The aulos (plural: auloi) was a musical instrument used in ancient Greece. It is often shown in ancient art and has been found by archaeologists. Though sometimes called a "flute" or "double flute," the aulos had two reeds and made a loud, strong sound. This sound was similar to modern instruments like the oboe or bagpipes, which have a main pipe and a humming sound called a drone.

A person who played the aulos was called an aulete. In ancient Rome, the equivalent player was called a tibicen, named after the Latin word tibia, which also meant "pipe" or "aulos." The term aulode is sometimes used to describe an aulos player, similar to how rhapsode and citharode describe singers. However, aulode more often refers to a singer who accompanied the aulos music.

Background

There were several types of aulos, including single and double versions. The most common type was a reed instrument. Ancient discoveries, artwork, and other evidence show that the aulos had two reeds, like the modern oboe, but with a larger mouthpiece, similar to the Armenian duduk. A single pipe without a reed was called the monaulos, which means "single" in Greek. A single pipe held horizontally, like the modern flute, was called the plagiaulos, meaning "sideways" in Greek. A pipe with a bag to create continuous sound, like a bagpipe, was called the askaulos, named after the Greek word for "wineskin."

Like the Great Highland Bagpipe, the aulos was used for military music, but it was more often shown in other social settings. A normal flute would not be loud enough for use in battle, but the aulos’s double reed allowed it to be heard over long distances and over the noise of marching soldiers in armor. It was the main instrument that accompanied passionate elegiac poetry. It also played during physical activities such as wrestling matches, the broad jump, the discus throw, and to set the rhythm for rowing on triremes. It was used during sacrifices and plays. Plato linked the aulos to the ecstatic religious groups of Dionysus and the Korybantes. He banned it from his Republic but allowed it in his Laws.

Musicians who played the aulos used a tool called the Phorbeia or Capistrum. This tool had two straps. One strap was placed on top of the head, and the other was stretched across the back of the head from ear to ear to support the cheeks. It helped players use circular breathing and keep the instrument steady. It may also have prevented the reeds from falling into the player’s throat. Another possible use was to hold the player’s lips in place, reducing strain on the lips.

Although wealthy people sometimes played the aulos, like the lyre, after the fifth century, the aulos was mainly played by professional musicians, often slaves. However, these musicians could become famous. The Romano-Greek writer Lucian wrote about aulos playing in his dialogue Harmonides. In this story, Alexander the Great’s aulete, Timotheus, advises his student Harmonides to impress experts in his field rather than seek popularity in large public events. Lucian wrote that Harmonides died from blowing too hard during practice.

Mythic origin

In Greek mythology, Marsyas, a satyr, is said to have either invented the aulos or found it after Athena discarded it because it made her cheeks puff out and harmed her appearance. Regardless, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a musical contest, with the winner allowed to "do whatever he wanted" to the loser. Marsyas expected this to involve something sexual, which was typical of satyrs. However, Apollo, playing the lyre, defeated Marsyas, who played the aulos.

Marsyas’s blood and the tears of the Muses formed the river Marsyas in Asia Minor.

This story served as a warning against the sin of "hubris," or extreme pride, as Marsyas believed he could defeat a god. Though the tale is strange and harsh, it reflects many cultural tensions the Greeks explored, such as the contrast between the lyre and the aulos, which symbolized freedom versus servility, leisurely amateurs versus professionals, and moderation versus excess. Some of these ideas were influenced by 19th-century interpretations that linked the lyre to Apollo and the aulos to Dionysus, representing "Reason" and "Madness," respectively. In the temple to Apollo at Delphi, there was also a shrine to Dionysus, and his followers, the Maenads, are sometimes shown playing the aulos on drinking cups. However, Dionysus is also occasionally depicted holding a lyre or kithara.

This opposition between the lyre and aulos was mostly an Athenian perspective. In Thebes, a city known for aulos music, the situation may have been different. In Sparta, where there were no Bacchic or Korybantic religious traditions to contrast the aulos, it was actually associated with Apollo and used by soldiers in battle.

Depiction in art

The battle scene on the Chigi vase shows an aulos player creating a rhythmic music for the hoplite phalanx to move forward. This music helped keep the soldiers in a tight formation, and the aulete played an important role in keeping the phalanx strong. In this scene, the phalanx coming from the left is not ready and is briefly outnumbered four to five. More soldiers are visible running to help them from behind. Even though the front group is missing one soldier, they have an advantage because the aulete is there to help the formation stay together.

An amphora from about 540–530 BC shows Herakles finishing his tenth labor. Auletes are playing music in a line on the neck of the amphora.

• Herakles tenth labor
• Neck of Herakles' tenth labor amphora
• Geryon side of Herakles' tenth labor
• Neck of Geryon side of Herakles' tenth labor amphora

Modern use and popular culture

The sounds of the aulos are being recreated digitally by the Ancient Instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application (ASTRA) project. This project uses a method called physical modeling synthesis to copy the aulos sounds. Because this process is complex, the ASTRA project uses grid computing, which means many computers across Europe work together to model the sounds at the same time.

The aulos is part of the Lost Sounds Orchestra, which includes other ancient instruments. ASTRA has recreated the sounds of these instruments, such as the epigonion, the salpinx, the barbiton, and the syrinx.

The aulos was shown in the 2009 movie Agora, where a character plays a solo in an amphitheater. It also appears in the 2007 movie 300.

Some double flutes still exist in Southeastern Europe. In southern Albania, a type of flute called the cula diare or cyla dyjare is still played in the Labëria region to accompany Albanian iso-polyphony. Some people believe this instrument has a shared history with the aulos. These instruments are fipple flutes, which are different from the double-reeded aulos used in ancient times.

Gallery

• Marble sculpture of an aulos player, Cycladic civilization, around 2600 BC
• Attic red-figure column-krater created by the Hephaistos Painter, dated around 450–425 BCE, showing a hetaira playing the aulos at a symposium for two men holding lyres, Eskenazi Museum of Art
• Greek Red-figure Ceramic Calyx Crater, 440–430 BC, depicting a girl dancing to the sound of an aulos
• Iberian high-relief sculpture from Osuna, a Greek settlement in the Iberian Peninsula, dated 225–175 BCE, showing an auletris (a woman playing an aulos). This is part of the Sculptures of Osuna
• Aulos instruments made of bone, Archäologisches Museum Thessaloniki
• A male figure playing the aulos, Southern theatre at Jerash
• A woman playing the aulos, Southern theatre at Jerash
• Hellenistic artwork depicting an aulos, from Gandhara, 1st–3rd centuries BCE
• Modern 19th-century artwork by Theodoros Rallis