Persephones’ kalon athyrma. Toys, Ornaments and the Marvel of Music

This paper investigates the evolution of the terms athyrma/athyro in archaic epic and lyric poetry, where the original meanings of ‘toy’/‘playing’ gradually evolves into their musical counterparts. The semantic shift is implied and possibly encouraged by the connection with the realm of marvel and fascination that the terms assume since their earliest occurrences.