Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?
Three answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.
Where it stands
Three answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Three are still possible.
Why it matters
UET VII 74 tells the player to alter one string to pass from each tuning to the next, but the verb does not say whether the string is tightened or loosened, so the first reconstructions chose a rising series by assumption[1][2]. Vitale argued in 1982 for a falling series; West adopted it and Gurney wrote in 1994 that it deserved serious consideration, while Gibson holds that the texts allow either[3][4][5]. The second tuning manuscript of 2009 confirmed the cycle but not its direction[6].
Answers 3
Next steps 1
1
Read Vitale 1982 and Gurney 1994 in full and record the specific arguments from the Nabnitu string names for each direction.
~4 h
—not judged
Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes
History
- O. R. Gurney: the ascending reading rested on an assumed direction of string change that the text does not give.Against: Ascending scale (Gurney 1968, Wulstan, Kilmer)
- Raoul Gregory Vitale: the tuning text does not state whether the altered string is tightened or loosened, so the original ascending reading…For: Descending scale (Vitale, West)
- Raoul Gregory Vitale: the ascending reading rested on an assumed direction of string change that the text does not give.Against: Ascending scale (Gurney 1968, Wulstan, Kilmer)
- M. L. West: the tuning text does not state whether the altered string is tightened or loosened, so the original ascending reading…For: Descending scale (Vitale, West)
- O. R. Gurney: the tuning text does not state whether the altered string is tightened or loosened, so the original ascending reading…For: Descending scale (Vitale, West)
- O. R. Gurney: the ascending reading rested on an assumed direction of string change that the text does not give.Against: Ascending scale (Gurney 1968, Wulstan, Kilmer)
- Richard L. Crocker: a re-examination of all four theory tablets concludes that the system is heptatonic with a direction the texts leave…For: Direction undetermined (Crocker, Gibson)
- Richard L. Crocker: the tuning text does not state whether the altered string is tightened or loosened, so the original ascending reading…For: Descending scale (Vitale, West)
- Dylan Lawrence Gibson: a re-examination of all four theory tablets concludes that the system is heptatonic with a direction the texts leave…For: Direction undetermined (Crocker, Gibson)
- Session 1: raised the question, proposed three answers and found three results bearing on its answers