# The Hurrian songs of Ugarit > About 36 clay fragments from the Royal Palace at Ugarit on the Syrian coast, written around 1400 BC, carry songs in the Hurrian language with a line of… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-31T15:33:36+00:00 --- **MYS** 0DEDNECH6EYX·Mystery · document # The Hurrian songs of Ugarit **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=hurrian-songs) The Hurrian songs of Ugarit ![Line drawing of one face of the Hymn to Nikkal tablet from Ugarit, with Hurrian text above a double rule and Akkadian notation terms below](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/hurrian-songs-lead) Unknown author · Public domain Where Royal Palace, Ugarit (Ras Shamra), Syrian coast⁠[[1]] When c. 1400 BC (14th-century BC palace stratum)⁠[[2]] Corpus About 36 fragments; one near-complete tablet, h.6 (RS 15.30 + 15.49 + 17.387)⁠[[1]] Standard edition Laroche, Ugaritica V (1968), 462 to 496; collated by Dietrich and Loretz 1975⁠[[1]] Language Hurrian words; Akkadian notation terms and colophon⁠[[1]] Notation Fourteen Akkadian string-pair names and numerals 1 to 10, keyed to CBS 10996, UET VII 74 and Nabnitu XXXII⁠[[4]] Holder National Museum of Damascus, inv. 3916; 17 x 6.3 x 2.5 cm⁠[[2]] Realizations At least eight published since 1971, none accepted as standard⁠[[18]] Status Unexplained Questions 0 of 7 answered People [**Martin Litchfield West** British classicist whose 1994 article read the Hurrian texts as melody on a descending scale.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW/martin-litchfield-west)[**David Wulstan** British musicologist who analysed the Ur tuning text with Gurney (1968) and published the first realization of h.6 (1971).](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPF40CDKZ/david-wulstan)[**Emmanuel Laroche** French Hittitologist and Hurrian specialist who edited the Hurrian texts from Ugarit (1955, 1968).](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPCB0QB8J/emmanuel-laroche)[**Anne Draffkorn Kilmer** Assyriologist at Berkeley who published CBS 10996 (1960), synthesised the Babylonian theory texts (1971) and read h.6 as dyads with repetition counts (1974).](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPD94MHD1/anne-draffkorn-kilmer)[**Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin** Belgian musicologist who proposed a melodic reading of h.6 (1975, 1980, 1984) and explained its repeated syllables by the tablet's spiral layout.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPEE5RZYH/marcelle-duchesne-guillemin) All 8 people › [**Oliver Robert Gurney** Oxford Assyriologist who published the Ur tuning text UET VII 74 (1968) and first read the string list Nabnitu XXXII.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7/oliver-robert-gurney)[**Raoul Gregory Vitale** Syrian physicist and musicologist from Latakia who argued in 1982 that the Babylonian scale and the h.6 notation run downward.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPEN4JC9T/raoul-gregory-vitale)[**Richard Dumbrill** Archaeomusicologist, co-founder of ICONEA, who reads the Babylonian system as nine-note and has published his own transcription of h.6.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPEYVC3WE/richard-dumbrill) Places [All 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/places?mystery=hurrian-songs) [**National Museum of Damascus** museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNT5Z94S6/national-museum-of-damascus)[**Nippur** ancient city](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNTT6YRTJ/nippur-nuffar)[**Ugarit** city](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNS24VCJ6/ugarit-ras-shamra)[**British Museum, London** museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNW2BC66Q/british-museum-london) Concepts [All](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts) [Bilingual text](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW026HWD1/bilingual-text)[Tablature](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEE951HKQ42/tablature) Catalog key**MYS** 0DEDNECH6EYX In the 1950s the French excavations at Ras Shamra, ancient [Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNS24VCJ6/ugarit-ras-shamra), recovered a group of small clay tablets from the Royal Palace written in Hurrian, the language of a people who lived across northern Syria and Mesopotamia in the second millennium BC⁠[[1]]. [Emmanuel Laroche](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPCB0QB8J/emmanuel-laroche) published them in 1955 and fully in 1968, numbering the songs h.2 to h.30 and recognising that three fragments catalogued as RS 15.30, RS 15.49 and RS 17.387 belonged to one tablet, the song now called h.6⁠[[1]]. Each tablet has Hurrian text in the upper part, a double rule, and below it a run of Akkadian words each followed by a numeral; h.6 ends with an Akkadian colophon naming the tuning, the type of song and the scribe, Ammurabi⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. The tablet is in the [National Museum of Damascus](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNT5Z94S6/national-museum-of-damascus), inventory 3916, and measures 17 by 6.3 by 2.5 cm⁠[[2]]. The Akkadian words were recognised in 1970 by Hans Güterbock as the interval names of Mesopotamian music theory⁠[[3]]. Three Babylonian tablets supply that theory. CBS 10996 from [Nippur](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/places/PLC0DEDNTT6YRTJ/nippur-nuffar) lists fourteen named pairs of strings; the lexical list Nabnitu XXXII (U 3011) from Ur names nine strings and gives their numbering; and the Old Babylonian tuning text UET VII 74, also from Ur, describes a cycle of seven tunings reached by changing one string at a time⁠[[4]]⁠[[5]]⁠[[6]]. Together they show that each term in h.6 denotes two strings a fourth, fifth, third or sixth apart on a seven-note scale, and that the colophon's tuning, nid qabli, is one of the seven⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]. This is why the Hurrian songs are usually called deciphered. The deciphered part is the vocabulary, not the music. What is not settled is