tharistes]), and thus served the double purpose of
(1) accompanying the voice--a use placed by the Greeks far above mere
instrumental music--in epic recitations and rhapsodies, in odes and
lyric songs; and (2) of accompanying the dance; it was also used for
playing solos at the national games, at receptions and banquets and at
trials of skill. The costume of the citharoedus and citharista was rich
and recognized as being distinctive; it varied but little throughout the
ages, as may be deduced from a comparison of representations of the
citharoedus on a coin and on a Greek vase of the best period (fig. 4).
The costume consisted of a _palla_ or long tunic with sleeves
embroidered with gold and girt high above the waist, falling in graceful
folds to the feet. This _palla_ must not be confounded with the mantle
of the same name worn by women. Over one shoulder, or hanging down the
back, was the purple _chlamys_ or cloak, and on his brow a golden wreath
of laurels. All the citharoedi bear instruments of the type here
described as the cithara, and never one of the lyre type. The records of
the citharoedi extend over more than thirteen centuries and fall into
two natural divisions: (1) The mythological period, approximately from
the 13th century B.C. to the first Olympiad, 776 B.C.; and (2) the
historical period to the days of Ptolemy, A.D. 161. One of the very few
authentic Greek odes extant is a Pythian ode by Pindar, in which the
phorminx of Apollo is mentioned; the solo is followed by a chorus of
citharoedi. The scope of the solemn games and processions, called
_Panathenaea_, held every four years in honour of the goddess Athena,
which originally consisted principally of athletic sports and horse and
chariot races, was extended under Peisistratus (c. 540 B.C.), and the
celebration made to include contests of singers and instrumentalists,
recitations of portions of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, such as are
represented on the frieze of the Parthenon (in the Elgin Room at the
British Museum) and later on friezes by Pheidias. It was at the same
period that the first contests for solo-playing on the cithara ([Greek:
kitharistus]) and for solo _aulos_-playing were instituted at the 8th
Pythian Games.[11] One of the principal items at these contests for
aulos and cithara was the _Nomos Pythikos_, descriptive of the victory
of Apollo over the python and of the defeat of the monster.[12]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Cithara or Phorminx, fr