Timeline of European Art and Music - The Fifth Century BC

Music timestamps

0:00 - 470 BC - Pindar (Greek) - First Pythic Ode - A victory poem (epinicion) praising Hiero of Syracuse for a victory in the Pythian Games. The poem's occasion is Hiero's victory in the chariot race of 470 BC, corresponding to the foundation of the city of Aetna which is also praised by the poet.

3:25 - The Kithara of Ancient Greece - Composed by Michael Levy, a modern composer for Lyre

6:46 - Echoes of Ancient Greece - Composed by Michael Levy, a modern composer for Lyre

8:48 - 408 BC - Euripides (Greek) - Katolophyromai - "Katolophyromai" is the headword in a musical fragment from the first stasimon of Orestes. One of the earliest surviving fragments of ancient Greek music is from this play. Composed by Euripides, it follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.

The lyrics translate as -

"I cry, I cry,
your mother’s blood that drives you mad,
great happiness in mortals never lasting,
but like a sail of a swift ship,
which a god shook up and plunged it
with terrible troubles into the greedy and deadly waves of sea."

11:40 - 405 BC - Euripides (Greek) - Fragment of the tragedy 'Iphigenia in Aulis' - The last of the existing works by the playwright Euripides. The play revolves around Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek coalition before and during the Trojan War, and his decision to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess Artemis and allow his troops to set sail from Aulis to preserve their honour in battle against Troy. The conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles over the fate of the young woman foreshadows a similar conflict between the two at the beginning of the Iliad.