The aulos was an ancient Greek double-reed instrument and an ancestor of the oboe.
An aulos was usually made from a tube of wood, reed, bone, or metal and was played with a double reed. Many depictions show a performer using two pipes at once, one in each hand, although surviving evidence and ancient descriptions indicate that the instrument existed in several forms. Its sound was powerful and penetrating, making it suitable for religious ceremonies, theater, athletic contests, military contexts, and dance.
The aulos was not a flute in the modern sense. A flute produces sound by directing an air stream across an opening, whereas the aulos used a vibrating reed. The Greek term is sometimes translated loosely as “flute,” which creates a misleading connection with the modern transverse flute. Its Roman descendant, the tibia, continued the double-reed tradition.
The lyre and kithara were plucked string instruments, not reed instruments. Ancient Greek art, literary references, and archaeological discoveries provide evidence for the aulos, but exact reconstruction remains difficult because ancient performance techniques and reed designs were not preserved completely.