The Oldest Song in the World
A clay tablet from an ancient Syrian city holds a hymn with musical notes, the oldest written melody known. Nobody agrees on how it sounded.
What was reported
In the 1950s, archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Ugarit, on the coast of Syria, found clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform, written around 1400 BCE. One of them, known as Hurrian hymn number 6, contains the words of a hymn to a goddess, together with instructions for playing it on a lyre.
It is the oldest substantially complete piece of written music yet found.
Explanations offered
Scholars agree that it is music, but not on how to read the notation. Since the 1970s, several researchers have published very different reconstructions, and performers have recorded many versions. Each is an informed guess at a song last heard more than 3,000 years ago.
- When
- Written about 3,400 years ago
- Where
- Ugarit (Ras Shamra), Latakia, Syria
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists and musicologists
- Status
- Interpretations differ
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.