Roman tuba
The Roman tuba, or trumpet[1][2] was a military signal instrument used by the ancient Roman military and in religious rituals.[3][4][5] They would signal troop movements such as retreating,[6] attacking, or charging,[7][8] as well as when guards should mount, sleep,[9] or change posts.[7][10] Thirty-six or thirty-eight tubicines were assigned to each Roman legion.[11][12] The tuba would be blown twice each spring in military, governmental, or religious functions. This ceremony was known as the tubilustrium. It was also used in ancient Roman triumphs.[13][14][15] It was considered a symbol of war and battle.[16] The instrument was used by the Etruscans in their funerary rituals.[17] It continued to be used in ancient Roman funerary practices.[18]

Roman tuba were usually straight cylindrical instruments with a bell at the end.[2][5][19][20] They were typically made of metals such as silver,[21] bronze, or lead and measured around 4.33 ft or 1.31 meters.[6][22] Their players, known as the tubicines or tubatores were well-respected in Roman society.[23][24][25] The tuba was only capable of producing rhythmic sounds on one or two pitches.[26] Its noise was often described as terrible, raucous, or hoarse.[27] Ancient writers describe the tuba as invoking fear and terror in those who heard it.[28]
- Roman tuba found in archaeological site of Roman Villa di San Vincenzino, Italy.
- Reconstructed Roman tuba
- Musicians playing a Roman tuba, a water organ (hydraulis), and a pair of cornua, detail from the Zliten mosaic, 2nd century AD
- Roman cornu (left) and tuba (right) in a relief from the Museo Ostiense, Ostia Antica, Italy.
References
- Haarmann 2014, p. 26.
- Schlesinger 1911, pp. 700–701.
- Janniard 2015, p. 1.
- Rüpke 2011, p. 28.
- Ziolkowski 1999, p. 371.
- Vincent 2015.
- Renatus 1767, p. 214.
- Sage 2014, p. 1.
- Rankov 2015, p. 1.
- Cross 2013, p. 10.
- Wallace & McGrattan 2012.
- Southern 2007, p. 158.
- Perot 2020, p. 91.
- Naumann, Ouseley & Praeger 2013, p. 161.
- López 2012, p. 15.
- Alexandrescu 2007, p. 40.
- Griffith 2013, p. 237.
- Wyslucha 2018, pp. 75–95.
- Coulston 2015, p. 629.
- Rance 2015, p. 629.
- Meucci 1989, p. 88.
- Ceulemans 2002, pp. 1–35.
- Koehler 2015, p. 170.
- Howley 2018, p. 161.
- Bohec 2013, p. 46.
- Williams 2014, p. 7.
- Wootton 2004, p. 249.
- Betts 2017, pp. 153–156.
Bibliography
- Alexandrescu, Cristina-Georgeta (2007). "The Iconography of Wind Instruments in Ancient Rome: Cornu, Bucina, Tuba, and Lituus". Music in Art. 32 (1/2): 33–46. ISSN 1522-7464. JSTOR 41818803.
- Betts, Eleanor (2017-02-24). Senses of the Empire: Multisensory Approaches to Roman Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-05728-4.
- Bohec, Yann Le (2013-10-28). The Imperial Roman Army. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-95506-9.
- Coulston, Jon (2015-03-04), "Music: Principate", in Le Bohec, Yann (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 629–672, doi:10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1039, ISBN 978-1-118-31814-0, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Ceulemans, Anne-Emmanuelle (2002). "Instruments Real and Imaginary: Aaron's Interpretation of Isidore and an Illustrated Copy of the 'Toscanello'". Early Music History. 21: 1–35. doi:10.1017/S0261127902002012. ISSN 0261-1279. JSTOR 853898. S2CID 193209025.
- Cross, R. (2013), Bold as brass: 'brass instruments' in the Roman army
- Griffith, Alison B. (2013-03-28), Evans, Jane DeRose (ed.), "Reconstructing Religious Ritual in Italy", A Companion to the Archaeology of the Roman Republic, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, pp. 235–249, doi:10.1002/9781118557129.ch15, ISBN 978-1-118-55712-9, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Haarmann, Harald (2014-08-11), McInerney, Jeremy (ed.), "Ethnicity and Language in the Ancient Mediterranean", A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 17–33, doi:10.1002/9781118834312.ch2, ISBN 978-1-4443-3734-1, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Howley, Joseph A. (2018-04-12). Aulus Gellius and Roman Reading Culture. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-51012-4.
- Janniard, Sylvain (2015-03-04), "Transmission of Orders: Late Empire", in Le Bohec, Yann (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 979–1028, doi:10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1528, ISBN 978-1-118-31814-0, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Koehler, Elisa (2015-03-01). A Dictionary for the Modern Trumpet Player. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-8658-2.
- López, María Isabel Rodríguez (2012). "Victory, Triumph and Fame as the Iconic Expressions of the Courtly Power". Music in Art. 37 (1/2): 9–23. ISSN 1522-7464. JSTOR 24420190.
- Meucci, Renato (1989). "Roman Military Instruments and the Lituus". The Galpin Society Journal. 42: 85–97. doi:10.2307/842625. ISSN 0072-0127. JSTOR 842625.
- Naumann, Emil; Ouseley, F. A. Gore; Praeger, Ferdinand Christian Wilhelm, eds. (2013), "THE ROMANS", The History of Music, Cambridge Library Collection - Music, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, vol. 1, pp. 158–167, doi:10.1017/CBO9781139833646.009, ISBN 978-1-108-06163-6, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Perot, Sylvain (2020), Lynch, Tosca A.C.; Rocconi, Eleonora (eds.), "Ancient Musical Performance in Context: Places, Settings, and Occasions", A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 87–102, doi:10.1002/9781119275510.ch7, ISBN 978-1-119-27547-3, S2CID 225529593, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Rance, Philip (2015-03-04), "Music: Late Empire", in Le Bohec, Yann (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 629–672, doi:10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1038, ISBN 978-1-118-31814-0, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Rankov, Boris (2015-03-04), "Transmission of Orders: Principate", in Le Bohec, Yann (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 979–1028, doi:10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1529, ISBN 978-1-118-31814-0, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Renatus, Flavius (1767). De Re Militari [The Military Institutions of the Romans]. Archived from the original on July 29, 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
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ignored (help) - Rüpke, Jörg (2011). The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History and the Fasti (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781444396539.ch3. ISBN 978-0-470-65508-5.
- Sage, Michael (2014-01-30), "Tubicen", in Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. wbeah19177, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah19177, ISBN 978-1-4443-3838-6, retrieved 2022-10-05
- Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). pp. 697–706.
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- Wallace, John; McGrattan, Alexander (2012-01-31). The Trumpet. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-17816-6.
- Williams, Edward V. (2014-07-14). The Bells of Russia: History and Technology. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-5463-9.
- Wyslucha, Kamila (2018-03-22). "Tibia and Tuba at the Crossroads of Funerary and Nuptial Imagery". Greek and Roman Musical Studies. 6 (1): 79–95. doi:10.1163/22129758-12341313. ISSN 2212-9758.
- Wootton, Glenys E. M. (2004). "Representations of Musicians in the Roman Mime". Mediterranean Archaeology. 17: 243–252. ISSN 1030-8482. JSTOR 24668157.
- Vincent, Alexandre (2015-03-04), Le Bohec, Yann (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, doi:10.1002/9781118318140, ISBN 978-1-118-31814-0
- Ziolkowski, John (1999). "The Invention of the Tuba (Trumpet)". The Classical World. 92 (4): 367–373. doi:10.2307/4352289. ISSN 0009-8418. JSTOR 4352289.