- Fredrik Tobin –
In Etruria, the tuba is found only in a handful of images.^11 It is not clear if it was a lip-
reed or reed instrument, though the fi nd of a Roman lip-reed tuba from Pompeii might
indicate that also earlier tubae were lip-reed instruments. The possibility of the existence
of a tuba with a reed can of course not be completely dismissed on such little evidence.^12
From its appearance on Etruscan pottery in the middle of the seventh century bce and
down to Roman times, the aulos (Fig. 46.4) is one of the most ubiquitous instruments
in Etruscan imagery.^13 Even though the Greek term aulos, just like the Latin equivalent
tibia, is sometimes misleadingly translated into English as “fl ute” or “double fl ute” it is
in fact a reed instrument. Since the auloi were usually made primarily of wood or bone
they are very rarely found in excavations. One fragment of a bone pipe has been found
in Chianciano (Fig. 46.5) and a few pipes of wood and bone have been recovered from
the Giglio shipwreck.^14 A few details distinguish Etruscan images of auloi from Greek
ones.^15 The most obvious difference is that auloi in Etruscan images often end with a fl are,
Figure 46.4 Drawing of an aulos player in Tomba dei Leopardi, Tarquinia.Figure 46.5 The Chianciano aulos. Courtesy of the Museo Etrusco di Chianciano Terme.