# Oliver Robert Gurney · Person

> Oxford Assyriologist who published the Ur tuning text UET VII 74 (1968) and first read the string list Nabnitu XXXII. In The Hurrian songs of Ugarit.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7/oliver-robert-gurney  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)[People](https://mysteriesdept.com/people)Oliver Robert Gurney

Person · in 1 mystery

# Oliver Robert Gurney

Oxford Assyriologist who published the Ur tuning text UET VII 74 (1968) and first read the string list Nabnitu XXXII. **1911–2001.**

[The Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)[2 events][2 sources]

Oliver Robert Gurney is british Assyriologist and Hittitologist (1911 to 2001), Oxford; editor of the Ur Excavations Texts volumes that contain the tuning text (1911–2001), and appears in the record of Hurrian songs of Ugarit as oxford Assyriologist who published the Ur tuning text UET VII 74 (1968) and first read the string list Nabnitu XXXII.

Two events on the site involve Gurney, from Gurney and Wulstan publish the Ur tuning text; Laroche publishes the full Hurrian edition in Ugaritica V (1968) to West publishes a melodic reading on a descending scale; Gurney reconsiders the direction (1994).

One question rest in part on what Gurney did or said, among them “Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?”, which stands open: 3 answers, none ahead.

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## In the mysteries

**The Hurrian songs of Ugarit**

Oxford Assyriologist who published the Ur tuning text UET VII 74 (1968) and first read the string list Nabnitu XXXII. · 2 events

[The mystery ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)

[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)Open: 3 answers, none ahead

## What Oliver Robert Gurney did 2

1968[Gurney and Wulstan publish the Ur tuning text; Laroche publishes the full Hurrian edition in Ugaritica V](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/events/EVT0DEDR0ZQ6KXM/gurney-and-wulstan-publish-the-ur-tuning-text-laroche)

with [Emmanuel Laroche](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPCB0QB8J/emmanuel-laroche) · [David Wulstan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPF40CDKZ/david-wulstan)

1994[West publishes a melodic reading on a descending scale; Gurney reconsiders the direction](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/events/EVT0DEDRG8QT4BY/west-publishes-a-melodic-reading-on-a-descending-scale)

with [Martin Litchfield West](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW/martin-litchfield-west)

## Worked with 3

[EL

**Emmanuel Laroche**

Hurrian songs of Ugarit

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPCB0QB8J/emmanuel-laroche)[DW

**David Wulstan**

Hurrian songs of Ugarit

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPF40CDKZ/david-wulstan)[ML

**Martin Litchfield West**

Hurrian songs of Ugarit

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW/martin-litchfield-west)

## Sources 2

[An Old Babylonian Treatise on the Tuning of the Harp](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJRDEAN34/an-old-babylonian-treatise-on-the-tuning-of-the-harp)

SRC

[Babylonian Music Again](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJS1S6NSG/babylonian-music-again)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Oliver Robert Gurney [Person FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDPFHCBDC7

Record

Person

Born

1911-01-28

Died

2001-01-11

Occupation

Assyriologist, editor of the tuning text

Identity

British Assyriologist and Hittitologist (1911 to 2001), Oxford; editor of the Ur Excavations Texts volumes that contain the tuning text

In

[Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)

Version

1

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

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