how the terms and numerals were performed. [David Wulstan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPF40CDKZ/david-wulstan) in 1971 read each term as a single note and the result as a melody⁠[[9]]. Anne [Kilmer](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPD94MHD1/anne-draffkorn-kilmer) in 1974 read each term as both strings sounded together, a dyad, and the numeral as the number of times it was played, and had the result performed on a reconstructed lyre⁠[[8]]⁠[[10]]. [Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPEE5RZYH/marcelle-duchesne-guillemin) and Martin [West](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW/martin-litchfield-west) defended melodic readings, and Raoul [Vitale](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPEN4JC9T/raoul-gregory-vitale) argued in 1982 that the whole scale had been read upside down, a reversal West and Oliver [Gurney](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7/oliver-robert-gurney) later took seriously⁠[[11]]⁠[[12]]⁠[[13]]⁠[[14]]. Stefan Hagel proposed in 2005 that the numerals mark durations, [Richard Dumbrill](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPEYVC3WE/richard-dumbrill) reads the system as nine-note rather than seven-note, and Dylan Gibson in 2025 argued that every realization in staff notation adds rhythm, direction and form that the tablet does not contain⁠[[15]]⁠[[16]]⁠[[17]]. Bathja Bayer counted about eight rival transcriptions by 1978 and judged the problem unsolved; the count has grown since⁠[[18]]. The Hurrian words are a second, separate problem. Hurrian is read mainly through one long letter from the king of Mittani and through Hittite-Hurrian bilingual tablets from Boğazköy, and its vocabulary remains thin⁠[[19]]. Hans-Jochen Thiel offered the first interpretation of the h.6 text in 1977 and Theo Krispijn a provisional translation in 2002, both reading it as a hymn about offerings to Nikkal, the goddess of orchards and wife of the moon god, but neither claims a secure word-for-word rendering⁠[[20]]⁠[[21]]. The other 35 fragments give isolated words, a few composers' names and parts of notation lines, and Jay Rahn's 2011 statistics are the only systematic use of them⁠[[1]]⁠[[22]]. Of the 7 questions on this site, 0 are answered. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBJK95SB/does-the-babylonian-tuning-series-and-so-the-h-6-scale-run)No answer ahead yet [**How do the notation terms align with the sung syllables of the Hurrian text?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBWBSGK3/how-do-the-notation-terms-align-with-the-sung-syllables-of)No answer ahead yet [**Is the Ugarit notation the same system as the Mesopotamian theory texts describe, or a local adaptation?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBZTCN1T/is-the-ugarit-notation-the-same-system-as-the-mesopotamian)No answer ahead yet [**What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBCYE714/what-do-the-interval-names-and-numerals-in-the-notation-of-h)No answer ahead yet [**What does the Hurrian text of h.6 say?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBRHDPTT/what-does-the-hurrian-text-of-h-6-say)No answer ahead yet [All 7 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=hurrian-songs) ### Research sessions1 so far · last 31 Oct `S-001`[The Hurrian songs of Ugarit seeded: corpus, readings and open data](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/sessions/SES0DEEADDRHVSZ/session-1-the-hurrian-songs-of-ugarit-seeded-corpus-readings) 31 Oct **15** evidence**7** questions raised**9** answers proposedNo question changed standing [All 1 sessions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/sessions) ## The object The Hurrian songs are about 36 fragments of clay tablets found in the 1950s in the Royal Palace at Ugarit, in a level of the 14th century BC⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. Laroche's edition in Ugaritica V numbers the songs h.2 to h.17, h.19 to h.23, h.25, h.26, h.28 and h.30; the smaller pieces carry the field numbers RS 19.164 with letter suffixes⁠[[1]]. Only h.6 is substantially complete. It is a single tablet of three joined fragments, RS 15.30, RS 15.49 and RS 17.387, now National Museum of Damascus 3916, 17 cm wide, 6.3 cm high and 2.5 cm thick⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. The Hurrian text runs in four lines across the top, continuing from the front over the edge onto the back in a spiral. A double rule separates it from six lines of Akkadian terms, each followed by a numeral between 1 and 10, and a final colophon states that this is a song in the nid qabli tuning, of the zaluzi type, written by Ammurabi⁠[[1]]⁠[[11]]. Four other fragments name composers with Hurrian names; h.6 names none⁠[[1]]. Dietrich and Loretz collated the tablet in 1975 and corrected Laroche's copy in places⁠[[23]]. The Damascus museum's online record gives a photograph and Krispijn's translation⁠[[2]]. No open high-resolution image set, RTI capture or machine-readable transliteration of the Ugarit tablets exists; the theory tablets CBS 10996 and UET VII 74 have CDLI records with catalogue data, and CBS 10996 has photographs and RTI⁠[[24]]⁠[[25]]. ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## What is known Three Babylonian tablets make the notation readable. CBS 10996, a Middle Babylonian coefficient list from Nippur, pairs fourteen Akkadian names with pairs of string numbers: seven pairs a fourth or fifth apart, which Wulstan called primary, and seven a third or sixth apart, which he called secondary⁠[[4]]⁠[[7]]⁠[[6]]. Nabnitu XXXII, a lexical list from Ur, names the nine strings of the sammu instrument, most likely a lyre, counting from the front and from the back so that strings 1 to 7 are joined by 8 and 9 that repeat 1 and 2⁠[[6]]⁠[[26]]. UET VII 74, an Old Babylonian text from Ur, instructs the player to pass from one tuning to the next by altering a single string, producing a cycle of seven tunings each named after a primary pair; a second manuscript, UET VI/3 899, confirmed the cycle in 2009⁠[[5]]⁠[[27]]. The seven tunings are heptatonic and diatonic, that