Long before Pythagoras formulated the mathematical ratios of pitch, scribes in the city-states of ancient Sumer were systematically mapping acoustic theory onto wet clay.
Another fascinating piece. Music history, Assyriology, linguistics. The more I learn of Sumer, the more fascinated I am and the more I want to learn.
Also, I noted that aromatics and perfumes were listed, so of course that part of my brain immediately started wondering what exactly they were made of and what they really smelled like.
If I could smell my way through Sumer for an afternoon — the perfumes, food, animals, reeds, clay, smoke, people, everything — I'd probably learn more about these people than I could from a hundred theoretical illustrations.
That's always my goal with history. I want to get close enough that these stop being "ancient people" and become people who lived in a real place that smelled, sounded, tasted and felt like something.
I agree. Thinking this was among the first and best exemplars of a thriving diverse integrated successful society. Would love to visit and experience it.
Amazing piece and revelation about the advanced state of music in Sumer. But maybe not so surprising given how they advanced language and the recording of language. Music is a language, too. PS - I like the drawing of the 'oxbox' - if only we found recordings of the Hendrix or Paganini of that time.
Sumer thus appears to have been the very first civilization to instill rigor into the study of music-as well as into other areas of mathematics and artistry. I wonder whether it may have inherited the practices from a previous civilization that disappeared entirely from the human record?
Another fascinating piece. Music history, Assyriology, linguistics. The more I learn of Sumer, the more fascinated I am and the more I want to learn.
Also, I noted that aromatics and perfumes were listed, so of course that part of my brain immediately started wondering what exactly they were made of and what they really smelled like.
If I could smell my way through Sumer for an afternoon — the perfumes, food, animals, reeds, clay, smoke, people, everything — I'd probably learn more about these people than I could from a hundred theoretical illustrations.
That's always my goal with history. I want to get close enough that these stop being "ancient people" and become people who lived in a real place that smelled, sounded, tasted and felt like something.
I agree. Thinking this was among the first and best exemplars of a thriving diverse integrated successful society. Would love to visit and experience it.
Fascinating!
Amazing piece and revelation about the advanced state of music in Sumer. But maybe not so surprising given how they advanced language and the recording of language. Music is a language, too. PS - I like the drawing of the 'oxbox' - if only we found recordings of the Hendrix or Paganini of that time.
Music has been a universal companion throughout human history, reflecting identity and emotion across cultures and time.
« .. stop being ancient people…and become people who lived in real places…». Great comment from a true History lover.
Nice
Fascinating
Sumer thus appears to have been the very first civilization to instill rigor into the study of music-as well as into other areas of mathematics and artistry. I wonder whether it may have inherited the practices from a previous civilization that disappeared entirely from the human record?