The world’s oldest known song, known in the literature as the “Hurrian Hymn”, was found on clay tablets dating back to the 14th century BC, and discovered in the northern Syrian city of Ugarit in the early 1950s. Anne Draffkorn Kilmer, a professor of Assyriology at the University of California, spent 15 years working on the interpretation of the song and produced it in 1972.
Clay tablets discovered in the ruins of Ugarit are of great importance in archaeology. Destroyed by an earthquake, Ugarit was located in the Ras Shamra region of Syria before BC and was also one of the most important trade centers of the time.
Professor Anne Draffkorn Kilmer of the University of California and curator of the Berkeley Anthropology Museum spent 15 years trying to decipher the tablets dating back to the 14th century BC.
After 36 tablets of cuneiform were discovered, they were recorded in the literature as the ‘Hurrian Hymn’. According to Assyriology professor Kilmer, the melody in the inscriptions is 3,400 years old.
The hymn discovered in the temple was composed for the Ugarit goddess Nikkal. The tablets also contain explanations of how the hymns should be played on the harp. All of the priceless note tablets, which archaeologists have described as invaluable, are now on display at the National Damascus Museum.
Of the 36 musical inscriptions discovered in Ugarit, only one (Hymn 6) has been preserved enough to be played today.
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