Anabasis

Anabasis recalls an early forefather of the drum machine. A clockwork mechanism built during antiquity was described by Francis Hickes in a collection of summaries of (now lost) works by Lucian of samosata. The mechanism was built to 'perform percussive music through utilisation of a series of ingenious rotations.' The unnamed mechanism was built to mark an unknown anniversary of 'Arrians Anabasis of Alexander' and according to hickes Lucian apparently described its compositional debut as 'a lament to the collapse of a civilisation.'