Background

Music also has a long history. Wherever we find written records of past civilizations, we find descriptions of musical events. For example, the ancient Greeks left numerous written descriptions of music, as well as many illustrations of musical instruments. Greeks also used a form of written music. It consisted of using certain letters to represent pitch. Although precious few examples of ancient Greek music in written form remain today, there are a few preserved parchments which that allow us to re-create music from almost 2,000 years ago. The longest single written musical piece from this time period is the Seikilos song, written in approximately in 200 CE. It was probably not a “hit” at the time, but it is the longest segment of ancient Greek music that can be played now, thanks to its preservation in written form.

Go to the next tab to listen to this ancient piece of music played. The full page is here where you can learn more about Ancient Greek music and this piece.

Music Clip

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