Talk:Pyrrhichios

"... to the sound of a lyra": and in which mode/ scale?
The article says that the dancers "fought with knives in circular dance to the sound of a lyra". It would be very interesting to know if there was a specific mode to be used. Greek philosophers like Plato or Aristoxenos (to name two differing approaches) were possibly the first ones to systematically describe scales as adequate for certain purposes, not at least martial ones (Phrygian and Dorian applying here). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.32.247.39 (talk) 18:15, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Homer refers to the Pyrrichios and describes how Achilles danced it around the burning funeral of Patroclus.
Source is missing. According to LSJ lexicon the term "pyrrichios" isn't mentioned at all in Homerus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=purri%2Fxios&la=greek&can=purri%2Fxios0#lexicon — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jsalatas (talk • contribs) 19:49, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

needs a section on legacy
Gibbon refers to the Pyrrhic dance as something performed by Roman soldiers as part of their off-duty drill. See volume 1 chapter 1 here: https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/gibbon-the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-vol-1 Gibbon's only citation is a work by a contemporary of his, volume 35 of the Academie des Inscriptions. It may be a classic case of author A citing a phrase in author B's work, but not the wording of the text studied by author B. It could be a melding of ideas popular in academe in Gibbon's time. In any case, the question is did, or how did, the Romans adopt the Pyrrhic dance from the Greeks, if it happened at all. 100.15.127.199 (talk) 14:34, 27 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I have two sources that post-date Gibbon, showing that he or his source misunderstood the Pyrrhic dance in a Roman context. From 1875 (nearly a century after Gibbon): https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/secondary/smigra*/saltatio.html ;

From UPenn: https://www2.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php?method=did&regexp=232&setcard=0&link=0&media=0 100.15.127.199 (talk) 14:46, 27 October 2021 (UTC)