Note 96: — XXV.—MUSIC AND DANCING. (Wall-Cases 54-56.)

As the school scene shows, flute-playing, though condemned by Plato and Aristotle,96 was commonly taught at Athens. Ancient flutes are distinguished from the modern instruments by the vibrating reed which formed the mouthpiece, and by the fact that they were always played in pairs. Hence the frequency with which pairs of ancient flutes are found. Two of sycamore wood (No. 645; Case 56) were discovered in the same tomb (near Athens) as the lyre described above (No. 642). Another pair of flutes (in bronze) from Italy (No. 646; fig. 254) have their mouthpieces in the form of busts of Maenads. A terracotta shows a pair of female musicians (No. 647) playing with a drum and double flutes. To assist the playing of the two flutes together a mouth-band was often worn, as may be seen from designs on vases, e.g., on a cup of Epiktetos (E 38; Third Vase Room), and on some of the Cypriote sculptures in the Gold Ornament Room passage.