Greek Music from Egypt (from the Oxyrhynchus papyri) 

1. Musical excerpts, Anonymous (2nd c. A.D.) POxy. 4461, column ii, lines 1-9.
trichordon, syrinx monokalamos, yympanon, psithyra, kroupeza, krotala (small cymbals)

2. Lament, Anon. (2nd or 3rd c. A.D.) POxy. 4465.
autos paidikos, kithara, lyra

3. Fragment 1, Anonymous (2nd c. A.D.) POxy. 4462.
trichordon, kithara, autos parthenios, syrinx monokalamos, kroupeza, kymbala

4. Paean, Anonymous (3rd or 4th c. A.D.) POxy. 4466.
syrinx monokalamos, pandoura, lyra, kroupeza, krotala (small cymbals)

5. Trochaic fragment, Anon. (3rd c. A.D.) POxy. 3162.
autos teleios (double pipes)

6. Four settings of a line from "Epittepontes" by Menander Anonymous (3rd c. A.D.) POxy. 3705.
Four different examples of music for the same line of text are given.
Translation: "Of what area? What memor-"
voices, kithara, lyra, krotala (small cymbals)

7. Excerpts mentioning Eros and Aphrodite, Anon. (2nd or 3rd c. A.D.) POxy. 4463.
Fragments of three distinct compositions.
pandoura, bronze bell, psithyra, tympanon;
aulos hyperteleios, kithara;
syrinx monokalamos, barrel drum, kroupeza

8. Musical excerpt, Anonymous (3rd c. A.D.) POxy. 4467.
trichordon, pandoura, two kitharas

9. Hypolydian excerpt, Anonymous (2nd or 3rd c. AD) POxy. 4464, lines 3-8.
The plectrum is pressed on the string to obtain an accidental on the kithara.
kithara, echeia

10. Fragment 3, Anonymous (3rd c. A.D.) POxy. 3161 verso fr. 3.
bagpipe, tympanon, timbrel, kroupeza, krotala (small cymbals), hand-clapping, finger-snapping



Sumero-Babylonian Music 

11. A zaluzi to the gods (Hurrian Hymn 6), Anonymous, copied by Ammurabi (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 15.30 + 49, 17.387.
This nearly intact piece is preserved with the remains of 30 other hymns in the Hurrian language on a series of baked clay tablets found at Ugarit. Modern transcription of the Babylonian musical notation on these tablets is made possible through the discovery of several period musical texts that explain the terms used in the tuning of the lyre through seven diatonic modes. Several modern authors have offered interpretations of these terms, but disagree on certain key points. We have followed M. L. West's melodic interpretation (5). The Babylonian system does not include notation for rhythm. Text underlay is problematic since the text and music are written separately. There is almost a 2:1 ratio between the number of syllables and the number of notes, so, if the melody is repeated, the match of syllables to notes is fairly good with a few minor adjustments; on the tablet between the text and music there is a double dividing line with signs indicating a repeat of some kind. Present understanding of the Hurrian language is limited, thus making a complete translation impossible; it seems to be a hymn to the goddess Nikkal, wife of the moon god, with a few translatable phrases including "you love them in your heart" and "born of you".
voice, long-necked lute, asymmetrical lyre, bronze bell

12. Hurrian Hymns 19 and 23, Anonymous (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 19.149 and 18.282.
Two fragmentary hymns with parts of four and six lines of notation respectively. Here the first pitch of each notated interval is played along with the melody note at the beginning of each series of repetitions (see above).
asymmetrical lyre, long-necked lute, goblet drum, terracotta bell, clappers

13. Hurrian Hymns 13 and 12, Urḫiya/Anon., copied by Ipšali (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 19.164d and 19.147.
Hymn fragments with parts of two and four lines of notation respectively.
double reed pipes, goblet drum

14. Hurrian Hymn 2, Anonymous (c. 1225 B.C.) Fragmentary hymn with parts of twelve lines of notation. asymmetrical lyre, terracotta bell

15. Hurrian Hymn 8, by Urḫiya (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 19.84.
Fragmentary hymn to a goddess with parts of seven lines of musical notation.
three-holed vertical flute, asymmetrical lyre, two sistra, goblet drum

16. Hurrian Hymn 5, by Puḫiya(na) (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 14.18.
Fragmentary hymn with parts of five lines of notation.
asymmetrical lyre, goblet drum, terracotta bell

