in “The Republic”, 443 D–444
Bringing this idea new life in my quest for a 'New Ancestral' musical revolution, the limitless creative musical possibilities of the 10 strings I have on the lyre with which I recorded this release with, are analogous to the general maximum of 10 decades with which our brief human lives span - even although the present human species has a general maximum of 10 decades of natural lifespan, there are almost limitless possibilities in each of them, for each and every one of us to shape our precious years as conscious, sentient beings in any way we can possibly imagine!
To further mirror this analogy, in editing down to the final version of this release, there are also 10 tracks – each track marking a step nearer on the path to achieving the ideal of achieving in our brief, precious lives, the inner harmony of Ataraxia.
Even if there is no God or gods, we alone still miraculously have the power within our inner self, to create our own meaning in life; even if all our religions prove eventually to be wrong and the universe itself, of which we are briefly a part, exists for no cause or reason.
Each of us must create our own form of harmony and order out of the chaos of this world in which we briefly find ourselves in - therefore, we all need to ultimately strive to literally become the lyre players of our own lives...
Attempting to conjure some ancient Greek magic...with a potion of tortoise shell & shard of goats horn! The recreated ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre featured in this album, was custom-made for me in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
The recreated lyre features an actual foraged Greek land tortoise shell as a resonator,
Attempting to conjure some ancient Greek magic...with a potion of tortoise shell & shard of goats horn! The recreated ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre featured in this album, was custom-made for me in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
The recreated lyre features an actual foraged Greek land tortoise shell as a resonator, a soundboard of goat skin, gut strings & a plectrum of carved goats’ horn - about the nearest thing one can get, to being able to take the Elgin lyre out of its display cabinet at the British Museum & actually being able to play on it!
The album cover of this release, features a statue of Hecate, the ancient Greek goddess of magic & the miraculously surviving 2,400-year-old Elgin lyre (an ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre preserved in the British Museum), whose ancient musical magic I attempt to evoke in the original musical creations for recreated tortoise shell lyre which feature in this release.
In my efforts to 'carry on where the ancients left off', I like to experiment in specific sections of the melodies featured in this album, with a subtle fusion of both ancient lyre timbres and contemporary studio effects, which include the use of reverbs sampled from actual caves & attempting to evoke a dream-like feel to the music, by sometimes adding delays to specific phrases.
In keeping with the essence of magic & mysticism in ancient Greek mythology which I set out to convey in this release, there are 9 tracks I settled on to include in this compilation. The number 9 had a great deal of mythological significance during classical antiquity. Indeed, there were nine Muses in Greek mythology - Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (erotic poetry), Euterpe (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (song), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy) and Urania (astronomy).
Also, according to Greek mythology, it takes nine days for an anvil to fall from heaven to earth, and nine more to fall from earth to Tartarus. According to the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo. Leto laboured for nine days and nine nights to give birth to her son, Apollo, the ancient Greek god of music.
This album features more new compositions for a wide selection of recreated ancient Greek lyres, inspired by the wonderfully diverse patchwork of classical mythology.
The pieces utilize a wide selection of the original ancient Greek musical modes, whose distinctive expressive characteristics, long-forgotten in our monotonously standardized modern
This album features more new compositions for a wide selection of recreated ancient Greek lyres, inspired by the wonderfully diverse patchwork of classical mythology.
The pieces utilize a wide selection of the original ancient Greek musical modes, whose distinctive expressive characteristics, long-forgotten in our monotonously standardized modern major/minor equal temperament tonality, are further enhanced by the use of just intonation throughout the entire body of the tracks.
This album, like so many other recent of my recent releases, uses snapshots from the vast palette of ancient Greek mythology to inspire the ancient-themed compositions, which once again, feature a range of recreated ancient Greek lyres, tuned in a selection of some of the original ancient Greek modes, whose distinctive qualities are further
This album, like so many other recent of my recent releases, uses snapshots from the vast palette of ancient Greek mythology to inspire the ancient-themed compositions, which once again, feature a range of recreated ancient Greek lyres, tuned in a selection of some of the original ancient Greek modes, whose distinctive qualities are further enhanced using just intonation.
