

Seikilos epitaph - sauravt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph

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nanny
Did you really just steal a reddit comment and make it into a blog post?

[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3cvdq2/what_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3cvdq2/what_is_the_oldest_song_that_we_still_know_the/)

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StavrosK
Jeez, they didn't even bother changing anything. It's just the top three
comments copy/pasted.

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xenophonf
And now I wish I read this comment thread before upvoting. :-/

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acqq
How about mods changing the link to

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph)

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dang
Ok, done.

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theOnliest
The saddest thing about the Epitaph is that the last line of it is now ruined,
because in the late 19th century its owner ground it down so it would sit flat
to hold her flowerpots.

If anyone is interested in ancient Greek music/music theory, the best source
is undoubtedly Thomas Mathiesen's _Apollo 's Lyre_
([http://www.amazon.com/Apollos-Lyre-Theory-Antiquity-
Middle/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Apollos-Lyre-Theory-Antiquity-
Middle/dp/1597407968)). I had the distinct privilege of taking his ancient
music course in his last semester of teaching. The man has literally looked
(in person) at every fragment of Greek music or music theory, and translated
many of them himself. The book is magnificent, and you will be very unlikely
to find any source more well-researched and written.

Edit: If anyone has any questions about Greek music/music theory, I'm happy to
try and answer them. It's one of my favorite topics, and while I'm no expert,
I probably know a little more than the average Hacker News reader.

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petercooper
This is beautiful. I ended up at the Wikipedia entry for it -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph)
\- which has quite a lot of stuff about how the lyrics and music were
interpreted from the original inscriptions.

The lyrics translated to English are poignant enough to deserve a reproduction
here:

    
    
        While you live, shine
        have no grief at all
        life exists only for a short while
        and time demands its toll.

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StavrosK
"Telos" has multiple meanings, both "toll" and "end/death". Time demanding
toll is probably the more likely explanation, but it may well be a pun.

That said, I'm not very up to date on ancient Greek, so take this with a grain
of salt.

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coldtea
Regarding the pun, don't forget that the dead did pay a "toll" in ancient
Greek religion/mythology (to Charon, the ferryman of Hades).

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orf
There is something quite haunting about the oldest surviving melody being
composed for a man's dead wife.

> I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign
> of deathless remembrance

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dimmuborgir
What about religious hymns of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism which were composed
before 200BC and are still in use today? Are they not melodies?

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DanAndersen
For those, do we have detailed information about the actual notes that were
played, or just the text of the hymns?

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dimmuborgir
The hymns have specific melodies which were transferred orally as there is no
music notation system. They haven't changed in millennia. They are still
widely used in India in religious ceremonies.

For example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBNEizCsor0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBNEizCsor0)

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jospoortvliet
Just like with texts - how can we be even remotely sure they haven't changed?
Seems terribly unlikely to me.

