Thanks to L. K. Helm for comments on music. I was reminded of Alma-Tadema: _http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/tadema/drawings/11.html_ (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/tadema/drawings/11.html) "The Pyrrhic Dance itself was named after its inventor Pyrrichos and was performed by armoured Dorian soldiers who imitated movements of attack and defence. _http://www.angel-art-house.com/oil_paintings_artists/a/AlmaTadema/A_Pyrrhic_d ance.htm_ (http://www.angel-art-house.com/oil_paintings_artists/a/AlmaTadema/A_Pyrrhic_dance.htm) -- not strictly Spartan, but I recall reading the reviews about the presentation of the thing in the Royal Academy -- the original is now at Guildford, Surrey. It was slightly criticised as not showing what a soldier should look like. Alcibiades (the most handsome of Greek warriors they said) used to object to the use of wind-instrument (like your aeolos, and the pipes of Pan) on the grounds that it disfigured his shapely mouth (diamorphia). And I agree. That's why the LYRA GRAECA (four volumes, Loeb), is preferred. The cytar should be okay, but give me a lyre anyday. It's fascinating to read about the metre, and the 'functional' side to this, as Helm quotes from Cartledge. Indeed. The online site for the Royal Marines mentions two marching songs -- one of which I don't think I know. We should also recall that, accompaniment or not, the whole idea of verse rested on the Greeks in metre, as they had no rhyme. I wonder if there are remains of lyrics (i.e. 'lyrics' broadly understood) meant as 'marching songs' -- as one wonders what's the best metre for this evenness of movement as they advance. Not what Andreas Ramos mentioned as the 'battle rattle', it would seem. I'm not saying that it's good to have a tenor while you're attacking the Persians, but perhaps it's simpler to understand a metre or rhythmic notation when one sees a lyric to it. I suppose they also used 'music' for the drills -- This I read in: Fonda, J. "The use of aerobics by Spartan women" -- in Gym Studies, vol. XXX Cheers, JL Swimming Pool Library Have Hoplos, Will Dance **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)