The sounds of the Iberian world

Iberian funeral monument from Osuna. Ensemble A

The maiden represented in one of the reliefs on this Iberian monument is playing a diaulos, a wind instrument comprised by a pair of tubes and a bone or ivory reed. Its shrill and stirring sound was perfect for use within the context of public ceremonies. It was the preferred instrument of Iberian women, as opposed to the tuba, played mostly by men. This female diaulos or double aulos player, called an auletrix, appears to be accompanied by other youths. They may be participating in funeral rites, which include combat exhibitions, processions and the presentation of offerings. Ever since the earliest moments of Antiquity, music was a means of communication between human beings and the gods, that is, between the real world and the great beyond. All these rites were performed to the sound of music, considered to be yet another component of the ceremonies that were surely linked to cantillations, or spoken sentences with slight musical modulations.