Horse race game device

Unknown (Byzantine)


Item type:
sculpture
Date of creation:
490-510
Technique / Medium:
stone

Additional titles

Παίγνιο με ιπποδρομίες
At yarışı oyunu

    Item location

  • Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst
    [Museum inv. no.: 1895]

Description

The artifact consists of four sides, each showing events of a race day, of an hippodrome race. On the right side of the artifact there are two musicians positioned at the beginning of the race, playing wind instruments, probably an aulos.

Iconclass

43C2121
horse-racing
48C7351
flute, aulos, tibia
48C753
more than one musician with instrument

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Aulos [4173]

Image URLs

image link 1
Europeana exhibition: Echos of an Empire--Byzantine Musical Instruments through the Ages
image link 2
Item entry in Koç University GABAM Byzantine Musical Instruments Collection

RIdIM record id

7397

Data provider


Koç University – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (GABAM) and The Friends of Music Society in Athens launched the Byzantine Musical Instruments Project in 2018 with Dr. Antonios Botonakis, under the scientific supervision of Prof. Nikos Maliaras. In 2020, the results of the research were integrated with Koç University Suna Kıraç Library’s website to present an online database with various filters to help researchers make in-depth research.
The main objective of the project was to thoroughly document the depictions of Byzantine musical instruments. During the research, a great number of visual representations on artefacts from the wider geographic area of the Byzantine Empire were studied. In the database more than 400 visual representations of musical instruments spread across 136 different cultural institutions in 27 countries around the world are presented to researchers.
In order to encompass the rich variety of the instruments used in the Byzantine times, some recurring visuals have been eliminated from the database to make room for unique visuals. Since the research was conducted by a Post-Doctorate researcher who is a musicologist, the database demonstrating the iconography also provides a unique classification of instruments. This project is a natural partner for the RIdIM database of performing arts images from all cultures and eras.
Project Direction- Engin Akyürek | Scientific Supervision- Nikos Maliaras | Scientific Research- Antonios K. Botonakis | Content Editor & Turkish Translation- Merve Özkılıç | Project Coordination- Barış Altan, Alexandros Charkiolakis | Digital Collection Technical Support- Senem Acar (Digital collection archivist), George Boumpous, Vera Kriezi, Sina Mater (Web design) | Funded by: Koç University – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (GABAM)