A Glimpse at the Melody of Ibycus? Accent Distribution in fr. 286 Page

This paper presents what seems to be a peculiar melodic design in Ibycus, fr. 286 PMG and shows how it contributes to our understanding of his poetry, in particular regarding how the tone of the words emphasizes the division between the sections of the poem. After a general introduction to the problem and the question of the relation between the tonal contours of ancient Greek music and language, the author introduces a “melodic chart” with the reconstructed tonal movements of the fragment. Finally, he attempts to show how this distribution of accents relates to the thematic division and responds to objections.