An Aulete Takes Flight: The Iconography of Music and Myth in a Myrina-Type Terracotta in the Mead Art Museum

A Myrina-type terracotta figurine of a flying aulete held in Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum exemplifies a new body of evidence relevant to the study of ancient Greek music. I propose that this coarse figurine indicates possible musical funerary practices of Myrina and that the aulete may be a depiction of the god Eros. As the aulos inhabits a complex space in Greek social thought, a connection between Eros and the aulos would open up new ways of understanding how the ancient Greeks received and understood Eros as a god through music and sound.