The Oldest Song?

The Song of Seikilos - Supposedly the world's oldest complete musical composition (200 B.C.E. - 100 C.E.)



This might be old news to everyone else. Like with a lot of things these days, I'm clueless until my kids point out certain things to me. From the musician's description on the Liveleak link where the video was taken from:

"The Song of Seikilos", the first complete piece of written music in the entire world... This melody is an amazing musical legacy from ancient Greece; a precious remnant of a long-forgotten musical culture now forever lost in the mists of time... Although older music has been found, all that remains are either just pitiful fragments of the melodies, or the way the melodies have been notated in ancient times have so many modern interpretations that the actual melody is still mostly academic guess work. "The Song of Seikilos" is unique, as not only do we have the complete notation of the melody, but the notation is totally unambiguous - the melody played here, is the same as that which was first was written by the ancient Greek song writer, around 2000 years ago... In 1883, this melody was discovered again, inscribed in its complete & original form. It was found inscribed in marble on an ancient Greek burial stele, bearing the following epitaph:

"I am a portrait in stone. I was put here by Seikilos, where I remain forever, the symbol of timeless remembrance".

It appears to be a touching love song in memory of the woman who lay buried below the burial stele, on which this haunting melody was inscribed. The translation of this song is:

"As long as you live, shine.
Let nothing grieve you beyond measure.
For life is short, and time will claim it's tribute"

It is played here on an an instrument strikingly similar to the ancient Greek Kithara... The instrument I am playing is a copy of an ancient Jewish Temple Lyre, the "Kinnor"... This was the original "Harp of David"... This clearly demonstrates the Hellenistic influence on ancient Jewish culture in this period - it is also known that King Herod often employed Greek musicians for various festivals around Jerusalem.

After listening to the first few notes I wasn't too sure I'd like it, but then there was a hook or two in the hauntingly beautiful melody that took a hold of me.

Here is a version on Youtube with images and vocals.