The kithara was also called lyre, but was not made of the body of the tortoise, and it became the Greek concert instrument, and was only used by professionals, while the chelys was used in the home. It came originally from Asia Minor and Egypt. It had four strings at first but these were gradually added to, until there were fifteen and eighteen strings. It was sometimes small and sometimes large, and was held to the body by means of a sling and was played with a plectrum or pick.
The Greek flute or aulos was a wood-wind instrument more like our oboe than our flute. It was usually played in pairs, that is, one person played two flutes or auloi of different sizes at one time, and they were V shaped. There was a group of auloi differing in range like the human voice differs, and covering three octaves from the bass aulos to the soprano.
The aulos was first a single wooden pipe with three or four finger holes which later were increased to fifteen or sixteen so that the three modes Dorian, Phrygian and Lydian, could be played on one pair of auloi. About six centuries before the Christian era, the double flute became the instrument of the Delphian and Pythian musical competitions.
In the chorus too, we read that for each drama there was a special aulos soloist who always played the double flute.
There were other type instruments such as the war trumpets, trumpets used in the temple services, and harps (magadis) that were brought from Egypt, but the real instruments of the Greeks pictured in their sculpture and on their vases and urns, and spoken of in their literature, are the lyres and auloi.
Roman Music
The Romans, law givers, world conquerors and road builders, gave little new to music, for they did not show a great talent for art. They were influenced by Greek ideals and Greek methods. They were warlike by nature, and from defenders of their state they became conquerors. As they grew nationally stronger and more secure, they learned music, oratory, architecture and sculpture from Greek teachers. Many Romans well known in history were singers and gifted players on the Greek kithara, lyre, and flute (aulos).
The Romans seemed to have cared more about the performing of music than for the composing of it, and “offered prizes to those who had the greatest dexterity, could blow the loudest or play the fastest.” (Familiar Talks on History of Music.—Gantvoort.)
As they come to America today the musicians of other lands flocked to Rome, especially those who played or sang, because they were received with honor and were richly paid.
The Romans, among them Boethius (6th century B.C.), wrote treatises on the Greek modes, were very much interested in the theory of music, and built their scales like the Greeks. To each of the seven tones within an octave they gave the name of a planet, and to every fourth tone which was the beginning of a new tetrachord, the name of a day of the week which is named for the planet.