is, seven notes to the octave arranged as in a Western major or minor scale, though the exact sizes of the steps are not recorded⁠[[28]]. Every term in the notation line of h.6, with the Hurrian spellings qablite, irbute, sahri, isarte, titim isarte, zirte, sassate and others, matches one of the fourteen names, so each term is securely a pair of strings⁠[[8]]⁠[[1]]. The colophon's tuning, nid qabli, is one of the seven⁠[[15]]. Across all 35 notated fragments, Rahn found that individual strings occur at near-equal rates and that pairs two strings apart modulo seven are more frequent than pairs three apart⁠[[22]]. The Hurrian text is a hymn connected with offerings to Nikkal; the word pairs such as usta mari that recur after numerals in several fragments are not understood⁠[[1]]⁠[[21]]. ## What has been tested Every realization has to decide four things the tablet does not state: whether a term means two strings sounded together or in succession, what the numeral counts, which way the scale runs, and how the notation aligns with the words. Wulstan read each term as one note and produced a melody on a rising scale⁠[[9]]. Kilmer read each term as a dyad, two strings struck together, and the numeral as a count of repetitions; the 1974 recording on a reconstructed lyre followed this reading⁠[[8]]⁠[[10]]. Duchesne-Guillemin read the terms as melodic steps and the numerals as note counts, and explained the syllables repeated at line ends by the spiral layout rather than as refrains⁠[[11]]⁠[[29]]⁠[[30]]. Vitale showed that nothing in UET VII 74 says whether a string is tightened or loosened, so the direction of the scale had been assumed; he argued for a falling series, and West built a melodic reading on it, while Gurney in 1994 and Crocker in 1997 accepted that the question was open⁠[[12]]⁠[[13]]⁠[[14]]⁠[[31]]. Hagel took the numerals as durations and tested the tunings against Greek modality; Baciu's 2025 preprint builds a rhythm on that reading and compares it with Vedic verse, but the premise is contested and the work is not peer reviewed⁠[[15]]⁠[[32]]. Dumbrill rejects the seven-note frame and reads the system as nine-note⁠[[16]]. Halperin applied frequency statistics to the terms⁠[[33]]. Rahn's 2011 analysis, and Gibson's 2021 thesis and 2025 article, argue that the data support string relations but not pitches, rhythm or direction⁠[[22]]⁠[[28]]⁠[[17]]. No test has yet eliminated a reading, because each is internally consistent and the tablet gives no check such as a sum or a second copy. ## The readings Five positions are live. The first, Kilmer's, is that the terms are dyads played together and the numerals say how many times, so the piece is a sequence of two-note chords with a sung line above it; its evidence is that the theory texts define the terms as pairs and that the Nippur music-instruction fragments use the same terms for performance⁠[[8]]⁠[[34]]. The second, held in different forms by Wulstan, Duchesne-Guillemin and West, is that each term stands for a melodic motion or a single note, so the line is a melody; its evidence is that a two-voice texture is otherwise unattested in the region and that a melody fits the syllable count better⁠[[9]]⁠[[29]]⁠[[13]]. The third, Hagel's, keeps a melodic or dyadic frame but reads the numerals as durations, which would give the piece a rhythm; its evidence is the distribution of the numerals⁠[[15]]. The fourth, Dumbrill's, keeps dyads but inside a nine-note system; it has few followers⁠[[16]]⁠[[28]]. The fifth, argued by Bayer in 1978, Rahn in 2011 and Gibson in 2025, is that the notation fixes only which strings are involved and in what order, and that pitch, rhythm and direction cannot be recovered from it, so the honest output is a [tablature](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEE951HKQ42/tablature) rather than a score⁠[[18]]⁠[[22]]⁠[[17]]. Cutting across these is the direction question: Vitale, West and Gurney lean to a falling scale, the Berkeley school to a rising one, and Gibson to the view that the texts allow either⁠[[12]]⁠[[14]]⁠[[28]]. The Hurrian words are a separate problem on which Thiel and Krispijn agree in outline and differ in detail⁠[[20]]⁠[[21]]. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1968 | Emmanuel Laroche⁠[1] | The Hurrian fragments from Ugarit form one group of songs; RS 15.30, 15.49 and 17.387 join into a single tablet, h.6. | Accepted | The join and the edition have been collated and used by every later study⁠[23] | | 1970 | Hans Güterbock⁠[3] | The Akkadian words under the Hurrian text are the interval names of the Babylonian theory tablets, so the tablets carry musical notation. | Accepted | Every term matches a name in CBS 10996 and the colophon names a tuning from UET VII 74⁠[8] | | 1971 | David Wulstan⁠[9] | Each term stands for a single note and h.6 is a melody on a rising scale. | Disputed | The reading is consistent but the tablet gives no check, and the rising direction was later shown to be an assumption⁠[12] | | 1974 | Anne Kilmer⁠[8] | Each term is a dyad, two strings struck together, and the numeral is the number of repetitions. | Disputed | It follows the theory texts' definition of the terms but no source says the pairs were sounded together⁠[22] | | 1975 | Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin⁠[11] | The terms are melodic steps, the numerals count notes, and the repeated syllables are an artefact of the spiral layout. | Disputed | Internally consistent but it competes with Kilmer's on the same data and no test separates them⁠[18] | | 1977 | Hans-Jochen Thiel⁠[20] | The Hurrian text of h.6 can be interpreted as a hymn about offerings to Nikkal. | Still possible | Krispijn's later translation agrees in outline, but Hurrian vocabulary is too thin for a secure rendering⁠[21] | | 1978 | Bathja Bayer⁠[18] | About eight transcriptions existed by 1978 and none is demonstrably right; the Ugarit notation is a separate channel from the Mesopotamian one. | Accepted | The count of rival readings has only grown and no later work has produced a decisive test⁠[17] | | 1982 | Raoul Vitale⁠[12] | The Babylonian tuning series and