History Music

Context: The Hurrian songs are a set of ancient musical tablets from Ugarit (c. 1400 BC), but only Hurrian Hymn No. 6 survives in nearly complete form, making it the oldest known piece of written music. Addressed to the goddess Nikkal, No. 6 preserves both lyrics and detailed notation for a nine-stringed lyre, showing that a sophisticated musical system already existed. Because the notation is partially damaged and uses an unfamiliar system, modern scholars have produced several differing reconstructions, with gradual improvements being made.