There seems to be an assumption that the ancient Romans didn’t like music, and that’s not true. We have very few records left of ancient Roman music, but it isn’t because the Romans didn’t enjoy music. Rather, the early Christians burned some ancient Roman texts on music, thinking the music was pagan music. In terms of musical notation the ancient Romans may have borrowed their notation from the ancient Greeks. We know this from the writings of Boethius, an ancient Roman philosopher. Some of the musical instruments that have been unearthed show that the ancient Romans had a variety of instruments. Let’s take a look at some of them:

The ancient Romans had extensive use of the tuba, which is not like our modern tuba, but more like our modern trumpet. We know from ancient writings that the tuba was used for military purposes. There is also evidence that it was used for the gladitorial games, funerals, and religious gatherings. Like the tuba, the cornu was also used for military signaling. The cornu was shaped like an uppercase G, because of the cross bar handle. The tibiae was close to our modern oboe. The tibiae had pipes played between the player’s lips.

The kithara was said to produce a loud and sweet sound. The kithara was somewhat similar to our modern guitar. In ancient Roma, an accomplished kithara player could amass idol status much like today’s guitar heroes. The scabellum was a hinged metal device used to beat time. The sistrum was a rattle-like instrument that was composed of rings strung along the bars against a metal frame. The sistrum was often used for relgious rituals to keep the rhythm of the ritual. The hydraulis was an organ that created sounds through the use of water pressure. Air was pumped in through the pipes to compress the water, thus creating a sound.