There are a host of opinions about
what the Greek words echo chalkos
(2278 5475) which were translated sounding brass mean. The best explanation
that I have found of the Greek words <echeo> <chalkos>, (sounding
brass) comes from the writings of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio who lived in the 1st century b. c. He was a Roman
architect, engineer, and author of the celebrated treatise De
architectura (On Architecture), a handbook for Roman architects.
Vitruvius explained that the echo
chalkos were tuned acoustic brass or bronze vases that were
strategically placed around the Roman out-door theaters. Each vase was tuned chromatically and when a
particular pitch was produced by the human voice, that particular vase would
amplify the actor’s voice. However,
these metal sounding vases produced a
hollow sound that was not a true representation of the actor’s voice
quality.
So, when one reads “Though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity i.e. love that acts, I
am become as sounding brass” with the knowledge of what we learned from
Vitruvius, we understand that if a person says that he loves his or her
neighbor but does not really care for them—this person’s speech is hollow like
the sound produced by the Roman hollow sounding vases that amplified sound in
the roman theaters.
