Imaginary phrygians: Cognitive consonance and the assumed phrygian origin of greek ecstatic cults and music

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

While Greeks called the ecstatic musical mode 'Phrygian', there is no evidence of high-arousal musical performances in Phrygia, and the musical characteristics of this mode were distinctively Greek. The image of wide-ranging excited celebrations practised in Phrygia seems to have existed only in the imagination of the Greeks and Romans. This paper suggests that the uneasiness felt by some Greeks facing high-arousal cults was assuaged by attributing them foreign origin, which was often fictitious. By culturally dissociating themselves from the ecstatic practices, the Greeks resolved the cognitive inconsistency between their self-perception as citizens of the decorous civilized world and their surrender to the irresistible allure of high-arousal cults and music. These false attitudes allowed cognitive consonance and attained the status of indubitable truth. Upheld throughout antiquity, they persuaded many modern scholars, who still mistakenly consider the Phrygian musical mode as an Oriental borrowing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)54-73
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Hellenic Studies
Volume141
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2021

Keywords

  • Cognitive consonance
  • Cybele
  • Ecstatic cults
  • Magna Mater
  • Phrygian mode

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Classics
  • Archaeology
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Visual Arts and Performing Arts
  • Archaeology
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Literature and Literary Theory

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Imaginary phrygians: Cognitive consonance and the assumed phrygian origin of greek ecstatic cults and music'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this