17. Hurrian Hymns 4, 21 and 22, Anonymous (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 14.15, 19.154 and 19.164c.
long-necked lute, harp, hourglass drum, clappers, bronze bell, sistrum

18. Hurrian Hymns 7 and 10, Anonymous (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 19.155 and 19.148.
Hymn 10 refers to the goddess Hebat.
asymmetrical lyre, hourglass drum

19. Hurrian Hymns 16 and 30, Anonymous (c. 1225 B.C.) R.S. 19.164a and 19.164b.
conch, harp, two-holed whistle

20. Musical Instructions for "Lipit-Ištar, King of Justice", Anonymous (c. 1950 B.C.)
N. 3354. Preserved on a clay tablet from Nippur are the instructions for the musical accompaniment to the hymn "Lipit-Ištar, King of Justice, Wisdom, and Learning", the text of which survives in several sources. This hymn is thought to date from the time of Lipit-Ištar's reign, making it the world's oldest surviving example of musical notation. Given are the starting note, two intervals that may indicate predominate notes of sections, and the mode (6).
asymmetrical lyre



Egyptian Music 

21. Trumpet call, Anonymous,
after the description given by Plutarch in Moralia (lst c. A.D.). Plutarch describes the manner in which the Egyptian trumpet was played: "But for them (the people of Busiris) even to hear a trumpet is a sin, because they think it sounds like the bray of an ass" and "The people of Busiris and Lycopolis do not use trumpets at all, because they make a sound like an ass; and altogether they regard the ass as an unclean animal". This instrument is capable of producing two effective pitches (approximately f#´´ and c´´) as well as a less stable fundamental (b flat). Since there is no mouthpiece in the modern sense, higher harmonics are extremely difficult to produce. Assuming that no more than two harmonics were sounded in normal use, Plutarch's remarks give us a basis for this call, taking the order of pitches and rhythm from the natural bray of the ass.
Egyptian trumpet

22. Isis sistrum rhythm, Anonymous,
after the description given by Lucius Apuleius in Metamorphoses (2nd c. A.D.). Apuleius described the rhythm performed on the sistrum at the apparition of the goddess Isis as a "triple shake of the arm". Hans Hickmann (7) interpreted this rhythm as three equal notes followed by a rest in order to separate each group of three. The participation of trumpeters is also described.
sistrum, 3 Egyptian trumpets

23. Theban banquet scene, Anonymous,
from a tomb painting found at Thebes (c. 14th c. B.C.) The painting depicts a scene of four rows of seated guests preparing to attend a banquet with guests on the left of each row displaying chironomy signs and instrumentalists on the right. The signs, indicated by the various inclinations of the guests' arms, apparently documents the rise and fall of the melody being played by the musicians (9). Rhythm and mode are conjectural; the scale used here is taken from an extant three-holed Egyptian vertical flute in playable condition.
long-necked lute, three-holed vertical flute, harp, hourglass drum, clappers, sistrum

24. Harp piece (A), Anonymous (7th or 6th c. B.C.) Brooklyn Museum 58.34.
This example of what is apparently musical notation survives on an Egyptian statuette now in the Brooklyn Museum (8). It consists of two figures, a harpist and what may be a musical director or chironomist (whose right arm is unfortunately missing): a tablet in front of the second figure displays a series of horizontal lines with short vertical strokes in a variety of positions relative to the lines. This would seem to be a graphic representation of the various inclinations of the arm of the chironomist indicating the rise and fall of the melody being played by the harpist (9). We have interpreted here the horizontal line as representing the lowest pitch of the melody; the height of a given stroke above the line indicates its relative intervallic distance above the lowest note. The smallest meaningful differences should indicate scale steps, since the melodic movement in the bulk of the ancient repertoire is predominantly stepwise. Rhythm and mode are unknown; the scale used here is taken from an extant three-holed Egyptian vertical flute in playable condition.
harp

25. Harp piece (B), Anonymous (7th or 6th c. B.C.)
The same piece as above (with somewhat altered tuning in agreement with the reed pipes), performed on a variety of common Egyptian instruments.
3 barrel drums, frame drum, clappers, double idioglottic reed pipes, harp, three-holed vertical flute, sistrum, menat, kymbala