The Hurrian Hymn: The Oldest Written Melody
What happened
On a clay tablet unearthed at the ancient Syrian port of Ugarit, scribes recorded 'Hurrian Hymn No. 6,' a hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal. Beneath the words, cuneiform signs give instructions for playing it on a lyre — a form of musical notation more than 3,400 years old. It is the oldest known written song in the world.
Why it matters
The Hurrian hymn shows that people were writing music down more than a thousand years before ancient Greece, and it offers a rare glimpse of an actual melody from the Bronze Age rather than just its instruments.
How we know
The tablet is one of about 29 recovered at Ugarit and is held at the National Museum of Damascus. Scholars have proposed several different reconstructions of the tune, so the exact melody remains debated even though the notation itself is well established.
Sources
- HISTORY (A&E). What Is the Oldest Known Song? · Reputable source