the h.6 notation run downward, so the early realizations are upside down. | Most likely | West adopted it and Gurney and Crocker agree the tuning text does not fix the direction, but no text states it either way⁠[14] | | 1994 | Martin West⁠[13] | The Hurrian texts are melodic, on a descending scale, with the interval names marking melodic motion. | Disputed | Crocker found parts of the argument too restrictive and the melodic premise is unproven⁠[31] | | 2002 | Theo Krispijn⁠[21] | A provisional translation of the Hurrian text is possible, building on Thiel. | Still possible | It is the translation museums reproduce, but its author calls it provisional and Hurrian remains incompletely understood⁠[19] | | 2005 | Richard Dumbrill⁠[16] | The Babylonian system is nine-note, not seven-note, and h.6 should be transcribed as dyads within it. | Disputed | Gibson's re-examination of the theory tablets finds a seven-note system with two repeated strings, not nine distinct notes⁠[28] | | 2005 | Stefan Hagel⁠[15] | The numerals after the terms mark durations, not repetitions. | Still possible | The uneven distribution of the numerals is suggestive, but no Mesopotamian source gives durations in this way⁠[32] | | 2011 | Jay Rahn⁠[22] | Across the 35 fragments, pairs two strings apart outnumber pairs three apart and successions tend to rise by one string; pitches cannot be assumed. | Accepted | The counts are reproducible from Laroche's edition, though the sample is small⁠[1] | | 2025 | Dylan Gibson⁠[17] | Every staff-notation realization adds tempo, bar lines, direction or extra strings the tablet lacks; a string-number tablature is the defensible output. | Still possible | The critique is documented reading by reading, but a tablature does not itself decide what was played⁠[28] | | 2025 | Dan Baciu⁠[32] | Read as durations, the numerals give a rhythm that matches Rig Veda cadences better than shuffled controls. | Disputed | The preprint is not peer reviewed and rests on Hagel's contested duration reading⁠[15] | ## What would settle it A Babylonian or Ugaritic text that explains the notation, rather than the tuning, would settle most of it: a tablet that says what a numeral after an interval name means, or that pairs a notation line with a syllable count. The Nippur music-instruction fragments are the nearest thing and are too broken to decide⁠[[34]]⁠[[35]]. A second copy of any Hurrian song, or a Babylonian song in the same notation, would allow the alignment of words and terms to be tested; Rahn suggests h.6 and h.7 may be variants of one piece, which could be checked on the fragments⁠[[22]]. Short of new texts, three things can be done now. The 35 fragments can be transliterated into a single machine-readable table of terms and numerals, which no one has published, so that Rahn's and Halperin's statistics can be repeated and extended⁠[[22]]⁠[[33]]. The syllable count of the Hurrian text can be compared with the sum of the numerals under each reading, which is the one internal check the tablet offers⁠[[11]]⁠[[8]]. And the Damascus tablet can be imaged with reflectance transformation imaging, as CBS 10996 has been, to resolve the signs Dietrich and Loretz read differently from Laroche⁠[[23]]⁠[[24]]. The direction of the scale depends on the tuning texts rather than on h.6 and will be decided by Assyriology, if at all⁠[[31]]⁠[[27]]. For the Hurrian words, progress depends on the Boğazköy [bilinguals](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW026HWD1/bilingual-text) and on new Hurrian texts, not on the song itself⁠[[19]]. ## Questions 0 of 7 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=hurrian-songs) **0** [Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBJK95SB/does-the-babylonian-tuning-series-and-so-the-h-6-scale-run) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 3 answers, none ahead **0** [How do the notation terms align with the sung syllables of the Hurrian text?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBWBSGK3/how-do-the-notation-terms-align-with-the-sung-syllables-of) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Open: no answer ahead yet **0** [Is the Ugarit notation the same system as the Mesopotamian theory texts describe, or a local adaptation?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBZTCN1T/is-the-ugarit-notation-the-same-system-as-the-mesopotamian) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 2 answers, none ahead **0** [What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBCYE714/what-do-the-interval-names-and-numerals-in-the-notation-of-h) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 5 answers, none ahead **0** [What does the Hurrian text of h.6 say?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBRHDPTT/what-does-the-hurrian-text-of-h-6-say) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: no answer ahead yet ## Evidence 17 findings [What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBCYE714/what-do-the-interval-names-and-numerals-in-the-notation-of-h)10 findings [Dyads with repetition counts (Kilmer; Dumbrill in a nine-note frame)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDX1H102W5/dyads-with-repetition-counts-kilmer-dumbrill-in-a-nine-note)Still possible +[CBS 10996 defines each of the fourteen terms as a pair of string numbers, so the terms in h.6 name two strings.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYFQZCRMK/cbs-10996-defines-each-of-the-fourteen-terms-as-a-pair-of)Established −[No Mesopotamian or Ugaritic source states that the two strings of a named pair were sounded together, and two-part texture is otherwise unattested in the region.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYGWZKN3G/no-mesopotamian-or-ugaritic-source-states-that-the-two)Supported −[Dumbrill's nine-note frame for the dyads is contradicted by a re-examination of the theory tablets, which finds seven notes with two repeated strings.