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 Euterpe, as was the inscription “from Seikilos to Euterpe.”


Image source: ancient-origins.net
While having poetry engraved in stones was not uncommon at the time, the Song of Seikilos had Greek musical notation as a record of the song’s melody on the stone. While a number of musicians have recreated the song, the lyrics remain the same.


“Enjoy life to the fullest because death will come for us eventually”

A family-owned art gallery, New York-based Sadigh Gallery specializes in the handling and selling of ancient art works and coins from around the world. The gallery is the perfect choice for those new to collecting coins, ancient art, and antiquities. For more reads on artworks, visit this website.


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