The lyres in this album were all lovingly recreated in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
The lyres include two custom made tortoise shell lyres, featuring naturally occurring tortoise shells from long deceased modern Greek land tortoises; foraged from the forests near Thessaloniki (no live animals were harmed!) & a selection of 'chelys' form (tortoise shell form) lyres, which although fashioned in the form of a tortoise shell, feature resonators made from wood over which the skin soundboard is stretched - these lyres possess a richer, deeper timbre, more suitable to accompany some of the simple vocal lines which feature in some of the tracks.
In my continuing efforts to create the evolution of a truly distinctive 'New Ancestral' music genre, throughout this project, I also attempt to further enhance the dreamy quality of the timbre of the recreated ancient lyre, with a subtle palette of contemporary studio effects, ranging from reverbs sampled from actual cathedrals & caves, to specific melodic phrases enhanced with dream-like echoes & delays.
Featuring both the actual music of ancient Greece & original compositions in the original ancient Greek Modes, as described in the writings Plato & Aristotle, performed on a replica of the Kithara Lyre of the Ancient Greeks...
This unique album features 6 examples of some of the actual music of ancient Greece & 6 original compositions
Featuring both the actual music of ancient Greece & original compositions in the original ancient Greek Modes, as described in the writings Plato & Aristotle, performed on a replica of the Kithara Lyre of the Ancient Greeks...
This unique album features 6 examples of some of the actual music of ancient Greece & 6 original compositions for replica ancient Greek Kithara lyre, in some of the original ancient Greek Modes (as described in the writings of Plato & Aristotle, some 2400 years ago) The concept of this album & my previous album, "The Ancient Greek Modes", is to recreate the both the sounds of the musical modes once used in Ancient Greece & to restore the lost sounds of the ancient Greek Kithara - the large wooden lyre once favoured by the professional musicians of Ancient Greece...
THE ANCIENT GREEK MODES
The names of musical modes in use today, (e.g. Dorian, Mixolydian etc) although having the same names as the original Greek musical modes, were actually misnamed during the Middle Ages! Apparently, the Greeks counted intervals from top to bottom. When medieval ecclesiastical scholars tried to interpret the ancient texts, they counted from bottom to top, jumbling the information. The misnamed medieval modes are only distinguished by the ancient Greek modes of the same name, by being labelled “Church Modes”. It was due to a misinterpretation of the Latin texts of Boethius, that medieval modes were given the wrong Greek names!
According to an article on Greece in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the original ancient Greek names for species of the octave included the following (on white keys):
B-B: Mixolydian E-E: Dorian A-A: Hypodorian D-D: Phrygian G-G: Hypophrygian C-C: Lydian F-F: Hypolydian
For what Plato & Aristotle themselves had this to say about these ancient musical modes, please see this fascinating link:
http://www.pathguy.com/modes.htm
More interesting reading can be found at :
http://www.midicode.com/tunings/greek.shtml
ANCIENT LYRE-PLAYING TECHNIQUES
The lyre-playing techniques heard in this album, are authentically based on lyre-playing styles which have remarkably survived from Antiquity & which still can be heard today in the amazing lyres still played throughout the continent of Africa, where unlike the rest of the Western world, a precious remnant of the cross-cultural influences from the around ancient world have miraculously survived. For full details, please see the “Historical Details” section of my official website:
Some of these lyre-playing techniques include the “block & strum” method, still practiced today by the Krar Lyre players of Eritrea in East Africa – this technique allows the player to strum rhythm & basic chords on the lyre, similar to an acoustic guitar. This technique entails blocking strings with the left hand which are not required and leaving open only the strings which form the required intervals, which then can be strummed with a plectrum in the left hand.
Ancient illustrations of Kithara players seem to infer that this technique was also prominent in Ancient Greece – many illustrations clearly depict the left of the lyre player blocking/dampening the strings with the left hand whilst strumming the open strings with a plectrum in their right hand.