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYJGR88ZA/dumbrills-nine-note-frame-for-the-dyads-is-contradicted-by-a)Suggestive [Melody (Wulstan, Duchesne-Guillemin, West)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDX23YQWGN/melody-wulstan-duchesne-guillemin-west)Still possible +[Across the fragments, adjacent terms tend to be related by a single string step (32 of 43 adjacent 2-mod-7 successions rise by one string), as stepwise melodic motion would produce.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYK1G2996/across-the-fragments-adjacent-terms-tend-to-be-related-by-a)Suggestive −[The melodic readings of Wulstan, Duchesne-Guillemin and West disagree with each other on how a term becomes notes, and Crocker judged parts of West's argument over-restrictive.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYKJTRTVQ/the-melodic-readings-of-wulstan-duchesne-guillemin-and-west)Supported [Numerals as durations (Hagel)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDX2P86YH9/numerals-as-durations-hagel)Still possible +[The numerals 2 and 4 occur more often than 3 and 5 in the notation, as duple rhythmic values would.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYMM9K7RT/the-numerals-2-and-4-occur-more-often-than-3-and-5-in-the)Suggestive −[No Mesopotamian theory or instruction text records durations by numeral, and the earlier readings of the numerals as counts have not been shown wrong.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDYNAX3GEN/no-mesopotamian-theory-or-instruction-text-records-durations)Supported [Undetermined beyond a string tablature (Bayer, Rahn, Gibson)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDX3FHRSCP/undetermined-beyond-a-string-tablature-bayer-rahn-gibson)Still possible +[A reading-by-reading comparison of the realizations from 1971 to 2019 finds that each adds tempo, metre, scale direction or extra strings that the tablet does not supply.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ4MQF6YV/a-reading-by-reading-comparison-of-the-realizations-from)Supported +[Corpus statistics across the 35 fragments constrain string relations but, by their author's own account, not pitch or performance.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ4ZAC38K/corpus-statistics-across-the-35-fragments-constrain-string)Supported −[The Nippur music-instruction fragments show the same terms used in performance instructions for singers, so the terms did carry a conventional performance meaning that a fuller text could recover.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ58TPN2J/the-nippur-music-instruction-fragments-show-the-same-terms)Suggestive [Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBJK95SB/does-the-babylonian-tuning-series-and-so-the-h-6-scale-run)3 findings [Descending scale (Vitale, West)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDXGE725WJ/descending-scale-vitale-west)Still possible +[The tuning text does not state whether the altered string is tightened or loosened, so the original ascending reading was an assumption, and its own editor later judged the descending reading worth serious consideration.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ669WSCE/the-tuning-text-does-not-state-whether-the-altered-string-is)Supported [Ascending scale (Gurney 1968, Wulstan, Kilmer)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDXGYGQ3S6/ascending-scale-gurney-1968-wulstan-kilmer)Still possible −[The ascending reading rested on an assumed direction of string change that the text does not give.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ6T99EVR/the-ascending-reading-rested-on-an-assumed-direction-of)Supported [Direction undetermined (Crocker, Gibson)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDXHQWN618/direction-undetermined-crocker-gibson)Still possible +[A re-examination of all four theory tablets concludes that the system is heptatonic with a direction the texts leave interchangeable.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ70HF2MM/a-re-examination-of-all-four-theory-tablets-concludes-that)Supported [What does the Hurrian text of h.6 say?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBRHDPTT/what-does-the-hurrian-text-of-h-6-say)1 finding [A hymn of offering to Nikkal (Thiel, Krispijn)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEDXJ9NAW3E/a-hymn-of-offering-to-nikkal-thiel-krispijn)Still possible +[Two independent interpretations of the Hurrian text, Thiel's of 1977 and Krispijn's of 2002, agree that it is a hymn concerning offerings to Nikkal.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEDZ76G913T/two-independent-interpretations-of-the-hurrian-text-thiels)Suggestive [How do the notation terms align with the sung syllables of the Hurrian text?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBWBSGK3/how-do-the-notation-terms-align-with-the-sung-syllables-of)1 finding [Alignment undetermined on internal evidence](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEEAY74F5JT/alignment-undetermined-on-internal-evidence)Still possible +[Kilmer and Duchesne-Guillemin treat the repeated line-end syllables differently (refrain versus layout artefact), and each fits her realization to the syllable count her own rule produces.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEEB4QQ1XXN/kilmer-and-duchesne-guillemin-treat-the-repeated-line-end)Supported [Is the Ugarit notation the same system as the Mesopotamian theory texts describe, or a local adaptation?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBZTCN1T/is-the-ugarit-notation-the-same-system-as-the-mesopotamian)2 findings [Same system as the Babylonian theory texts (Güterbock, Kilmer)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEEAT3RFX1S/same-system-as-the-babylonian-theory-texts-guterbock-kilmer)Still possible +[Every notation term in h.6 corresponds to one of the fourteen Babylonian interval names, and the colophon names nid qabli, one of the seven tunings of UET VII 74.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEEB2TNK15X/every-notation-term-in-h-6-corresponds-to-one-of-the)Established [A separate local channel (Bayer)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/answers/ANS0DEEAWJJA0YP/a-separate-local-channel-bayer)Still possible +[No Mesopotamian song survives in the Ugarit layout of words over a notation block, and the Ugarit terms appear in Hurrianised spellings with Hurrian-named composers.