M U £ 
band of finging men and Ringing women, but all the four 
thoufand performers upon inftruments, were chofen from 
the families of priefts and levites. 
Of the mufical inftruments of the Hebrews, continually- 
mentioned in the Pfalms, fo difcordant are tranflators and 
commentators on the fubjeft, that no precife or fatisfac- 
tory ideas can be collected for our guidance. Dr. Burney 
lias obferved, that alrnoft all the Hebrew inftruments are 
enumerated in the laft Pfalm; and he has given fix dif¬ 
ferent tranflations of the 3d, 4th, and 5th, verfes of that 
pfalm, “ to lliow,” as he lays, “ once for all, that there is 
no dependence upon any one of them, or any hope that 
thefe points can ever be cleared up.” 
If, indeed, the leaft ray of hope remain that a true idea 
of Jewilh inftruments can ever be acquired, it muft be 
from the arch of Titus at Rome, where it is fuppofed 
that the fpoils brought by that emperor from Jerufalem 
have been e.xadly reprefented in fculpture.' Among thefe 
are feveral mulical inftruments ; particularly the filver 
trumpets, called by the Hebrews chutzotzero'th; and horns, 
fuppofed to referable the (liawms, mentioned fo often in the 
Scriptures, called in Hebrew keranini , or facerdotal trum¬ 
pets But the arch upon which thefe inftruments are 
iculptured, though, according to Venuti, of excellent 
workmanfhip, was not eredted till after the death of 
Titus; and, to fay the truth, the inftruments are of no 
uncommon form. The trumpets are long ftraight tubes, 
as modern trumpets would be, if not folded up for the 
convenience of the player; and the horns are fuch as 
frequently occur in ancient fculpture. The fubjefts on 
the annexed Plate XIV. are engraved after original draw¬ 
ings, from Titus’s arch, from Trajan’s pillar, and from 
bas-reliefs of ftill more ancient fculpture. 
Fig. 1. The tuba, or long trumpet, called by the He¬ 
brews the “ trumpet of the jubilee.” It may be feen 
jn feveral pieces of ancient fculpture at Rome, particularly 
on the arch of Titus and on Trajan’s pillar. Dr. Bur¬ 
ney’s reprefentation of it, from which our’s is copied, was 
defigned from a bafl'o-relievo of it at the Capitol, repre- 
fenting the triumph of Marcus Aurelius. 
Fig. 2. The buccina, fuppofed by feme to have been the 
fhell of the Buccinum, or whelk. (See the article Con- 
chology, Plate XIII. vol. v.) Others derive it from 
the Plebrew Ink, a trumpet. Varro will have it to have 
been originally formed by onomatopoeia, from bou bou, 
alluding to the found it gives. The buccina is ufually 
cor.fidered as a fpecies of tuba, or trumpet; from which, 
however, in propriety, it appears to have differed, not 
only in refpedt of figure, which in the tuba was ftraight, 
and in the buccina recurved or crooked ; but in found, 
that of the buccina being (harper and audible to a greater 
riiftance than the trumpet-lound. The buccina approach¬ 
ed neareft to the cornu, or horn ; originally the two feem 
to have been the fame ; though in after-times a difference 
arofe ; the name buccinum being reftrained to the fmaller 
forts, and cornu to the larger. Some alfo take the buc¬ 
cina to have been lefs crooked than the cornu, which 
made a full femicircle. Varro affures us, that the buc- 
cinae w ere alfo called cornua, horns ; becaufe originally 
made of the horns of cattle, as is ftill done amongfome 
people. Servius intimates, that they w'ere at firlt made 
of goats’ or rams’ horns; and accordingly, in Scripture, 
the like inftruments, ufed both in war and in the temple, 
are called rams-horns,” keren-jobal; and fop/ieroth bai- 
jobelim, cr “ buccinae of rams.” This inilrument was 
in ufe among the Jews, to proclaim their feaft-days, new 
moons, jubilees, fabbatic years, and the like. Their ufe 
was continued at Greece and in Rome. At Lacedaemon, 
notice was given by the buccina when it was fupper-time ; 
and the like was done at Rome, when the grandees had 
a buccina blown both before they fat down to table, and 
after they rofe from their meal. 
Fig. 3. The cornet. This was a kind of horn, much 
in the form of a trumpet. Vegetius informs us, that the 
legions had trumpets, cornets, and buccina 5 that, when 
Vol. XVI. No. 1117. 
