JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2547
Doc:

L2/02-316R
L2/02-316R2

PROPOSAL SUMMARY FORM

A. Administrative
1. Title
Proposal to encode Ancient Greek Musical Symbols in the UCS
2. Requester's name
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Project (University of California, Irvine)
3. Requester type
Expert contribution
4. Submission date:
2002-11-07
5. Requester's reference
6. Completion
This is a complete proposal.

B. Technical - General
1. The proposal is for addition of a new character block:If yes, proposed name:Archaic Greek Musical Notation (1D200-1D24F)
2. Number of characters in proposal:
70
3. Proposed category
Category B.2
4. Proposed Level of Implementation:
Level 1 for characters 1-66 and 70.
Level 3 for characters 67-69.
5a. Character names provided?
Yes.
5b. Character names in accordance with guidelines
Yes.
5c. Character shapes reviewable?
Yes.
6a. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font for publishing the standard?
David Perry, James Kass, TLG Project6b. Font currently available?
Yes.
6c. Font format
True Type
7a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided?
Yes.
7b. Are published examples of proposed characters attached?
Yes.
8. Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing?
No.

C. Technical - Justification
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before?
No.
2. Has contact been made to members of the user community?
Yes. The TLG has been in contact with a great number of experts. Earlier versions of this
proposal have been posted online and received comments by members of the profession. The
proposal was extensively reviewed by Professor William Johnson, University of Cincinnati and
Dr. David Creese, University of St.Andrews, Scotland.
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters
Scholarly community.
4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
Use varies. Some characters are common in extant Greek texts. Some appear less often.
5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
Yes. Characters are present in various editions of Greek texts and used extensively by scholars
and students of Greek as well as individuals interested in the study of ancient Greek music.
6. After giving due considerations to the principles in Principles and Procedures document,
must the proposed characters be entirely in the BMP?
No, Plane 1 (SMP).
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being
scattered)?
Yes.
8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing
character or character sequence?
No.
9. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence ofeither existing characters or other proposed characters?
No.
10. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance
or function) to an existing character?
Yes, three of the proposed characters resemble (but are not identical) to Greek or Roman
alphabetic characters.
11a. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite
sequences
Yes (combining characters).
11b. Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic
symbols) provided?
No. Too numerous to list.
12. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as
control function or similar semantics?
No.
13. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)?
No.

2Proposal
Introduction
Ancient Greeks developed their own distinct system of musical notation for both vocal
and instrumental melody. These characters appear in a large number of ancient texts1 andtheir modern publications as well as in modern studies on ancient music. UCS has
already encoded Western and Byzantine Musical Symbols in Plane 1. With the additionof the Ancient Greek Musical Symbols all characters needed for the encoding of Greek
music will be present in the Standard.
Several ancient Greek musical symbols resemble standard Greek letters and are notincluded in this proposal. The musical symbols that are formed from inverted or rotatedGreek letters are proposed because they are distinct characters and should not be
confused with standard Greek letters. Three symbols that are similar but not identical toalready encoded Greek or Roman letters are proposed as separate codepoints.
Ancient Greek Musical Notation
The Greeks had two systems of musical notation which correspond note for note witheach other: one for the vocal and one for the instrumental melody (see overview of thetwo systems of notation below). The whole scheme covers a little over three octaves. The
symbols form groups of three. The bottom symbol in each triad represents a ‘natural’
note on a diatonic scale. The modern notes shown in the boxes are the conventional
equivalents used in most scholarly literature. The other two symbols in each triad
represent successive sharpenings of the ‘natural’ note.2 There is no distinction in thissystem between enharmonic and chromatic scales.
Greek Vocal Notation
The characters proposed here represent simple rotations or reflections of the characters of
the standard Greek alphabet. Greek Vocal Notation Symbols 1-24 are a set of variants on
the whole Greek alphabet in reverse order. Greek Vocal Notation Symbols 49-54 arefurther variants of the last six letters of the standard Greek alphabet, again in reverse
order.
Greek Instrumental Notation
The first two triads are variations on the last six letters of the Greek alphabet. The
following twelve triads are formed thus: the first character is either a standard Greek
letter or is a variant thereof; the second character in the triad is the first character rotated
90º counter-clockwise; the third is the first character reflected in the y-axis. The final
three triads proposed all have variants of 039D GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA as
1

Ranging from a fragment of Euripides’ Orestes to Christian hymns.

