Searching for Small Trumpets – A Critical Comment on Seneca Ep. 56,4

In his well-known and often discussed famous letter 56 the philosopher Seneca complains about the annoying noisesin the city and refers to “some fellow who is demonstrating with little pipes and flutes at the Trickling Fountain,shouting rather than singing” (Trans. R.M. Gummere, LCL), in Latin hunc, qui ad Metam Sudantem tubulas experituret tibias, nec cantat, sed exclamat.

Apart from the impressive soundscape that Seneca locates at the Meta Sudans in Rome, this passage seems to me very interesting, as the expression “tubulas” has only survived in this passage and is generally understood as small trumpets. Therefore, I will take this singular situation as a starting point for an archaeological commentary. On the one hand, I will discuss the possible reading as “tubulos”, which is to be understood as the pipes of a water conduit on the technical construction of wells like the Meta Sudan – a reading that would also be possible for tibias. On the otherhand – again following the common reading “tubulas” – I will discuss the question of a real existence and transmission of small trumpets in the archaeological or iconographic tradition. Finally, against the background of the spatial context of the schola aenatores and other collegia, I will consider whether the noises could come less from a musician than from an instrument maker.