I also demonstrate all the possible styles available on the Kithara. These include the use of tremolo (based on the style of Egyptian Simsimiyya Lyre Players still heard today), alternating between harp-like finger plucked tones played with the left hand, and guitar-like plectrum-plucked tones with the right hand, using basic finger-plucked intervals/chords with the left hand to form a basic harmonic background for the melodic line being played with the plectrum in the right hand (the surviving fragments of Ancient Greek music clearly imply a basic harmonic tonality to these ancient melodies (as opposed to simple folk melodies which can simply be accompanied by a drone).
THE 12 TRACKS
1) Lament of Simonides (Ancient Greek Musical Fragment - Arranged For Replica Kithara)
This lovely melody, written in the ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode, can possibly be attributed to the ancient Greek poet & musician, Simonedes of Keo .Simonides of Ceos (ca. 556 BC-469 BC) was one of the 9 great Greek lyric poets. He was born at Loulis on Kea. During his youth he taught poetry and music, and composed paeans for the festivals of Apollo. He was included, along with Sappho and Pindar, in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria. Further details can be found at:
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/SimonidesOfCeos.html
Although initially the piece sounds as if it is in the Ancient Greek Mixolydian Mode (the equivalent B-B on the white notes of the piano - not to be confused with the Medieval "Mixolydian" Mode, which is G-G!), the tonality of the melody actually implies the Ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode (G-G). Maybe it is this ambiguity of tonality which creates the haunting, mystical feel of this beautiful ancient melody?
The lyrics:
Ἄνθρωπος ἐὼν μήποτε φάσηις ὅ,τι γίνεται αὔριον, μηδ᾿ ἄνδρα ἰδὼν ὄλβιον, ὅσον χρόνον ἔσσεται· ὠκεῖα γὰρ οὐδὲ τανυπτερύγου μυίας οὕτως ἁ μετάστασις
In English:
"You are a human, therefore seek not to foretell what tomorrow may bring, nor how long ones happiness may last. For not even the flutter of the fly's wing is as fast as change"
2) Ancient Greek Musical Fragment (Anonymi Bellerman 97 - Arranged For Replica Kithara)
This beauiful melody, written in the haunting ancient Greek Hypolydian Mode, was preserved in several Byzantine manuscripts - Conspectus Codicum: V. Venetus Marcianus appl. cl. VI, saec. XIII-XIV N. Neapolitanus graecus III. C4, saec. XV F. Florentius Ricc. 41, saec. XVI
3) Ancient Greek Musical Fragment (POEM, MOR 1, 11f MIGNE 37, 523 - Arranged For Replica Kithara)
This brief fragment of ancient Greek melody, written in the ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode, was preserved in several Byzantine manuscripts - Athanasius Kircher (+1680), Musurgia Universalis 1650. Schema Musicae Antiquae. "Bibl. S. Salvatore, Messina, Silicia", "Bibliothecam Graecis Manuscriptus", 17th century.
4) Epitaph of Seikilos (Complete Ancient Greek Melody Composed by Seikilos, Son of Euterpe, 1st c. CE - Arranged For Replica Kithara)
Engraved on an ancient Burial Stele at Tralles, Asia Minor, this beautiful melody was discovered and published by Ramsay, 1883. Musical signs deciphered by Wessley, 1891. The stone itself, long preserved in the collection of Young at Doudja, disappeared after the burning of Smyrna (September 1923). It is now in the Copenhagen Museum, Inv. No. 14897.
This song, written in the ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode, is so far, the oldest complete piece of music ever found - unlike the other precious shards of ancient Greek music which have survived, this piece is unique, as it survived in its entirety. The ancient Greek burial stele on which it was found, , bore the following epitaph: "I am a portrait in stone. I was put here by Seikilos, where I remain forever, the symbol of timeless remembrance".
The timeless words of the song are:
"Hoson zes, phainou Meden holos su lupou; Pros oligon esti to zen To telos ho chronos apaitei"
Translation - "While you live, shine Don't suffer anything at all; Life exists only a short while And time demands its toll"
5) The First Delphic Hymn To Apollo (Ancient Greek Melody c.138BCE - Arranged For Replica Kithara)
This substantial fragment of ancient Greek music was composed ca. 138 B.C. by an Athenian composer. It was discovered inscribed on a slab of marble in May 1893, in the ruins of the Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi. Now preserved in the Museum of Delphi: Delphi Inv. No. 517, 494, 499.
