It was a large harp or psaltery, ancient Greek, and it could no more play a Scarlatti sonata than it could fly to the moon.
Here is something else from the ASTRA project -- something the instrument could actually play in real life. It's a chanson by Guillaume DuFay, leader of the Burgundian School in the early Renaissance.
And it took FOUR epigonions to play that . . . .
Computer modelling can really lead you astray.
It will still be interesting to get an idea of what ancient instruments were.
Thanks for the info since the confusing article never showed one. Putting the sound on a computer is hardly what I’d call bringing any of these instruments back. Build them, show them, and play them otherwise there is no point.
Interesting. Indeed, the instrumentation (while now notable for simple novelty) lagged way behind the music of the time.