Soundtracks of Milesian Identity: Timotheus and Imperial Musicians from Miletus

Abstract

Abstract This paper brings attention, for the first time, to the role of musical performances as a site for the preservation, expression, and revival of local Greek identity under Rome. The evidence analysed consists primarily of two inscriptions celebrating some second- and third-century AD Milesian musicians involved in different reperformances of Timotheus of Miletus. While previous analyses have discussed these texts as sources for ancient reperformance practices, I investigate why and to what effect these musicians included Timotheus in their repertoire. My hypothesis is that their interest in Timotheus, who was by no means a standard model of classicism in the imperial period, was stimulated by his local relevance. Reperforming Timotheus was a means for imperial Milesians to re-enact their artistic past and to showcase the distinctive cultural identity of their community, at a time when Miletus faced the competition of other centres in the province of Asia as well as imperial centralisation.