2

West (1992) 255

3

their first symbol. The second and third symbols in each are based on diagonal slashes.3
Instrumental symbols that overlap with vocal, even at different pitches have not been
included in this proposal. Also symbols that overlap with Greek alphabetic charactershave not been reproposed.
The Font Used in this Proposal
The font used in this proposal was designed by David Perry with technical assistance byJames Kass. The vast majority of the characters are variant forms of standard upper case
Greek letters. We have created a font without serifs for reasons of clarity and because
scholars usually type musical characters in fonts without serifs in order to distinguishthem from standard letters usually represented with a serifed font. It is not, however,prescriptive to represent Musical Symbols in a font without serifs.
Naming Conventions
We propose the standard names widely used by modern scholars. The naming convention
is simple: Vocal Notation Symbol 1, Vocal Notation Symbol 2, etc. There is no
standardized ancient system for naming these characters.
Character Properties
Characters 1D200-1D241 and 1D245 : “Symbol, other” (So)Characters 1D242-1D244 : “Mark, nonspacing” (Mn).

3

See Winnington-Ingram (1978) 241-248

4

Bibliography
Barker, A., “Music” in OCD3 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996) 1003-1012
Barker, A., Greek Musical Writings. Volume II: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory(Cambridge, 1989)
Bellermann, F., Die Tonleitern und Musiknoten der Griechen (Wiesbaden, 1969)
Jan, K., Musici scriptores Graeci (Hildesheim, 1962)
Johnson, W.A., “Musical Evenings in the Early Empire” in Journal for Hellenic Studies
120 (2000)
Landels, J.G., Music in Ancient Greece and Rome (London, 1999)
Larfeld, W., Handbuch der griechischen Epigraphik 2.2. Die attischen Inschriften(Leipzig, 1902)
Mathiesen, T.J., Apollo’s Lyre: Greek music and music theory in Antiquity and the
Middle Ages (Lincoln & London, 1999)
Najock, D., Anonyma de musica scripta Bellermanniana. (Teubner, 1975)
Pöhlmann, E., Denkmäler altgriechischer Musik (Nuremberg, 1970)
West, M.L., Ancient Greek Music (Oxford, 1992)
Winnington-Ingram, R.P., “The First Notational Diagram of Aristides Quintilianus”, inPhilologus 117 (1973) 244-249
Winnington-Ingram, R.P., “Two studies in Greek musical notation” in Philologus 122(1978) 237-248
Winnington-Ingram, R.P., Aristides Quintiliani de musica libri tres (Leipzig, 1963)

5

f´´

e´´

d´´

c´´

b´

4

Instrumental Characters

Notation Number

Vocal Characters

Instrumental Characters





33





12





53





32





11





52





31





10





51





30





9





50





29





8





49

℧



28





7





a

A

70

℧´

´

69

´

´

48





27





6





68

´

´

47





26





5





67

´

´

46





25





4





66

´

´

45





24





3





65

´

´

44





23





2





64

´

´

43





22



Γ

1





63

´

´

42





21





62

´

´

41





20





61

´

´

40





19





60

´

´

39





18





59

´

´

38





17





58

´

´

37





16



E

57

´

´

36





15





56

´

´

35





14





55

´

´

34





13





f´

e´

d´

c´

b

g

Modern Equivalent

Vocal Characters

54

Modern Equivalent

Notation Numberg´

Instrumental Charactersg´´Vocal Charactersa´

Notation Number

Modern Equivalent

Instrumental Characters

Vocal Characters

Notation Number

Modern Equivalent

Overview of Archaic Greek Musical Notation4

f

e

d

c

B

G

F

E

Not including combining characters: Diseme, Triseme, Tetraseme and Pentaseme.

