1. ERASMUS + PROJECT «COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE» Through the communication the human beings have created their culture. Through music they have communicated each other. 'Where words leave off, music begins.' (Henrich Heine)

2. M USIC IN T HE M ESOPOTAMIAN C ULTURE

3. M ESOPOTAMIA Mesopotamian culture developped in the Fertile Crescent along the Tigris- Euphrates River, in the area known nowadays as Iraq.

4. M ESOPOTAMIAN M USICAL I NSTRUMENTS Mesopotamian music followed the different artistic traditions of its inhabitants, among them: the Sumerians, the Accadians, the Assyrians and the Hittitians. Musical instruments in Mesopotamia included harps, lyres, liutes, flutes and drums. The excavations in the royal cemetery of Ur, a Sumeriancity, and the musical iconography with which thearchitecture is richly decored during the First Mesopotamian period let us realize that music was probabily very important in the typical Sumerian ritual forms.

5. T HE H ARP The harp is one of the most ancient instruments still used. Proofs of its existence in Mesopotamia since the third millenium b.C. have been found. The ancient Sumerian harps, best known as zaggal, had rich decorations,they had shapes and dimensions very different and were built with the resonating chamber and the strings’ arm joined in a corner; the strings made of vegetable fibre or horsehair were fixed to a diaphragm. The most ancient sample arrived until nowadays is dated 2700 b.C. and comes from Ur – the current Iraq. It was found by a British archaeologist, Leonard Woolley.

6. M ESOPOTAMIAN SONGS The decoding and study of some cuneiform small boards of the 1400 b.C. has allowed to bring the ancient sounds that animated the musical taste of Mesopotamians to life. The result was the creation of a song unheard for centuries. Before the small boards had been discovered during the first ‘50s in the old city of Ugarit, nobody knew anything about Assyrian-Babylonian music, except for the historical instruments showed in the bas relieves dug up from the archaeological site. As Ancient Origins quotes, into the collection there are four single cuneiform texts plus a small board with the difficult music notation of a sacred Hurrian hymn played more than 3400 years ago, the oldest song of ever.Ancient Origins

7. P RAYERS SUNG BY M ESOPOTAMIANS Mesopotamia has been occupied by Sumerians before 4000 b.C. This people’s origins are unknown but they had their own advanced culture. Music was very important: actually the simple sound, considered the soul of every phenomenon, had the power to evoke the supernatural strenghts of nature. So that musicians represented a privileged class, they were second after the king as importance. Archaeologist have found some texts of hymns and prayers sung during the services in the temple. Unfortunately we have really a few information about the complex Mesopotamian musical system that for sure was developped and had a sort of armony.