Hurrian moon hymn circa 1400 BC inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablet
“This is “a “live” arrangement of the 3400 year old “Hurrian Hymn no.6″, which was discovered in Ugarit, ancient northern Canaan (now modern Syria) in the early 1950s, and was preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, written in the Cuneiform text of the ancient Hurrian language – The Hurrian Hymn (catalogued as Text H6) was discovered in Ugarit, Syria, in the early 1950s, and was preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, written in the Cuneiform text of the ancient Hurrian language. Except for a few earlier Sumerian fragmentary instructional musical texts from c.1950 BCE (Musical Instructions for Lipit-Ishtar, King of Justice) the Hurrian Hymn it is the oldest written song yet known to history!”
Although about 29 musical texts were discovered at Ugarit, only this text, (text H6), was in a sufficient state of preservation to allow for modern academic musical reconstruction. The Cuneiform text clearly indicated specific names for lyre strings, and their respective musical intervals — a sort of guitar tablature for lyre.”
For the full explanation of this piece and its history, go to the original youtube video (from which the above was extracted) and also visit the creator’s website.
Photo via https://phoenicia.org/music.html