Mesopotamia and the Greek music (1)

Text
Certain Greek musical instruments have Mesopotamian origins, including the lyre, harp, lute, drum, and cymbals, all with their analogues in the modern recital hall. The so-called Pythagorean system of tuning was formalized and written down in Mesopotamia in the Middle Bronze Age, and presumably travelled to Greece with the relevant instruments. But cuneiform evidence does not yet substantiate the assertion of Iamblichus that musical proportion was a Babylonian discovery which reached Greece through Pythagoras (In Nicomachi arithmeticam introductionem 118.23).

Bibliography

Stephanie Dalley

URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000768.php