# What Did The Roman "Water Organ" (Hydraulus) Sound Like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-roman-water-organ-hydraulus-sound-like/562427 "2010-11-30T17:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-roman-water-organ-hydraulus-sound-like/562427/1 "2010-11-30T17:12:18Z")
There are only fragmentary desciptions of the Roman water organ. Supposedly, it was invented in 25 BC (Ctebius), and was popular for many years. Has anyone built a modern replica? And, does any Roman music exist (that was played on this instrument)? Seems like an awkward instrument (you had to be near a stream)-wouldn’t bellows-drive organs be easier? ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-roman-water-organ-hydraulus-sound-like/562427/2 "2010-11-30T17:32:21Z")
The sixteenth-century Water Organ in the gardens of the Villa D’Este at Tivoli was directly inspired by the reports of the Roman examples. There are various Youtube videos of it playing. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nfkF-DDxFtQ/hqdefault.jpg "Villa d'Este Fountain Powered Mechanical Organ, Tivoli Italy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfkF-DDxFtQ) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6Ugdhtxa_xQ/hqdefault.jpg "The Organ Fountain at Villa d'Este") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ugdhtxa_xQ) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DvFafqXhobQ/hqdefault.jpg "Organ Fountain at Villa d'Este in Tivoli") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvFafqXhobQ) Sounds much like any other organ. I doubt that the Roman ones were any less of a gimmick. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-roman-water-organ-hydraulus-sound-like/562427/3 "2010-11-30T21:08:32Z")
Looks like there’s a playable replica, and a recreation/restoration of one at the Aquincum in Budapest. A few snips of info: [http://www.orgona.hu/orgonaink/tuzolto\_orgona\_e.html](http://www.orgona.hu/orgonaink/tuzolto_orgona_e.html) [http://www.aquincum.hu/programok/aktualisangol.htm](http://www.aquincum.hu/programok/aktualisangol.htm) [http://www.aquincum.hu/orgona/orgonaangol.htm](http://www.aquincum.hu/orgona/orgonaangol.htm) For comparison, the [wave organ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxqEP2o4Dy4&NR=1) is unpowered and random. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-roman-water-organ-hydraulus-sound-like/562427/4 "2010-11-30T21:14:27Z")
I like this[one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgU0OZkGhGI) =) ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-roman-water-organ-hydraulus-sound-like/562427/5 "2010-11-30T21:25:05Z")
How does the one posted by **aruvqan** work?