Music of ancient Rome

thumb| on the Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (3rd century) thumb| on Trajan's Column A (: ) was a junior officer in the Roman army. The 's job was to signal salutes to officers and sound orders to the legions. The played the (making him an ). always marched at the head of the centuries, with the tesserary and the . The were also used as assistants to a centurion (like an ). The was a duplicary or a soldier who got double the basic pay of the legionary.

An aeneator ( or ) was a specialized player of wind instruments who was attached to a Roman military unit. The word comes from Latin aēneus or ahēneus, "brazen", from aes, "copper alloy". While the size of individual Roman military units may have varied, they made extensive use of both acoustical and visual signaling in communications and each had an assigned banner bearer (vexillarius) and at least one aeneator. A variety of instruments were used by aeneatores, including the buccina, cornu, tuba, and lituus. In addition to their roles in the Roman army, aeneatores were also used for processio