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ladder rotated freely and loosely round internal rods, and the contraption had some specially pleasant sound quality. |
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In fact it corresponds very well to an instrument described by Pollux under the name psithyra, which means 'rustle': |
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The psithyra is an African invention, in particular of the Troglodytes, and its shape is rectangular. (Some think it is the same as what is called the askaros.) It consisted of a rectangular frame a cubit long, with bobbins drawn through it; these, when rotated, made a noise similar to a krotalon.225 |
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The reference to the Troglodytes must derive from the Hellenistic explorer Pythagoras.226 He must have seen something similar among the Nubians of coastal Sudan. |
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The idea of lining up a set of objects, each of which would give out a different note when struck, so that tunes could be played on them, was exploited by a few isolated individuals from time to time, but it never took root. Mention has been made of the graded set of metal discs from an early south Italian grave. A tradition of metal chimes may have persisted in that part of the world. About 500 BC Hippasus of Metapontum is said to have used bronze discs of different thicknesses to demonstrate concordant intervals, and a century later Glaucus of Rhegium cultivated the art of playing tuned discs.227 |
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Another harmonic theorist, Lasus of Hermione, is said to have operated with vessels part-filled with liquid.228 One Diocles (perhaps the writer on music who was the father of the sophist Alcidamas) is credited with inventing the art of playing tunes on a set of dishes, which he hit with a stick. Allusions to this form of entertainment, however, are very rare.229 |
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225 Poll. 4. 60. Cf. Hsch. S.V. askaroi: 'a kind of shoes or sandals; or, as some say, krotala'. |
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226 Cf. above. pp. 76 n. 126, 80 n. 145. |
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227 Below, p. 234 n. 38. |
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228 Theon Smyrn. p. 59. 7 ff. |
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229Suda ii. 104. 5, cf. Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci, v. 18; Anon. Bellerm. 18; Jo. Philoponus, Comm. in Arist. Graeca XV. 358.13. |
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