Kathleen Schlesinger

“ The two pipes were kept in position while the fingers stopped the holes and turned the bands by means of the φορβεία (Lat. capistrum) , a bandage encircling mouth and cheeks, and having holes through which the reed-mouthpiece passed into the mouth of the performer; the phorbeia also relieved the pressure of the breath on the cheeks and lips, [13] which is felt more especially by performers on oboe and bassoon at the present day. ”

“ It may, however, have been the cap of a covered reed, or even a whistle mouthpiece in which the lip does not show in the photograph. It is difficult to form a conclusion without seeing the real instrument. On a mosaic of Monnus in Trèves [10] is represented an aulos which also appears to have a beak-shaped mouthpiece.
The upper part of the aulos, as in the Pompeian pipes, frequently had the form of a flaring cup supported on a pear-shaped bulb, respectively identified as the holmos (ὄλμος) and the hypholmion (ὑφόλμιον) , the support of the holmos. ”

“ An explanation of the original nature and construction of the bulb and flaring cup, so familiar in the various representations of the aulos, and in the real instruments found in Pompeii, is provided by an ancient Egyptian flute belonging to the collection of G. Maspero, illustrated and described by Victor Loret. [11] Loret calls the double bulb the beak mouthpiece of the instrument, and describes its construction; it consists of a piece of reed of larger diameter than that of the flute, and eight centimetres long ”

“ In the Septuagint, the word being derived from a root signifying “ten,” the Greek is ἐν δεκαχορδῷ or ψαλτήριον δεκάχορδον, in the Vulgate in decachordo psalterio. Each time the word asor is used it follows the word nebel (see Psaltery) , and probably merely indicates a variant of the nebel, having ten strings instead of the customary twelve assigned to it by Josephus (Antiquities, vii. 12. 3) . ”

“ This, according to the tables of Alypius, would correspond to the full range of the Greek scales, a little over three octaves from to . It is evident that the ancient Greeks obtained this full compass on the aulos by means of the harmonics. Proclus (Comm. in Alcibiad. chap. 68) states that from each hole of the pipe at least three tones could be produced. Moreover, classic writers maintain that if the performer press the zeugos or the glottai of the pipes, a sharper tone is produced. ”

“ In the Candia pipe, it seems likely that Nos. 1 and 2 represented the bell end, slightly expanded, No. 3 joining the broken end of No. 2 at l; there being a possible fit at the other end at s with a in No. ”