There are dozens of ancient Egyptian songs and hymns for which we have the words, but not the music. Unfortunately, the ancient Egyptians did not have a formal system of notation so we can only guess at what the melodies for the songs might have been. We do know, however, quite a lot about the instruments they had because many of them have survived, while others can be seen illustrated on the walls of tombs and temples.
I built the harp you see in this video several years ago, made a couple of videos with it, and then moved on to other things. I recently decided to dust it off and play it again. It is what is called an “arched harp”, known to the ancient Egyptians as a “djedjet”. Unlike modern harps, these instruments were C-shaped, and did not have a front supporting pillar.
The words of the song in this video are taken from the seventh song of a set of love songs written on papyrus scrolls in the Egyptian language of the New Kingdom about 3,500 years ago. The scrolls are part of the Chester Beatty collection, and are currently housed in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.
The temple you see at the beginning of the video is that of the goddess Hathor in Dendera, Egypt. Hathor was one of the most popular and widely worshipped deities of ancient Egypt. She had the facial features of a cow and the body of a woman. She was recognized as the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and music, as well as the protector of women.Seven Days Since I Last Saw My Love | 4:02
Peter Pringle | 180K subscribers | 41,999 views | Premiered November 23, 2023