6Archaic Greek Musical Notation: Characters Proposed
Full documentation available at: http://www.tlg.uci.edu/Uni.prop.html
NumberNameUnicode Comment
Ancient Greek Vocal Notation
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 1
1D200= vocal E
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 2
1D201= vocal first sharp of E
= vocal second sharp of E
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 3
1D202· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 3= instrumental second sharp of E
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 4
1D203= vocal F
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 5
1D204= vocal first sharp of F
= vocal second sharp of F
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 6
1D205· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 21= instrumental second sharp of d
= vocal G
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 7
1D206· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 9= instrumental second sharp of G
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 8
1D207= vocal first sharp of G
= vocal second sharp of G
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 9
1D208· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 44= instrumental first sharp of e´= vocal A

1
2




3



4
5




6



7



8



9



10



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 10

1D209

11
12
13





Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 11
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 12
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 13

1D20A
1D20B
1D20C

14



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 14

1D20D

15



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 15

1D20E

16



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 16

1D20F

17



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 17

1D210

18



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 18

1D211

19



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 19

1D212

7

This is a modification of 038F, and is therefore not
the same as 03D8.
= vocal first sharp of A
= vocal second sharp of A
= vocal B= vocal first sharp of B
· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 41= instrumental first sharp of d´
Similar to 0056 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V= vocal second sharp of B
· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 35= instrumental first sharp of b
= vocal c
This character has two glyph variants: — and .
Therefore this character may not be unified withGreek Instrumental Notation Symbol 48.
These glyph variants appear in different sources.
= vocal first sharp of c
= vocal second sharp of c
· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 15= instrumental second sharp of B
= vocal d20

Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 20

1D213

21
22




Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 21
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 22

1D214
1D215

23



Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 23

1D216

24
25
26
27
28







29



30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56





























= vocal first sharp of d
· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 28= instrumental gThis is a modification of 0395, and is therefore not
the same as 0046
= vocal second sharp of d
= vocal e= vocal first sharp of eThis is a modification of 0392, and is therefore not
the same as 0052
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 24
1D217= vocal second sharp of e
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 50
1D218= vocal first sharp of g´
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 51
1D219= vocal second sharp of g´
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 52
1D21A= vocal a´
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 53
1D21B= vocal first sharp of a´= vocal second sharp of a´· Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 20
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 54
1D21C= instrumental first sharp of dAncient Greek Instrumental Notation
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 1
1D21D= instrumental E
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 2
1D21E= instrumental first sharp of e
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 4
1D21F= instrumental F
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 5
1D220= instrumental first sharp of F
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 7
1D221= instrumental G
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 8
1D222= instrumental first sharp of G
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 11
1D223= instrumental first sharp of A
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 12
1D224= Instrumental second sharp of A
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 13
1D225= instrumental B
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 14
1D226= instrumental first sharp of B
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 17
1D227= instrumental first sharp of c
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 18
1D228= instrumental second sharp of c
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 19
1D229= instrumental dGreek Instrumental Notation Symbol 23
1D22A= instrumental first sharp of e
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 24
1D22B= instrumental second sharp of e
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 25
1D22C= instrumental f
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 26
1D22D= instrumental first sharp of f
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 27
1D22E= instrumental second sharp of f
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 29
1D22F= instrumental first sharp of g
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 30
1D230= instrumental second sharp of g
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 32
1D231= instrumental first sharp of a
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 36
1D232= instrumental second sharp of b
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 37
1D233= instrumental c´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 38
1D234= instrumental first sharp of c´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 39
1D235= instrumental second sharp of c´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 40
1D236= instrumental d´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 42
1D237= instrumental second sharp of d´

