Aulos (Ure Museum inv. no. 67.7.3)

The aulos, an instrument made of two separate pipes and reeds—like playing two oboes at once—was popularly taught in Athens in the early 5th century BC. Our example is one half of an aulos, and is crafted with skill, including bronze, ivory, wood, and even silver, so it is unlikely it was used in a schoolroom. The aulos could be a divisive instrument.

Writing in the 4th century BC, Aristotle, who clearly didn’t much like the aulos, tells us “at Athens it became so fashionable that almost the majority of freemen went in for aulos-playing … But later on it came to be disapproved of as a result of actual experience, when men were more capable of judging what music conduced to virtue and what did not….” The aulos remained popular in different parts of Greece, however, at parties, to accompany sacrifice, and even for the choruses of Greek drama.

This recording gives us a taste of what an aulos might have sounded like (improvised by Dr. James Lloyd in 2016 on a replica of the Louvre Museum aulos).

For more information see http://uremuseum.org/cgi-bin/ure/uredb.cgi?rec=67.7.3