Abstract

Starting with selected excerpts from the Iliad and the Odyssey, by Homer, and from the Theogony and the Works and Days, by Hesiod, I want to show that there is a fundamental ambiguity in the way the Greeks built the image of music and musicians. On the one hand, the music was something that had a divine origin and which was closely linked to gods who occupy a central place in the Greek pantheon. However, the musician‟s activity was not well regarded and was treated as something pejorative, unworthy of noble people. After proving the existence of such ambiguity, I intend to propose an explanation for this, based on how the Greeks saw the 'occupation' of the musician-poet.