DDrift

Chapter 01 of 5

The Oldest Song

Clay tablets from an ancient Syrian city hold the oldest known written melody.

  1. The City

    Ugarit

    Ugarit was a wealthy trading city on the coast of what is now Syria. It flourished over 3,000 years ago.

  2. The End

    Destroyed

    Around 1185 BCE Ugarit was destroyed, during the wave of collapse that swept the eastern Mediterranean.

  3. The Find

    Ras Shamra

    In 1928 a farmer's plough hit an ancient tomb nearby. Archaeologists soon began excavating the buried city at Ras Shamra.

17 more cards in this chapter

Could you answer this?

Roughly how old is the Hurrian Hymn No. 6?

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🏺 The Lost Sound of Ancient Music

  1. 01The Oldest SongClay tablets from an ancient Syrian city hold the oldest known written melody.
  2. 02The Seikilos EpitaphThe oldest complete song in the world, carved on a grave, and its near-miss as a flowerpot stand.
  3. 03Reading Ancient NotationHow the Greeks wrote down music, and how scholars bring it back to life.
  4. 04Guido's HandHow a medieval monk invented the musical staff and gave us do, re, mi.
  5. 05Playing the PastTutankhamun's trumpets, the lyres of Ur and the challenge of hearing lost sounds.