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The Seikilos epitaph is famed as the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the western world. An ancient Greek melody was found encoded on a tombstone, near Aidin, Turkey (not far from Ephesus). Also on the tombstone is an indication that it is by one Seikilos, for his wife, who presumably is buried there. Above the lyrics (transcribed here in modern Greek font) is a line with letters and signs for the tune: Ephesus was one one of the great cities of the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor, located in Lydia where the Cayster river flows into the Aegean Sea (in modern day Turkey). ...
Translated into modern musical notation, the tune is something like this: Download high resolution version (1053x297, 18 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Download high resolution version (1053x297, 18 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
 The Seikilos epitaph melody Media:Seikilos.midi Notated transposition of the Seikilos epitaph melody I created this score with the following lilypond 2. ...
Notated transposition of the Seikilos epitaph melody I created this score with the following lilypond 2. ...
The following is a translation of the words which are sung to the melody:
While you live, dance and sing, be joyful: For life is short, And Time carries away his prize. The find has been dated variously from around 200 BC to around AD 100. While older western music with notation exists (for example the Delphic Hymns), all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition. Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 205 BC 204 BC 203 BC 202 BC 201 BC - 200 BC - 199 BC 198 BC...
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The German music band Corvus Corax who perform mostly medieval music using authentic instruments, has made the song "Seikilos" using the melody and the text from the epitaph. The song can be found on the album "Seikilos" dedicated to Seikilos II.
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