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Vitruvius' Vases: Sound-Amplification In Ancient Theatres, John Thorp

Philosophy Presentations

In the first century BCE the Roman author, architect, and civil engineer, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio came up with an ingenious plan to build sound-amplification systems into theatres. The essence of the plan was to install, in the midst of the audience seating, empty bronze vases that would resonate with the various notes of the musical scale. The plan relied closely on the harmonic theory of Aristoxenus, a pupil of Aristotle, who had composed his treatise Elements of Harmonytwo centuries earlier. Although there is scant evidence that this plan was ever commonly put into effect, nonetheless the details of the …