Ancient Roman Musical Instruments
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
In the ancient Rome music was not a profession, it was a pass time, a hobby and an art. Musicians existed because there were Romans that knew how the play the various instruments. Hence, preoccupation with music and the arts in general only points to the Romans’ degree of civilization. One of the common ancient Roman musical instruments was the lyre, is was usually made of a turtle shell combined with strings, the generated sound very similar to our present-day guitar.
Another appreciated ancient Roman musical instrument was the Kithara, the most widely used musical chord-instrument for playing both popular and soft music. If we compare it with the lyre we can say that the Kithara is larger, heavier and produces louder sounds. Yet, everybody loved kythara music in the street or in the palace. Together with the lyre, it produced such sweet music that it was said that the best players “could make it cry” .
The nowadays guitars evolved from the Roman Kithara and from the lute, and the guitar singers of our days enjoy pretty much the same “glory” as the Kithara singers from the ancient Rome. Though it has come to be known as an ancient Roman musical instrument, it was imported from Greece, like many others elements of cultures. Kithara music was seen as a gift from the gods of music, and its creators made the best use of its chords.
So, we should thank the Greek for creating the most elaborated and complex Kitharas ever, and for making music what it is to day. Now let’s take a look at the more practical side of the ancient Roman musical instruments. The Roman army also used several instruments for helping the general coordinating the troops on the battle field. The Buccina, for instance, was a kind of horn used in the field for communicating the orders to the men in the ranks.
This ancient Roman musical instrument was huge. The Buccina’s dimensions were impressive, since it measured approximatively 3 m long and had the form of the G letter. Not only did it help with troop movement, but it also provided a impression of strength and trust in outcome of a battle. Two very well-preserved specimens were found at the ruins of Pompeii, so that we not have a clear idea of what it must have looked like.
Other ancient Roman musical instruments used in battle were the Cornu and the Tuba. The former was used to encode the generals’ orders into auditive messages that were send as broadcast all over the battlefield. The latter was some kind of trumpet different from what we know today. The Tuba was produced around 500 BC and was imported from the Etruscans, it was similar in many ways with the Greek Salpinx. This ancient trumped was made of bronze and measured about four feet long.
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