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In Ancient Sumeria, music was taught in the scribal schools and a form of
musical notation in cuneiform was used for two millennia. Musicians were
important in both the temple and the palace. Their instruments included
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A composition was identified by musical genre based on either the instrumentation
or the text format; it was marked in the superscript or subscript of the text on the
clay tablet. Among these were the šìrkug (a sacred song or incantation), the adab (a
praise song), the tigi played with kettledrums, the eršemma (a lament with
tambourines). It seems the balbale was a ritual recitation while theeršahunga might
have been a song of healing or exorcism, for which the balang drum was considered
effective.
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THE STATE OF LAGASH
The ruins of the ancient city of Lagaš (Shirpurla) are located northwest of the
junction of the Euphrates and Tigris at Al-Hiba, about 22 km east of the modern
town of Ash-Shatrah in Iraq. Lagash was a flourishing urban centre by ca. 2400 B.C.E.
The ancient site of Nin Sirara (contemporary Surghul) is around 10 km from Al-Hiba.
At the beginning of the third dynasty of Ur, Sirara was a temple complex in the
suburb or section called Nina or Nimin. Nearby Girsu (today’s Telloh), about 25 km
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GUDEA THE GOOD SHEPHERD
under the rule of Gudea (ca. 2150–2125 B.C.) and his son Ur-Ningirsu (ca. 2125–2100
B.C.).
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Gudea was a humble ruler who called himself ‘ensi’ (governor) rather than king
(lugal). He ruled according to the Sumerian concept of the good shepherd (sipad
zid). “He provided protection for the orphan against the rich, and provided
protection for the widow against the powerful. He had the daughter become the
heir in the families without a son. A day of justice dawned for him. He set his foot on
Gudea’s inscriptions mention the building of irrigation canals and temples for which
materials were obtained from far afield. Cedar wood from the Nur mountains in
what is now Turkey, quarried stones from Lebanon, copper from Arabia, gold, metals
and precious stones from the Sinai, Magan (Oman?) and Dilmun (Bahrain?), timber
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The most ancient ritual text of the Near East is an inscription about the building
activities of Gudea. It is the longest known text in the Sumerian language written on
the two largest cuneiform cylinders yet discovered. The text of the Gudea Cylinders
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Gudea had a dream in which he was commanded to build a temple. Because he did
not clearly understand the dream, he visited the oracle of the goddess Nanshe at
Sirara. Gudea was instructed to lay out the temple in alignment with the "holy stars".
A description of this visit to the temple of Nanshe in Sirara, called Hymn to Nanshe,
makes mention of the title of a particular song, translated as 'The Temple Has Been
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She adorned the shepherd Gudea with all her precious divine powers. Gudea, the
ruler of Lagac, placed the lyre among the tigi drums and placed the holy balang
drum at its side. While sacred and harmonious songs were performed before her,
the kintur instrument praised the temple. The chief musician played the ibex horn for
her: the song 'The Temple Has Been Granted Powers from the Abzu' – the sacred
song of the Sirara temple about the princely powers – was performed.
Gudea mey kalkallana shu munabdudu sipad shag kugge bi inpaddani. Gudea ensi
Lagashake ab henun tigia munigub, balaj kug daba munigub, shir kug shir hamunna
munnadua, kinturre ey immi. A tarah nar gale shu munabtagge: “Ey abzuta mey
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LINKS & SOURCES
http://EzineArticles.com/1122672
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.14.1&display=Crit&charenc=&lineid=c4141.32#c4141.32
http://sumerianshakespeare.com/25401/index.html
http://enenuru.proboards.com/thread/161/reconstructing-mesopotamian-music#ixzz5Tl0Mqaqo
http://enenuru.proboards.com/thread/161/reconstructing-mesopotamian-music#ixzz5Tl1Q2KED
www.ancientpages.com/2016/12/12/mesopotamian-music-stele-that-commemorates-gudea-king-of-lagash-in-
temple-foundation-ceremony/
www.mesopotamiangods.com/sumerian-music-tablets/
www.sonusantiqva.org/i/O/EdeOrganographia/1999SumeriansEgyptiansGreeks.html
www.schoyencollection.com/music-notation/sumerian-music/earliest-music-record-ms-2340
The Musical Instruments from Ur and Ancient Mesopotamian Music by Anne Draffkorn Kilmer
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-musical-instruments-from-ur-and-ancient-mesopotamian-music/
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