"Vitalio ballat cum est musicus". Graffiti with Musical Instruments in the Roman Empire.

Abstract

The graffiti preserved throughout the Roman Empire refer to many different themes from the daily lives of their authors, and present among them is music. The graffiti are usually divided for study between epigraphic and figurative types. The epigraphic examples include mentions of musici, representing either real musicians or the proper name Musicus. Interesting inscriptions have also survived of tubicines who marked their profession as musicians on pottery as signs of ownership. Messages have also been preserved on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including mentions of musicians working for a troupe of actors, and others that relate music to drinking and dancing. In the central part of this work, 15 graffiti representing 31 musical instruments have been collected and studied. They come from all parts of the Roman Empire, from eastern cities such as Dura Europos, Aphrodisias or Delos, to the cities of Italy and other western provinces such as the Roman city of Santa Criz in Hispania citerior. Among the examples analysed, wind instruments are the most common, while stringed and percussion instruments are less numerous. The most well-represented instrument is the hydraulis, followed by the cornua and the tubae/tibiae. Other instruments represented include possible types of bucinae, chordophones, cymbals, bells and a double pipe wind instrument. The collection reveals a clear link between the musical instruments and the public games, with a greater proportion of the more powerful wind instruments being used to excite the audience.