Certainly not foolish! The neighing (and hoof-clattering) of horses, but also the braying of mules, the honking of geese, the chirping of chickens, the barking of dogs...Greek has words for all of these sounds and more.
A pedantic correction: the horse/donkey crosses inherit the noise they make from their mother. Mules (horse mother donkey sire) neigh and whinny, hinnies (other way round) bray. I suspect this is part of the reason mules are preferred to hinnies. There is no noise natural or artificial more annoying than a bray.
Fascinating. Didn't Juvenal complain bitterly about the unbearable din of Rome, including horses and chariots clattering over cobbles? No idea how to find the reference.
Oh yes, Satire 3. Lots of fun to be had there with the noise and crowds.
"That’s why we're sick in Rome. The endless traffic in narrow twisting streets, people swearing at cattle in the road, would deprive an emperor of sleep ... the rich man’s litter rushes by right next to them like some vast Liburnian galley ... the crowd ahead obstructs me, and the huge massed ranks that follow behind crush my kidneys. One man sticks out his elbow, another flails around with a pole; one strikes my head with a beam, another with a barrel. My legs are caked with mud, I’m forever trampled by huge feet from all sides, and a soldier’s hobnailed boot crushes my toe..."
The ancient world may not have had disco beats but they had drums. In natural acoustic settings, such as forested or hilly landscapes, acoustic drums alone can be heard for miles.
Absolutely. I mention drums in fact, and I think one of the most striking musical imports into Athens may have been the rites of Cybele, with their ecstatic drumbeat in Ionic rhythm - da-da DUM dum, da-da DUM dum - as one finds in the opening chorus of the Bacchae of Euripides.
Am I being foolish to add the sound of horses?
Certainly not foolish! The neighing (and hoof-clattering) of horses, but also the braying of mules, the honking of geese, the chirping of chickens, the barking of dogs...Greek has words for all of these sounds and more.
A pedantic correction: the horse/donkey crosses inherit the noise they make from their mother. Mules (horse mother donkey sire) neigh and whinny, hinnies (other way round) bray. I suspect this is part of the reason mules are preferred to hinnies. There is no noise natural or artificial more annoying than a bray.
Fascinating! Thanks Robert
Fascinating. Didn't Juvenal complain bitterly about the unbearable din of Rome, including horses and chariots clattering over cobbles? No idea how to find the reference.
Oh yes, Satire 3. Lots of fun to be had there with the noise and crowds.
"That’s why we're sick in Rome. The endless traffic in narrow twisting streets, people swearing at cattle in the road, would deprive an emperor of sleep ... the rich man’s litter rushes by right next to them like some vast Liburnian galley ... the crowd ahead obstructs me, and the huge massed ranks that follow behind crush my kidneys. One man sticks out his elbow, another flails around with a pole; one strikes my head with a beam, another with a barrel. My legs are caked with mud, I’m forever trampled by huge feet from all sides, and a soldier’s hobnailed boot crushes my toe..."
Fabulous! I think I still have the Latin text somewhere on a dusty high shelf.
The ancient world may not have had disco beats but they had drums. In natural acoustic settings, such as forested or hilly landscapes, acoustic drums alone can be heard for miles.
Absolutely. I mention drums in fact, and I think one of the most striking musical imports into Athens may have been the rites of Cybele, with their ecstatic drumbeat in Ionic rhythm - da-da DUM dum, da-da DUM dum - as one finds in the opening chorus of the Bacchae of Euripides.