The Double Flutes

Extract

If we are seeking an authoritative solution of the outstanding problems of ancient Greek music, it would seem that the most valuable assistance could be got from a consideration of the αὐλός, inasmuch as specimens more or less complete are to be found in plenty, scattered through the museums of different countries: in practice, this study has been found the most puzzling of all. Though many of the bodies of such flutes have been found, the mechanism of the mouthpiece, at once the most important and the most perishable portion of the instrument, has naturally disappeared, and all hope of extraneous aid from vase-pictures seems to vanish when we notice that in all the later pictures the mouth of the player, and consequently the mouthpiece of the instrument, is hidden by the ϕορβεία, a band passing across the mouth, and encircling the head of the player.

Still I hope to show that not all these difficulties are insuperable: for example, much of the mystery of the ϕορβεία disappears when we see two terracotta figures of dancers wearing the ϕορβεία without the flutes. It is then clear that this band held the flutes rigidly in place, and we are able to form some conclusion as to the shape of the mouthpieces; but this will be discussed later.