I C. 849 
the cornet only founded, the enfigns, or ftandard-bearers, 
were to move forward without the foldiers; but, when 
the trumpets only founded, the foldiers were to advance, 
or move forward, without the enfigns or ftandard-bearers; 
that the cornets and buccinae founded the charge and re¬ 
treat, and the cornets and trumpets during the battle. 
Fig-ft) S> 6. The harp. Concerning the form of king 
David’s harp we are utterly ignorant, though differtations 
have been written upon it, and Cal met has ventured to 
give it a form. All we know of it is, that it w-as called 
chinnor in Hebrew, and that the pfalmift himfelf frequent¬ 
ly defignates it as “ aninftrument of ten firings.” It was 
probably of a fmall fize, as the player could carry it in 
his hand, and could at the fame time dance at a pretty good ; 
rate; (2 Sam. vi. 14, 16.) It may probably have been like 
the trigonum, or triangular harp with ten firings, at fig. 4. 
copied from an ancient painting in the mufeum of the 
king of Naples, in which it is placed on the fhoulder of a 
little dancing cupid, who holds the inftrument with his 
left hand, and plays on it with his right. The trigonum 
is mentioned by Athenteus, lib. iv. and by Julius Pollux, 
lib. iv. c. 9. According to Athentcus, Sophocles calls it 
a Phrygian inftrument; and one of his dipnofophifts tells 
us, that a certain mufician of the name of Alexander Alex- 
andrinus was fo admirable a performer upon it, and had 
given fuch proofs of his abilities at Rome, that he made 
the inhabitants (xscroju.au/tw, “ mufically mad.” It may not 
be unworthy of remark, that this little inftrument refem- 
bles theTheban harp (Plate XIII. fig. 2.) in the circum- 
ftance of wanting one fide toxomplete the triangle. The- 
performer too, being a native of Alexandria, as his name 
implies, makes it probable that it was an Egyptian inftru¬ 
ment upon which he gained his reputation at Rome.—- 
Fig. 5. is the chinnor, as reprefented by Kireher from an 
old book in the Vatican library. It has thirty-two firings. 
—Fig. 6. the nablum, or nebel. This had firings like the 
harp, and was played with both hands, and, as fome fay, 
with fmall flicks, like a dulcimer. In the Septuagint 
and Vulgate, it is called nablon, pj'alterion, lyrct, and fome- 
tirnes cithara. See Calmet’s Dilfertation concerning the 
mufical Inftruments of the ancient Hebrews, prefixed to 
the fecond volume of his Commentary on the Pialms. 
Kireher fuppofes it to have been a horizontal harp, and 
that it furnifhed the firft idea of a harpfichord. Baptiil 
Folengius, on the 33d Pfalm, fays that this inftrument 
was elteemed the moll noble of all; becaufe, when the 
feventy fymphonifts who blew the trumpet, and played 
the organs, the cymbals, and the lyre, were afiembled to 
play in concert, the king played alone upon the nablum ; 
It ex Joins Jalterio regio cunebat 
Fig. 7, 8. The pfaltery. We know nothing of the 
precife form of the ancient pfaltery. Kireher has taken 
pains to prove that it was of a fquare form ; and from an old 
book in the Vatican library he has given a reprefentation 
of it, which we have copied at fig. 7.—The minagnghinim , 
fig. 8. is another kind of pfaltery, for a defeription of 
which, fee vol. xv. p. 421. 
Fig. 9. The timbrel, tabret, or tambour de bafque. 
This inftrument is of very high antiquity, and of very 
general ufe; having been employed by the Hebrews,. 
Greeks, and Romans. Our figure is taken from the pic-, 
ture of a bacchante, dug out of Herculaneum. Kireher 
fays it w'as made of metal; to the rim were hung little 
bells, or loofe pieces of metal; and it was furnifhed with 
iron rings fufpended on a rod or bar that palled acrofs the 
circle. He fuppofes that it was moved to and fro by a 
handle fixed to it, and thus emitted a melancholy kind of 
murmur. 
Fig. 10. The mafrakitha, a very curious wind-inftru- 
ment,- our figure of which is copied from the plates of the 
Encyclopedic methodique ; and of which we have no 
other defeription than that already given in vol. xiv. 
P- 5 «S- . . 
Fig. 11. the machul; fig. 12. the minmn. Thefe were 
two inftruments of the ftringed kind ; the former with fix 
ft U s firings,, 
