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Pro'nomus

*Pro/nomos), of Thebes, the son of Oeniadas, was one of the most distinguished auletic musicians of Greece at the time of the Peloponnesian War (Epigr. Incert. 212, Brunck, Anal. vol. iii. p. 194). He was the instructor of Alcibiades in flute-playing. (Ath. iv. p. 184d.) He invented a new sort of flute, the compass of which was such, that melodies could be played upon it in all the three modes of music, the Dorian, the Phrygian, and the Lydian, for each of which, before this invention, a separate flute had been necessary. (Paus. 9.12.4. s. 5, 6; Ath. xiv. p. 631e.) One very celebrated composition of his was a Delianl prosodia (that is, a prelude to be played as the sacred embassy to Delos approached the temple), which he made for the people of Chalcis in Enboea (Paus. l.c.). His melodies were brought forward, in competition with those of Sacadas, the Argive, in the musical contests which formed a part of the festivities celebrated at the foundation of Messene by Epaminondas (Paus. 4.27.4. s. 7). Another proof of the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens was afforded by their erection of his statue near that of Epaminondas, in the temple of Apollo Spodins, at Thebes (Paus. 9.12.4. s. 5, 6). He is mentioned once by Aristophanes (Eecles. 102, comp. Schlol. and Suid. s. v.); but only to hang a jest on his long beard. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 136; Ulrici, Gesch. d. Hellen. Dichtk. vol. ii. p. 76; Bode, Gesch. d. Hellen. Dichtk. vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 43, n. 3, 207, 314, pt. ii. pp. 192, 236, 351.)

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