8

57
58




Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 43
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 45

1D238
1D239

59



Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 47

1D23A



Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 48

60
61
62
63
64
65
66








67
68
69
70

◌
◌
◌


= instrumental e´= instrumental second sharp of e´= instrumental first sharp of f´
Similar but not identical to 002F
= instrumental second sharp of f´

1D23B

Similar but not identical to 005C
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 49
1D23C= instrumental g´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 50
1D23D= instrumental first sharp of g´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 51
1D23E= instrumental second sharp of g´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 52
1D23F= instrumental a´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 53
1D240= instrumental first sharp of a´
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 54
1D241= instrumental second sharp of a´
Further Greek Musical Notation Symbols
Greek Musical Triseme
1D242
Nonspacing
Greek Musical Tetraseme
1D243
Nonspacing
Greek Musical Pentaseme
1D244
Nonspacing
Greek Musical Leimma
1D245

9

TABLE 1D200-1D25F: ARCHAIC GREEK MUSICAL NOTATION

0
1
2
3
4

1D20

1D21











1D200

1D210

1D220

1D230

1D240

6
7
8
9
A
B
C
D
E
F

1D23

1D24











1D201

1D211

1D221

1D231

1D241









◌

1D202

1D212

1D222

1D232

1D242









◌

1D203

1D213

1D223

1D233

1D243


1D204

5

1D22







◌

1D214

1D224

1D234

1D244











1D205

1D215

1D225

1D235

1D245









1D206

1D216

1D226

1D236









1D207

1D217

1D227

1D237









1D208

1D218

1D228

1D238









1D209

1D219

1D229

1D239









1D20A

1D21A

1D22A

1D23A









1D20B

1D21B

1D22B

1D23B









1D20C

1D21C

1D22C

1D23C









1D20D

1D21D

1D22D

1D23D









1D20E

1D21E

1D22E

1D23E









1D20F

1D21F

1D22F

1D23F

10

1D246

1D247

1D248

1D249

1D24A

1D24B

1D24C

1D24D

1D24E

1D24F

TABLE 1D200-1D24F: ARCHAIC GREEK MUSICAL NOTATION
hex
1D200
1D201
1D202
1D203
1D204
1D205
1D206
1D207
1D208
1D209
1D20A
1D20B
1D20C
1D20D
1D20E
1D20F
1D210
1D211
1D212
1D213
1D214
1D215
1D216
1D217
1D218
1D219
1D21A
1D21B
1D21C
1D21D
1D21E
1D21F
1D220
1D221
1D222
1D223
1D224
1D225
1D226
1D227
1D228
1D229
1D22A
1D22B
1D22C
1D22D
1D22E
1D22F
1D230
1D231
1D232
1D233
1D234
1D235
1D236
1D237
1D238
1D239
1D23A
1D23B
1D23C
1D23D
1D23E
1D23F

Name
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 1
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 2
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 3
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 4
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 5
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 6
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 7
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 8
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 9
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 10
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 11
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 12
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 13
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 14
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 15
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 16
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 17
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 18
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 19
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 20
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 21
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 22
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 23
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 24
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 50
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 51
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 52
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 53
Greek Vocal Notation Symbol 54
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 1
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 2
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 4
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 5
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 7
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 8
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 11
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 12
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 13
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 14
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 17
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 18
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 19
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 23
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 24
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 25
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 26
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 27
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 29
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 30
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 32
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 36
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 37
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 38
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 39
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 40
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 42
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 43
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 45
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 47
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 48
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 49
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 50
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 51
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 52

hex
1D240
1D241
1D242
1D243
1D244
1D245

11

Name
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 53
Greek Instrumental Notation Symbol 54
Greek Musical Triseme
Greek Musical Tetraseme
Greek Musical Pentaseme
Greek Musical Leimma