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Which hymn is the oldest known song?

Question #151197. Asked by BigTriviaDawg.
Last updated Jun 02 2024.
Originally posted Jun 02 2024 8:20 PM.

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psnz star
Answer has 3 votes
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psnz star
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Answer has 3 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
It's called the "Hurrian Hymn" and dates as far back as the 13th century BCE.
The Hurrian songs are a collection of music inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets excavated from the ancient Amorite-Canaanite city of Ugarit, a headland in northern Syria, which date to approximately 1400 BC. One of these tablets, which is nearly complete, contains the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal (also known as the Hurrian cult hymn or "a zaluzi-prayer to the gods," or simply "h.6"), making it the oldest surviving substantially complete work of notated music in the world. While the composers' names of some of the fragmentary pieces are known, h.6 is an anonymous work.
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_songs

Nikkal was a goddess worshipped in the Mesopotamian region. The hymn to her would probably have been accompanied by a primitive stringed instrument.

Response last updated by psnz on Jun 02 2024.
Jun 02 2024, 8:22 PM
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