What did Popular Music in Ancient Rome sound like?

A survey of the (almost) lost world of music and concerts in ancient Rome.

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If you liked this video, you might also enjoy my book “Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants: Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Greeks and Romans.”

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I’d like to thank Russell Miller for the sound design of this video.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:43 The cithara
2:12 The aulos / tibia
2:52 The hydraulis (water organ)
3:45 Music at sacrifices
4:12 Music at entertainments
4:54 Street musicians
5:25 Endel!
6:19 Famous musicians
7:26 Star pipe players
8:04 Citharodes
9:05 Pantomimes
10:20 A pantomime in action
11:10 Conclusion

Thanks for watching!

[hughzehzelleise]

Artists being jackasses, crazy fangirls, and concerts causing riots?---some things never change

[matiasluukkanen]

Considering Roman conservatives complained of loud lyre-playing of long-hair youths and that Egyptian and eastern music corrupted the younger generations, their approach to music was very universal to modern people.

[ace]

Longinus and The Lyres for one night only! Playing their #1 hits such as:
“An Amphora for 2”
“Crucify my love”
& “The Pompeii of the Night”
Tickets available at the Hippo Dome!

[woneeze]

i just realised, the romans fangirled over the musicians and lyricists as we do rock stars and boy bands, they fangirled over the gladiators as we do athletes. we are exactly the way we were 2000 years ago, i love that.

[mediocreman]

A few weeks ago – I work in Vienna's inner city – while on my way to the office I walked through Tuchlauben over the Graben into Kohlmarkt, the place where, about two millenia ago, the _porta decumana_ (southern gate) of the Roman castra _vindobona_ was located, and I thought, hm, around 2000 years ago, some Roman soldier stood there, and though, darn it!, my shift is about to start, and about 2000 years later, I go there, and think, darn it!, my shift is about to start, which made me wonder – what changed? And now I watch this video, in which you tell us, that rock stars where always rock stars, complete with attitude, fangirls, and everything else. Again: What changed? The technology. But the people are still the same, no matter the -decade- -century- millenium.

[jerryumfress]

I'm a musician and singer and I'm so glad I found this channel! I first heard about the music of the Greeks and Romans back in 1970 while in college. I had a music history professor that spent much time teaching us about this sort of music and its value today

[sdbszz]

Crazy how ancient Romans also loved Zelda ocarina of time. Amazing

[GnomiousBoBo]

2:30 good to see all artists across time struggled with drawing hands

[giansideros]

2:57 the Byzantines continued to use the water organ in church music and even donated them to various western European realms during the middle ages.

[bradbarrett]

The questions on this channel are what I spent my childhood thinking about and I always thought they should make historical movies without soundtracks and just use scenes where they're supposed to be in some type of tavern to play music from the era

[Kbmontty]

This is some seriously high quality content. Concise, educational, and entertaining.

[Forested-pzcp]

Wonderful video and presentation. Can’t believe how you brought the sounds of the instruments into the video. I’ve always wondered about this topic !

[Angelfeather]

Another superb post, Garrett. I felt for a moment sitting there in the audience, enjoying the soft lyre’s voice which I prefer amongst the other instruments. And then holding my breath at the pantomime’s first swirl. I didn’t want this clip to stop… I found all the images and music samples in this video quite exceptional. Such a delight!

[lionheart]

this is the kind of stuff we need to hear more about from history. Gives us a real glimpse of life back then.

[elgarsfaith]

Absolutely incredible channel. Having done classical studies, finding your work was a breath of fresh air on YouTube. I am definitely going to reach for your book. Thank you so much for all your dedication!

[tfist]

7:54 those unforgettable JAZZ FLUTE performances by Gaius Ron Burgundius really rocked the Coliseum!

[leegauntlett]

Damn, we must have missed some great shows.

[solidbluebrian]

From the first melody, sounds like the ancient Romans were playing a lot of Zelda on n64

[LemSportsinterviews]

the sound effects are on point. love the higher production value. been subbed since 30k, keep it up(:

[knownothing]

Water organ: **starts playing**
Me: THE DARK CRYSTAL!