From Clonas to Limenius : A diachronic investigation of the prosodion-genre

Abstract: This study aims to define stylistic aspects of the prosodion-genre from the 7th–2nd century BCE, as well as the dominant features in terms of the genre’s categorization, and to determine howand why these changed over time and the role Hellenistic scholars played in this development. The study incorporates material from the genre’s origins until the performance of Limenius’ Paean and Prosodion, as well as relevant scholia. With a cognitive genre-theory and a musicological style theory, the study concludes by the method of close reading that processual performance in religious rites, a solemn character in the Doric tonos, and auloi accompaniment constituted the combination of dominant features from the earliest attestations and that Clonasis likely to have defined this combination. The Hellenistic scholars had a limited influence on the genre’s categorization, but may have been guided by performance context and the dedication when determining generic affiliation in uncertain cases. The melodic intraopus style of Limenius’ prosodion fits the solemnity of the genre. The dominant features did not remain constant in all aspects throughout the genre’s history, and in the Hellenistic Era a politicizationand increased professionalization of the genre can be observed, due to the need to legitimizenew political orders and the spread of musical competitions, respectively.