Thermopylae 480 BC - Epic Symphony

Music & vocals by Farya Faraji. Please note that this isn’t reconstructed historical music, it’s modern music that uses aspects of Ancient Greek music and modern Iranian music. Notes on some of the chapters: “The Spartans - Leonidas” uses the Enharmonic modes of Ancient Greek music, which was defined by usage of microtonal intervals. The orchestration and arrangement heard here is largely historically compatible, and may give an accurate enough insight into the sounds of Ancient Greek music. The instruments heard for the Greeks are a frame drum, Ancient Greek lyres, and a basic rural flute; as well as the aulos and bagpipes. Modern Greek instruments like the bouzouki also join in later in the symphony. The flute melody is in the first tetrachord of the Lydian Chromatic mode, another of the three variants of Ancient Greek modality: Enharmonic, Chromatic and Diatonic. The Iranian themes utilise the vast modal repertoire of Iranian music, called the dastgāh system today, which is related to the broader maqam system also used in modern Greece. The Achaemenids’ leitmotif and Xerxes’ leitmotifs are based on medieval variants of the Segāh mode that I found in the works of Safi-ad-Din and early Safavid-era music theorists. The Iranian instrumentation consists of a modern orchestra played in a typical Middle-Eastern fashion, a tar, setar, tanbour, qanun, oud, ney flute, santour, and daf and tombak drums. The lyrics to the chapter “the Empire” are Achaemenid-era writings written down in the Behistun inscriptions. The lyrics heard in Leonidas Gathers the 7000 are an Ancient Greek paean written by Aeschylus, for his play “The Persians.” The pronunciation I used for the Ancient Greek lyrics is Modern Greek, not reconstructed historical pronunciation. 00:00 Overture - Earth and Water 00:34 The Spartans - Leonidas 04:24 The Empire - Xerxes 07:29 To Greece 09:52 Leonidas Gathers the 7000 13:30 Thermopylae 15:06 The First Battle 17:02 Immortals Deployed 19:20 The First Night - Leonidas’ Dreams 21:14 The Second Day 25:14 Celebration and Feasting 26:48 Ephialtes’ Treachery 28:02 Leonidas’ Choice 29:50 The Shadows over Xerxes 33:14 Last Stand 37:24 The Empire Triumphs 37:52 Lament for Leonidas 41:30 A Memory Honoured