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/evidence/EVD0DEEB439TQD2/no-mesopotamian-song-survives-in-the-ugarit-layout-of-words)Suggestive ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** [See all 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts) Photo1 step from object [The Hymn to Nikkal tablet, h.6 (RS 15.30 + 15.49 + 17.387)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts/ART0DEDRXN5JEW1/the-hymn-to-nikkal-tablet-h-6-rs-15-30-15-49-17-387) Virtual Museum of Syria / National Museum of Damascus; all rights reserved, linked only Document1 step from object [The fragmentary Hurrian songs h.2 to h.30 (RS 19.164 and others)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts/ART0DEDRY95C54W/the-fragmentary-hurrian-songs-h-2-to-h-30-rs-19-164-and) National Museum of Damascus (Ras Shamra finds); individual inventory numbers not established in this pass Dataset1 step from object [CBS 10996, the Nippur list of fourteen string pairs](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts/ART0DEDRYWDSZRF/cbs-10996-the-nippur-list-of-fourteen-string-pairs) Catalogue data under CDLI terms of use; photograph (c) Penn Museum, linked only Dataset1 step from object [UET VII 74 (U.7/80), the Ur tuning text, with its duplicate UET VI/3 899](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts/ART0DEDS03ATMBC/uet-vii-74-u-7-80-the-ur-tuning-text-with-its-duplicate-uet) CDLI terms of use Document1 step from object [Nabnitu XXXII (U 3011), the lexical list of the nine strings](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts/ART0DEDS0WH6HGP/nabnitu-xxxii-u-3011-the-lexical-list-of-the-nine-strings) British Museum, London (U 3011 = UET VII 126); Philadelphia fragment at the Penn Museum [See all 6 artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/artifacts) ## See also [ **Hattic, Kassite and the half-read languages of the cuneiform archives** Languages written in a deciphered script, cuneiform, whose texts still cannot be translated: Hattic, Kassite, Gutian and the new language of Kalašma. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages) [ **Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian** More than 500,000 cuneiform tablets survive; most have never been read, and machines are being tried on the rest. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform) [ **Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk** The oldest writing, 3350 to 3000 BC: numbers and goods are read, the language is not. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform) [ **Eteocretan and Eteocypriot** Two Iron Age languages, from Crete and Cyprus, written in scripts we can read and languages we cannot. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot) ## References 1. 1.[Standard edition of the Hurrian texts from Ugarit, in Ugaritica V (Mission de Ras Shamra 16, Paris 1968), pp. 462-496: transliteration of h.6 on p. 463, cuneiform copy on p. 487; Laroche's numbering h.2 to h.30 and his identification of RS 15.30 + 15.49 + 17.387 as one tablet.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHDCF6PMX/documents-en-langue-hourrite-provenant-de-ras-shamra)cited 9 times here**SRC** 0DEDHDCF6PMX 1. 2.[Museum object page: National Museum of Damascus inventory 3916, terracotta, 17 x 6.3 x 2.5 cm, dated 1400 BC, four-line hymn above a double rule and six lines of interval names with numerals below; notes at least five rival decipherments and reproduces Krispijn's translation.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKK8K0WWA/musical-staff-hurrian-hymn-no-6-national-museum-of-damascus)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDKK8K0WWA 1. 3.[Revue d'Assyriologie 64 (1970), 45-52. The paper that first recognised the Akkadian terms under the Hurrian text of h.6 as the interval names of the Mesopotamian theory texts, making the tablets a musical notation. URL is a locator in the Wikipedia reference list.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKYYCSZ9M/musical-notation-in-ugarit)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKYYCSZ9M 1. 4.[Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 115/2 (1971), 131-149. Kilmer's synthesis of the three theory texts (CBS 10996, UET VII 74, Nabnitu XXXII) into a nine-string, seven-note system with fourteen named string pairs.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJRXM604D/the-discovery-of-an-ancient-mesopotamian-theory-of-music)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDJRXM604D 1. 5.[Iraq 30 (1968), 229-233. First publication of the Ur tuning text U.7/80 (UET VII 74), which gives the cycle of seven tunings by raising or lowering one string at a time; the key that made the h.6 terms readable as tunings and intervals.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJRDEAN34/an-old-babylonian-treatise-on-the-tuning-of-the-harp)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/4199853)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDJRDEAN34 1. 6.[Iraq 46 (1984), 69-80. Opens with a review of the theory texts: CBS 10996 (Nippur) listing fourteen intervals, seven primary and seven secondary, and U 3011 (Nabnitu XXXII, Ur) naming nine strings; then publishes a Late Babylonian tablet pairing interval names with string numbers.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK4SZ88BK/a-music-tablet-from-sippar-bm-65217-66616)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/4200216)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDK4SZ88BK 1. 7.[Iraq 30 (1968), 215-228. Wulstan's musical analysis of the tuning cycle, dividing the fourteen interval terms into seven primary (fourths and fifths, which name the tunings) and seven secondary (thirds and sixths).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJRQA2A1V/the-tuning-of-the-babylonian-harp)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/4199852)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDJRQA2A1V 1. 8.[Revue d'Assyriologie 68 (1974), 69-82. Kilmer's reading of h.6 as a sequence of dyads (two strings sounded together) with the numerals as repetition counts; basis of the 1974 Berkeley performance and of Sounds from Silence.