The story of the oldest written music melody in the world, discovered in Syria

🔸In 1928, one of the farmers in the village of Ras Shamra and on the shores of Syria, while plowing his field, came across an ancient tomb.

🔸This accidental discovery brought archaeologists to the region, and excavations began, eventually leading to the discovery of the ancient civilization of Ugarit.

🔸But among the archaeologists’ findings were clay tablets that had another secret hidden within them; signs which years later were identified as a kind of music notation.

🔸These tablets are about 3,400 years old, and what is written on them is considered among the oldest known examples of written music in the world.

🔸The piece that attracted the most attention from researchers was a religious hymn about Nikkal, a goddess in the religion of the people of Ugarit. Nikkal was the wife of the moon god and, in the accounts of that era, was a goddess associated with fertility and childbearing.

🔸The text of this hymn was written in Hurrian, a language that is extinct today.

🔸You can read the full report on the Radio Farda website.