Culture of Greece: Fill in the Blanks: Ancient Melodies

Published: Sept. 13, 2008, 2:31 a.m.

There are only a handful of pieces of music remaining from ancient Greece. And we do mean pieces; tiny scraps of papyrus and bits of stone with musical notes that are thousands of years old. Come with John Franklin, professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Vermont to meet the people who bring this ancient music back from the dead. Learn how they come to understand the slashes and squiggles that they see and translate them into music. And find out what they do when they learn that he music they're playing was torn in half a thousand years ago and the other half is gone forever.