Baccheius or Baccheius Senior
Βακχείος
(Βακχείος), surnamed Senior (ὁ γέρων). We know nothing of his history. Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. ii. p. 260, &c.) gives a list of persons of the same name, and conjectures that he may have been the Baccheius mentioned by M. Aurelius Antoninus (de Rebus suis, 1.6) as his first instructor.
Works
εἰσαγωγή τέχνης μουσικῆς
He was the author of a short musical treatise in the form of a catechism, called εἰσαγωγή τέχνης μουσικῆς. The treatise consists of brief and clear explanations of the principal subjects belonging to Harmonlics and Rhythm. Baccheius reckons seven modes (pp. 12, 18), corresponding to the seven species of octave anciently called by the same names. Hence Meibomius (praef in Arist. Quint.) supposes that he lived after Ptolemy, who adopts the same system, and before Manuel Bryennius, in whose time an eighth (the Hypermixolydian) had been added. But the former supposition does not seem to rest on satisfactory grounds.
Editions
The Greek text of Baccheius was first edited by Marinus Mersennus, in his Commentary on the first six chapters of Genesis. (Paris, 1623, fol., p. 1887.) It was also printed in a separate form, with a Latin version, by Frederic Morelli, Paris, 1623, 8vo., and lastly by Meibomius, in the Antiquae Musicae Auctores Septem, Amst. 1652.
Epigram about Baccheius
An anonymous Greek epigram, in which Baccheius is mentioned, is printed by Meibomius in his preface, from the same manuscript which contained the text; also by Fabricius. (l.c.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.