There are two Delphic Hymns that have been discovered, and they were dedicated to the god Apollo. The two Delphic Hymns have sadly not survived in their complete form. However, they do survive in substantial fragments...giving just a tantalizing taste of the glory of the tragically lost, magnificent musical culture of ancient Greece.
The two Delphic Hymns are dated c.138 BC and 128 BC. Recent musilogical research may indicate that both Hymns were actually written in 128 BCE: " They were long regarded as being dated circa 138 BCE and 128 BCE, respectively, but recent scholarship has shown it likely they were both written for performance at the Athenian Pythaides in 128 BCE (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 71–72). If indeed it dates from ten years before the second, the First Delphic Hymn is the earliest unambiguous surviving example of notated music from anywhere in the western world whose composer is known by name." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_Hymns)
My rendition here, is of the First Delphic Hymn. It is written in the unambiguous alphabetical musical notation system used in ancient Greece, whereby alphabetical notation describing the pitch of the melody, is written above the text of the song, as can be clearly seen in this image of the actual Delphic Hymn, as it was found, inscribed in marble:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Delphic_Hymns
The rhythm can easily be inferred from the syllables of the text.
I have based my arrangement for solo replica Kithara, on the first half of the fragment, which is based around the ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode. The second half of the Hymn is highly chromatic, (the piece was written for vocal perfomance) and not really suitable for performance on solo enharmonically tuned lyre with limited number of strings. In order to play chromatic accidentals on a lyre, it is necessary to stop the string with the left hand to shorten it's length to achieve the required pitch - this technique can be heard towards the end of the melody, where one of the notes of the melody is required to be lowered a semitone.
The translation of the fragment of text which has survived of the this, the First Delphic Hymn to Apollo, is as follows:
"Hear me, you who posses deep-wooded Helicon, fair-armed daughters of Zeus the magnificent! Fly to beguile with your accents your brother, golden-tressed Phoebus who, on the twin peak of this rock of Parnassus, escorted by illustrious maidens of Delphi, sets out for the limpid streams of Castalia, traversing, on the Delphic promontory, the prophetic pinnacle. Behold glorious Attica, nation of the great city which, thanks to the prayers of the Tritonid warrior, occupies a hillside sheltered from all harm. On the holy alters Hephaestos consumes the thighs of young bullocks, mingled with the flames, the Arabian vapor rises towards Olympos. The shrill rustling lotus murmurs its swelling song, and the golden kithara, the sweet-sounding kithara, answers the voice of men. And all the host of poets, dwellers in Attica, sing your glory, God, famed for playing the kithara, son of great Zeus, beside this snow-crowned peak, oh you who reveal to all mortals the eternal and infallible oracles. They sing how you conquered the prophetic tripod guarded by a fierce dragon when, with your darts you pierced the gaudy, tortuously coiling monster, so that, uttering many fearful hisses, the beast expired. They sing too, . . . ."
6) Invocation To The Muse ( Mesomedes of Crete, c.130 CE - Arranged For Replica Kithara)
This haunting ancient Greek melody in the ancient Greek Dorian Mode, was preserved in diverse Byzantine Manuscripts: First printed edition by Vincenzo Galilei, 1581. Mesomedes -- Conspectus Codium: V. Venetus Marcianus app. cl. VI, 10, saec. XIII-XIV C. Parisinus Coislinianus graecus 173, saec. XIV N. Neapolitanus graecus III C4, saec. XV Ve. Venetus Marcianus graecus 994, saec. XIV O. Ottobonianus graecus 59, saec. XIII-XIV
7) Hymn To Hermes (Original Composition For Replica Kithara in the Ancient Greek Lydian Mode)
8) Mount Olympus (Original Composition For Replica Kithara in the Ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode)
9) Ode To Aion (Original Composition For Replica Kithara in the Ancient Greek Phrygian Mode)
10) Ode To Aphrodite (Original Composition For Replica Kithara in the Ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode)
11) Paean (Original Composition For Replica Kithara in the Ancient Greek Dorian Mode)
12) Song of Syrinx (Original Composition For Replica Kithara in the Ancient Greek Hypolydian Mode)