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHDTPAT2K/the-cult-song-with-music-from-ancient-ugarit-another)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDHDTPAT2K 1. 9.[Music and Letters 52/4 (1971), 365-382. The first melodic realization of h.6, reading the interval names as single notes on an ascending scale.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHEXR4X0R/the-earliest-musical-notation)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/LII.4.365)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDHEXR4X0R 1. 10.[Bit Enki Publications, Berkeley 1976, booklet with LP record. The recorded performance of Kilmer's dyadic realization of h.6 on a reconstructed lyre, the first modern performance of the hymn. URL is a locator in the Wikipedia reference list.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJCTX9F4Y/sounds-from-silence-recent-discoveries-in-ancient-near)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDJCTX9F4Y 1. 11.[Revue d'Assyriologie 69 (1975), 159-173. Duchesne-Guillemin's reading of h.6 as melody with the numerals as note counts, and her explanation of the repeated syllables as a consequence of the spiral layout.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHSRWKNZB/les-problemes-de-la-notation-hourrite)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDHSRWKNZB 1. 12.[Ugarit-Forschungen 14 (1982), 241-263. Vitale's argument that the Babylonian tuning series and the h.6 notation run downward, not upward, reversing the first reconstructions; later accepted by West and taken seriously by Gurney. URL is a locator (biographical page listing the article); the journal has no DOI for this volume.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ8YBEZ3J/la-musique-sumero-accadienne-gamme-et-notation-musicale)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDJ8YBEZ3J 1. 13.[Music and Letters 75/2 (1994), 161-179. West's melodic reading of the Hurrian texts, accepting Vitale's descending scale and treating the interval names as melodic steps rather than chords.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHFB9BGX1/the-babylonian-musical-notation-and-the-hurrian-melodic)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/75.2.161)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDHFB9BGX1 1. 14.[Iraq 56 (1994), 101-106. Gurney reviews the tuning-text interpretation and accepts that Vitale's downward reading of the scale deserves serious consideration.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJS1S6NSG/babylonian-music-again)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/4200387)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDJS1S6NSG 1. 15.[Baghdader Mitteilungen 36 (2005), 287-348. Hagel's analysis of the nīd qabli tuning against Greek modality and his proposal that the numerals in the Hurrian notation mark durations rather than repetitions.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHTGN19MG/is-nid-qabli-dorian-tuning-and-modality-in-greek-and-hurrian)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDHTGN19MG 1. 16.[Trafford, Victoria BC 2005; second edition of The Musicology and Organology of the Ancient Near East (Tadema Press, London 1998). Dumbrill's reading of the Babylonian system as enneatonic (nine-note) and his transcription of h.6 as dyads with the numerals read as counts. URL is a locator (author page).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJAFW5JGZ/the-archaeomusicology-of-the-ancient-near-east)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDJAFW5JGZ 1. 17.[Early Music 53/3 (2025), 284-313. Surveys the realizations from Wulstan 1971 to Dumbrill 2019, shows that each adds tempo, bar lines or scale direction the tablet does not give, and proposes a string-number tablature as a neutral intermediate step.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK87X6NKG/rethinking-ancient-music-interpretation-through-hurrian-hymn)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caaf042)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDK87X6NKG 1. 18.[Yuval 8 (2014), written 1978 and published posthumously, with an editorial note by Rahn and a response by Kilmer. Bayer counts about eight rival transcriptions by 1978, judges that the problem was not solved, and argues the Ugarit notation is a separate channel from the Mesopotamian tradition rather than a later stage of it. Open PDF.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK6NHE2N8/the-mesopotamian-theory-of-music-and-the-ugarit-notation-a)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDK6NHE2N8 1. 19.[Second edition, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2007. The standard grammar of Hurrian; used for the state of knowledge of the language (agglutinative, ergative, read mainly through the Mittani letter and the Hittite-Hurrian bilinguals from Boğazköy). URL is a locator.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM05JPBGB/einfuhrung-in-die-hurritische-sprache)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDM05JPBGB 1. 20.[Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 18 (1977), 109-136. The first published interpretation of the Hurrian wording of h.6 and a study of the sequence of notation terms; the basis Krispijn built on. URL is a locator in the Wikipedia reference list.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJC485MEY/der-text-und-die-notenfolgen-des-musiktextes-aus-ugarit)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDJC485MEY 1. 21.[In E. Hickmann, A. D. Kilmer and R. Eichmann (eds), Studien zur Musikarchäologie III (Orient-Archäologie 10), Rahden: Leidorf 2002, 465-479. Krispijn's provisional translation of the h.6 Hurrian text, building on Thiel, and his reading of the tuning text UET VII 74. URL is the Damascus museum page that reproduces his translation; the chapter itself has no DOI.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJBBYM57G/musik-in-keilschrift-beitrage-zur-altorientalischen)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDJBBYM57G 1. 22.