LISTEN TO: SEIKILOS EPITAPH

The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found engraved on a tombstone. Also on the tombstone is an indication that states in Greek "Εἰκὼν ἡ λίθος εἰμί.Τίθησί με Σείκιλος ἔνθα μνήμης ἀθανάτου σῆμα πολυχρόνιον", "I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance". While older music with notation exists, all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition. Although the material is sparse, it indicates that the Greeks had developed a musical system in the third or fourth century BC. It was probably only used by professional composers and choir leaders, while others learned the tunes by listening to them.   Above the lyrics (transcribed here in polytonic script) is a line with letters and signs for the tune: Translated into modern musical notation, the tune is something like this: The following is the Greek text (in the later polytonic script; the original is in majuscule), along with a transliteration of the words which are sung to the melody, and a somewhat free English translation thereof:     Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου     Hoson zēs phainou     While you live, shine     μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ     mēden holōs sy lypou     have no grief at all     πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν     pros oligon esti to zēn     life exists only for a short while     τὸ τέλος ὁ xρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.     to telos ho chronos apaitei.     and time demands its toll.