Citharode

kitharode (citharode)^[a]
	Bronze cast figure of a; kithara player from Crete.
Occupation
Occupation type	professional performer
Activity sectors	self-accompanied musical performance
Description
Competencies	singing, strummed string instrument (lyre family), music theory, music notation
Related jobs	Aulete / aulist (aulos player, "piper"), Citharist (non-singing kithara player)

A kitharode (Latinized citharode)^[a]^[1] (Ancient Greek: $κιθαρῳδός$ [kitʰarɔː'dós];^[2] Latin: citharoedus) was a professional performer in Classical antiquity who sang and played cithara to accompany their singing. A citharist was a performer who only played, and did not sing.^[2] Famous Greek citharodes included Terpander, Sappho, and Arion.

Citharodes remained common from classical Greece into the Roman imperial period and throughout antiquity; Roman emperor Nero was famously a citharode himself. In his day, a citharode sang a tragic monologue in full theatrical costume, including a mask.^[3]

"Citharoedus" or "Citharede" was also an epithet of Apollo (Apollo Citharede), and the term is used to refer to statues which portray Apollo with his lyre.

Footnotes

1 2
There are an elaborate variety of spellings, each altered to pronounce correctly in different languages, and to incorporate partial translations; since there is no modern form of kithara, that is typically left un-translated. (Strictly speaking, kitharoedos / citharoedus translates to "zitherist", but that seems to never be used.) Variants include:
Ancient Greek: $κιθαρῳδός$ [kitʰarɔː'dós]
- Latin: citharoedus (translit. Greek)
- citharode (Anglicised translit. Latin)
- kitharode (Anglicised translit. Greek)
- citharede (rare)
- citharoede (rare)
↑ A kitharode would automatically be expected to be able to also play a barbiton, lyre, and phorminx, provided it was a version with the same number of strings as the standard kithara.
↑ It is unclear how far back Greek musical notation goes. It may have only been a competency of kitharodes during the late classical period; from some point, both kitharodes and auletes would have required to simultaneously read two separate systems of notation: One for instrumental music and the other for sung music.

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