[Analytical Approaches to World Music 1/1 (2011). Statistical analysis of the string-pair terms across all 35 Hurrian fragments without assuming Western interval ratios: pairs spanning 2 mod 7 outnumber those spanning 3 mod 7, and among 43 adjacent successions 32 rise by one string and 11 fall. Open access.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK7Q5J822/the-hurrian-pieces-ca-1350-bce-part-one-notation-and)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDK7Q5J822 1. 23.[Ugarit-Forschungen 7 (1975), 521-522. Collation of the h.6 tablet against Laroche's copy; the revised text used by later interpreters. URL is a locator in the Wikipedia reference list.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKZ52CSXN/kollationen-zum-musiktext-aus-ugarit)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDKZ52CSXN 1. 24.[CDLI catalogue record for the Nippur interval list CBS 10996 (Penn Museum): photo and RTI images, catalogue metadata in CSV/JSON/RDF, primary publication Kilmer 1960 (OrNS 29, 273), no transliteration online. eBL id CBS.10996.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKKCKQYAD/cdli-p254475-cbs-10996-orns-29-273-nippur-middle-babylonian)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDKKCKQYAD 1. 25.[CDLI catalogue record for the Old Babylonian tuning text from Ur published by Gurney as UET 7, 74; British Museum. Catalogue metadata downloadable; no transliteration listed in this pass.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKKG85H36/cdli-p347039-uet-7-74-u-7-80-the-ur-tuning-text-old)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDKKG85H36 1. 26.[Iraq 43 (1981), 79-83. A Philadelphia fragment that supplements Nabnitu XXXII, the lexical list whose string names underlie the interval terms; Gurney first copied and read the main source.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK5NRE2ED/a-new-musical-term-in-ancient-mesopotamian-music)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/4200135)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDK5NRE2ED 1. 27.[Iraq 71 (2009), 43-52. A second manuscript of the tuning cycle, confirming the reconstruction from UET VII 74 and the reading of the term nis tuhri.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJSAA0SK1/the-old-babylonian-tuning-text-uet-vi-3-899)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021088900000735)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDJSAA0SK1 1. 28.[MMus thesis, Stellenbosch University, 2021. Re-examines UET VII 126 (Nabnitu XXXII), CBS 10996, UET VII 74 and UET VI/3 899; argues the system is heptatonic with interchangeable direction rather than Dumbrill's enneatonic, and that exact Western intervals cannot be assumed. Open access.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK8D1ARTC/a-re-examination-of-ancient-near-eastern-music-theoretical)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDK8D1ARTC 1. 29.[Revue de Musicologie 66/1 (1980), 5-26. Her defence of a melodic reading against Kilmer's dyads and her revised realization.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM0QCSATB/sur-la-restitution-de-la-musique-hourrite)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/928544)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDM0QCSATB 1. 30.[Sources from the Ancient Near East 2/2, Undena Publications, Malibu 1984. Her full realization of h.6 and translation of the Hurrian text; the version reproduced on the Urkesh project website. No publisher page found; the URL is a locator in the Wikipedia reference list.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ87SD3NA/a-hurrian-musical-score-from-ugarit-the-discovery-of)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDJ87SD3NA 1. 31.[Iraq 59 (1997), 189-202. Crocker's reply to Gurney and West on the tuning system, and discussion of Krispijn's reading of UET VII 74; notes that the text does not state whether strings are tightened or loosened, so the direction of the scale was an assumption.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJS4GZ83G/mesopotamian-tonal-systems)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/4200443)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDJS4GZ83G 1. 32.[Preprints.org, June 2025, not peer reviewed. Takes Hagel's duration reading of the numerals, notes that 2 and 4 outnumber 3 and 5, and compares the resulting rhythm with Rig Veda verse endings against 1,000 shuffled controls. Recorded as a recent computational attempt whose premise (a fixed rhythmic reading) is itself contested.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKKKS70KM/in-the-beginning-was-music-computational-analysis-of-the)[doi](https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202506.1669.v1)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKKKS70KM 1. 33.[In R. Dumbrill and I. Finkel (eds), ICONEA 2008, London 2010, 29-32. Statistical approach to reconstructing the Hurrian pieces from the frequencies of the notation terms; continues Halperin's 1992 Musikometrika paper on deciphering the Ugaritic notation.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKM3R3CD6/musical-reconstruction-of-the-hurrian-material-by)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDKM3R3CD6 1. 34.[Journal of Cuneiform Studies 38 (1986), 94-98. Old Babylonian fragments from Nippur that give instructions for singing hymns in terms of the interval names, the closest Mesopotamian parallel to the Ugarit notation.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKZG8CJW7/old-babylonian-musical-instructions-relating-to-hymnody)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/1359953)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDKZG8CJW7 1. 35.[Journal of Cuneiform Studies 61 (2009), 97-109. Rereads the Nippur music-instruction fragments; relevant to whether interval names in performance texts denote simultaneous dyads or melodic motion.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKZTWPWNX/a-new-interpretation-of-the-nippur-music-instruction)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1086/jcs25608635)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDKZTWPWNX Last edited 31 Oct 2026