The Oldest Song Surviving in Its Entirety Is Ancient Greek

Greek Reporter ^ | July 30, 2025 | Tasos Kokkinidis

[nickcarraway]

The oldest song to have survived in its entirety is a first-century AD Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.”

The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found in 1883 engraved on a pillar (a stele) from the Hellenistic town of Tralles near present-day Aydın, Turkey, not far from Ephesus.

Although usually referred to as an epitaph, experts say that it is possible that it does not mark a tomb, but was merely a monument erected by Seikilos himself to commemorate his skill.

“I am a tombstone, an image,” reads an inscription. “Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance.”

The column also includes musical notation as well as a short set of lyrics that read: “While you live, shine / Have no grief at all / Life exists only for a short while / And time demands its toll.”

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The well-preserved inscriptions on Seikilos Epitaph have allowed modern musicians and scholars to recreate its plaintive melodies note-for-note.

Lyrics and melody of the ancient Greek oldest song

The tombstone, or stele, was discovered in 1883 but then disappeared and was later rediscovered being used as a pedestal for a flowerpot. It is now housed in the National Museum of Denmark.

The Greek text found on the tombstone reads:

Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἔστι τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.

The rough translation in English:

While you live, shine have no grief at all life exists only for a short while and Time demands his due.

The last two surviving words on the tombstone itself are: Σεικίλος Εὐτέρ[πῃ], meaning “Seikilos to Euterpe”; hence, according to this reconstruction, the tombstone and the epigrams thereon were possibly dedicated by Seikilos to Euterpe, who was possibly his wife.

The tombstone has an inscription on it, which reads in Greek: Εἰκὼν ἤ λίθος εἰμί. τίθησί με Σεικίλος ἔνθα μνήμης ἀθανάτου σῆμα πολυχρόνιον. A free translation of this reads: “I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as a long-lasting sign of deathless remembrance.”

The inscription above each line of the lyrics, consists of letters and signs indicating the melody of the song:

oldest song Credit: Wikipedia The song is thought to be the oldest surviving complete musical composition from anywhere in the world.

While there are older examples of musical notation, such as the Hurrian Song, these are fragmented and unlike the complete engraving found on the Seikilos Epitaph.

The history of music is as old as humanity itself. Archaeologists have found primitive flutes made of bone and ivory dating back as far as 43,000 years, and it’s likely that many ancient musical styles have been preserved in oral traditions.

When it comes to specific songs, however, the oldest known examples are relatively more recent. The earliest fragment of musical notation is found on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian clay tablet, which includes instructions and tunings for a hymn honoring the ruler Lipit-Ishtar.

But for the title of oldest extant song, most historians point to “Hurrian Hymn No. 6,” an ode to the goddess Nikkal that was composed in cuneiform by the ancient Hurrians sometime around the 14th century B.C.

The clay tablets containing the tune were excavated in the 1950s from the ruins of the city of Ugarit in Syria. Along with a near-complete set of musical notations, they also include specific instructions for how to play the song on a type of nine-stringed lyre.

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TOPICS: History; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; greece; greek; hellenism; music; seikilosepitaph; tasoskokkinidis

[JZelle]

Mothers don’t let your babies grow up to be Persians.

[PGR88]

[Verginius Rufus]

The sentiment is similar to that of the "universal students' song" (at least in Europe):

Gaudeamus igitur,
juvenes dum sumus.
Post jucundam juventutem,
post molestam senectutem,
nos habebit humus.

(Let us rejoice therefore while we are young. After a pleasant youth, after troublesome old age, the ground will have us)

[Romulus]

Pindar would like a word.

[PLMerite]

That’s what used to pass for a Soviet news show.

[telescope115]

Fascinating. Really cool. I never learned THIS in Music History class. I especially like the use of period instruments.

[Albion Wilde]

“My Big Fat Greek One-Hit Wonder”

[frank ballenger]

Yeah, not everybody can make it in music.

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

― Hunter S. Thompson

[frank ballenger]

Have his people call our people.

[Albion Wilde]

“There’s also a negative side.”

Hahahahaha!

[frank ballenger]

They don’t make them like Thompson any more.

[Billthedrill]

“Arista said they loved it...”

[foundedonpurpose]

Am thinking that the Psalms in the Bible are earlier. In Hebrew they become songs to God.

[SunkenCiv]

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/66856/is-velocity-of-light-constant

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, ignore that first reply. [blush]

[Tell It Right]

I was wondering if it was related to a thread a day or two ago about an object moving to earth (and some of us discussed how it compared to the speed of light) LOL

[ArtDodger]

I kissed a Spartan and I liked it!

[tumblindice]

First verse of Gonna Tie My Pecker to Tree, in Greek.
It loses something in translation.

είδα το κορίτσι μου,
κάτω από τη λίμνη
Ξύστε το άρπαγμά της με
μια τσουγκράνα κήπου Θα δέσω
το πουλί μου σε ένα δέντρο σε ένα δέντρο

Achille’s men loved to sing this one as they rowed.

[Redcitizen]

Little known fact: the song was sung by Rick Akkadian, the long lost ancestor of Rick Astley. 🙂