Ancient Music: The Sumerians (part 1)
Repetition may well be one of humanity’s cornerstones. The act of imitating another’s behavior most certainly led to the progression of knowledge, and it is this sociological property that led to numerous accomplishments. In this great archive of evolution, one feat stands out as a key part of our continued development, and it is the discovery of the written word. This great invention is attributed to the Sumerians, and while a compelling legend surrounds its creation, they hold more than one mystery in their links to modern people.
The Sumerians, the ruins of which were first discovered in the upper deltas of the Persian Gulf, lived some 6 thousand years ago, and spoke a language isolate. This means that their dialect was not connected to any in the area that they shared with other cultures, creating for many scholars the mystery of the Sumerian origin. There are several theories, one of the more compelling being that they are a people that were forced from their lands by climate change. Rising waters from the last ice age are thought to have pushed them from their homes until they eventually settled in the “place between two rivers”, also known as Mesopotamia. This land was already occupied by another people group, the Akkadians, who had migrated down the waterways from the mountains of Turkey and Armenia sharing a Semitic language that was most likely indigenous to the region. These two cultures evolved in concert, and it is hard to tell the story of one separate from the other.
Flavius Josephus, roman scholar recalls the ancient Legend of Oannes, a half-man, half-fish who emerged from the waters of the Persian Gulf and taught the people of Mesopotamia the secrets of culture. His legend states, “He brought them the knowledge of letter, sciences and all kinds of techniques. He also taught them to how to found cities, build temples, create laws, and measure plots of land. He revealed to them how to work the land and gather fruits.”-Josephus, The Antiquities). Other clues that lead to the supposition that the Sumerians may have travels from distant lands are in their descriptions for occupations. For more traditional labors they use pre-existing labels, but for more complex roles, like scribes and winemakers they use language that is distinctly Sumerian. Their music, as we will discover later, followed the foundational principles described by Robert Gauldin in his scholarship of harmonic relations of ancient music, stating the “…feasibility of sounding two strings simultaneously allowed precise tuning by eliminating beats between harmonic components of the octave, fourth, and fifth.” (Gauldin, p40). This construction will make itself evident as we uncover the details behind the Sumerian harps, sistrum, and lyre.
The use of the written word was developed in necessity with an ever-growing complexity of society. Sometime around 3200 B.C.E., amongst the fusion of the people groups in the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, writing was born. As the legend goes, a messenger was one day too inundated by communications from his king, the Lord of Kulaba, so a method of symbols was developed so he could remember them, by placing symbols on a tablet of clay. (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, 2006 The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford) There is additional evidence to suggest that economy driven by the needs to organize the refinements of civilization was a driving force behind the invention of cuneiform, one of, if not the first, form of human written language. It is from these early Sumerian texts that we get the first record of what ancient music sounded like, as the Sumerians wrote about instruments, tuning, notation, and uses for their music in addition to their other writings. The use of intervals to create harmonies and common practices for tonal centers is first noted from these early civilizations, and it is the invention of writing that began the journey of recorded sound.
Leo Samama documents in his research that early music scholarship often consisted of pictures. He states, “hieroglyphics show that the Egyptians also had a more physical and visual means of communicating symbols, whereby signals could be given with the arm, hand and fingers in gestures that must have been sufficient for singers to perform music together.” (Samama, p84). This type of descriptive translations of performance is cited in early Sumerian stories like The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest narratives, and a likely candidate for music accompaniment. The cheironomy (musical conducting with the hands) is depicted in the clay tablet discoveries by F.W. Galpin in his archeological recovery of a Sumerian Harp in the late 1920s. Along with detailed depictions of the instrument’s construction and use, came several other styles of instruments and imagery, accompanied by this cheironomy style of musical notation.
The implications of written language may be powerful enough in terms of its impact on technological and societal growth, but the association of music with ritual, work, leisure, and industry are profound. It is this combination with the epistemology of a practice that music associates’ memory and progress. Work has a memorable tune with which labor increases its productivity. Ceremony has song that infuses purpose and ideology. With the capability of connecting these advances by means of documentation comes an important turning point on the marriage of sound and culture. It is this subject that the Sumerians musical practices hold true revolution, and it is the focus of this week’s discussion.
As we continue this exploration of music through the ancient civilization of the Sumerians, we will learn about their instruments, compositions, and uses of music in their lives. These connections will give us important clues about how this early society created the foundations of how music notation impacts modern music practices. Though divided by close to 6 millennia, this period between civilizations is still connected through the epic song of the written note.
Enjoy today’s listening example from Peter Pringle, singing The Epic of Gilgamesh in the original Sumerian language playing a “gishgudu”, a long neck stringed instrument of the period. Thanks for reading and join us tomorrow as we continue this fascinating journey.
Sources:
The Sumerian Harp of Ur, c. 3500 B. C., Author(s): F. W. Galpin, Source: Music & Letters, Apr. 1929, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr. 1929), pp. 108-123, Published by: Oxford University Press
Music as notation, Book Title: The Meaning of Music, Book Author(s): Leo Samama, Published by Amsterdam University Press, p84-90
The Cycle-7 Complex: Relations of Diatonic Set Theory to the Evolution of Ancient, Tonal Systems, Author(s): Robert Gauldin, Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Spring, 1983, Vol. 5 (Spring, 1983), pp. 39-55, Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory
The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2lJUOv0hLA&t=3730s
Oannes Mesopotamian mythology: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oannes
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS By Flavius Josephus Translated by William Whiston