3 in. below the end of
the pipe, which is the principle of the drone. It would appear that the
double chalumeau, called arghoul (q.v.) by the modern Egyptians, was
known in ancient Egypt, although it was not perhaps in common use. The
Musee Guimet possesses a copy of a fresco from the tombs at Saqqarah
(executed under the direction of Mariette Bey) assigned to the 4th or
5th dynasty, on which is shown a concert with dancing; the instruments
used are two harps, the long oblique flute "nay," blown from the end
without any mouthpiece or embouchure, and an instrument identified as an
arghoul[9] from its resemblance to the modern instrument of the same
name. This is believed to be the only illustration of the ancient double
chalumeau yet found in Egypt, with the single exception of a hieroglyph
occurring also once only, i.e. the sign read _As-it_, consisting of a
cylindrical pipe with a beak mouthpiece bound round with a cord tied in
a bow. The bow is taken to indicate the double parallel pipes bound
together; the same sign without the bow occurs frequently and is read
_Ma-it_,[10] and is considered to be the generic name for reed wind
instruments. The beating-reed was probably introduced into classic
Greece from Egypt or Asia Minor. A few ancient Greek instruments are
extant, five of which are in the British Museum. They are as nearly
cylindrical as would be the natural growing reed itself. The probability
is that both single and double reeds were at times used with the Greek
aulos and the Roman tibia. V. Mahillon and A.A. Howard of Harvard have
both obtained facsimiles of actual instruments, some found at Pompeii
and now deposited in the museum at Naples, and others in the British
Museum. Experiments made with these instruments, whose original
mouthpieces have perished, show that with pipes of such narrow diameter
the fundamental scale and pitch are the same whether sounded by means of
a single or of a double reed, but the modern combination of single reed
and cylindrical tube alone gives the full pure tone quality. The subject
is more fully discussed in the article AULOS.[11] The Roman tibia, if
monuments can be trusted, sometimes had a beak-shaped mouthpiece, as for
instance that attached to a pipe discovered at Pompeii, or that shown in
a scene on Trajan's column.[12] It is probable that when, at the decline
of the Roman empire, instrumental music was placed by the church under a
ban--and the tibia more especially from i