“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is considered the world’s earliest melody, but the oldest musical composition to have survived in its entirety is a first century A.D. Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.”
Absolutely correct! “Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is indeed considered one of the earliest known examples of a melody, dating back to around 1400 BCE. It was discovered in the ancient city of Ugarit, located in present-day Syria. Written in the Hurrian language using cuneiform script, the hymn is dedicated to the goddess Nikkal and consists of musical notation accompanied by lyrics.
However, the oldest surviving complete musical composition that we have today is the “Seikilos Epitaph,” a Greek funerary song from the 1st century AD. The epitaph, found engraved on a tombstone in Turkey, includes both lyrics and musical notation. The inscription reads:
Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἔστι τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.
Translated into English, it means:
