"Acoustics vases in ancient theatres: disposition, analysis from the ancient tetracordal musical system"

The acoustics of the ancient Greek and Roman theatres has always been rated as excellent by experts, without discussion. Beyond the purely architectural aspects, in this kind of outdoor theatres some mechanisms were used in order to improve the acoustics. In this paper we have studied the texts about "theatre's vases" of the famous book "On Architecture" by Vitruvius. Different interpretations and illustrations of these vases, that several translators carried out in the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, have been researched. From the wide bibliography consulted in this regard we have developed a plane with the disposition of the bronze vases in the theatres. In this plane we have specified the frequency of each one of them, and explained their disposition from the tetracordal musical system acquired from the Greek culture. Finally, an analysis of the disposition of the vases has been made. We have studied and looked for the musical intervals and harmonic relations among adjacent vases.