Mesomedes of Crete was an early 2nd century Roman-era Greek performer of the kithara (kitharode) and lyric poet - an actual example of one of his four surviving works being for me , the perfect way to begin this album, dedicated to reviving the sound of the actual instrument he was renowned for playing!

Mesomedes was a freedman and favorite of Emperor Hadrian, who made him his chief musician; he also served under Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius.

Prior to the discovery of the Seikilos epitaph in the late 19th century, the four surviving hymns of Mesomedes were the only source of notated music from the ancient world. Three were published by Vincenzo Galilei in his Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna (Florence, 1581), during a period of intense investigation into music of the ancient Greeks. These hymns had been preserved through the Byzantine tradition.

In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis was the goddess who enacted retribution against those who succumb to hubris. Hubris denotes over confidence & exaggerated pride. It can be associated with a lack of knowledge or interest in history, also with shaming or contempt of others. Nemesis is the goddess of retribution and denotes the destruction, suffering or punishment that can follow in the wake of hubris

The translation of the words of the song which this melody once accomanied, as translated by Martin R West is as follows:

"Nemesis, winged one that tilts life's balance, dark-eyed goddess, daughter of Justice, that curbest the vain neighings of mortals with thy adamant bit, and in thy hatred of their pernicious insolence drivest out black resentment: under thy wheel that neither stands still nor follows a fixed track men's gleaming fortune turns about. Unobserved, thou treadest at their heel; the haughty neck thou bendest; under thy forearm thou measurest off life, and ever thou turnest thy frowning gaze into men's hearts, with the scales in thy hand. Be gracious, blest dispenser of justice, Nemesis, winged one that tilts life's balance."

In my arrangement for solo kithara of the surprisingly lively, surviving melody by Mesomedes, I explore the guitar-like timbre the ancient Greek kithara was capable of, by the 'block and strum' playing technique, which still survives in parts of Africa today, where lyres have continued to have been played since antiquity. This technique, entails blocking specific strings not required to sound with fingers of the left hand, whilst strumming only those notes desired to sound, with a plectrum in the right hand (almost all depictions of actual ancient Greek kitharodes, clearly illustrate this very technique, with the performer's left hand fingers splayed out behind the open strings being strummed with the plectrum).