Seikilos: The first song of man
Image source: en.wikipedia.org Music is such a huge part of human history and world culture. Over the centuries, songs have been written that made people sing, dance, worship, and go about their daily lives with inspiration or sadness. On the note (pun intended), let’s take a quick look at the Song of Seikilos, the song which many historians consider the first recorded song in history. Although the exact date of the composition of the Song of Seikilos is the subject of much debate, historians and scholars agree that it was written around the first or second century A.D. The song, a love song, is the oldest surviving composition featuring both notes and words engraved on a marble stone, or tombstone to be exact—known as the Seikilos Epitaph. The Seikilos Epitaph, which is now housed and on display in the National Museum of Denmark was discovered in 1883 in Turkey. Translators believe that it was written by a man named Seikilos for his wife who had died. Her name was...